How a Fichet Monocommande and Moneo safe lock works

[@HenryFipp]

Your video is the perfect explanation. Your visuals are amazing and your description of the mechanism is very clear. This is a great video!

[@keymad4]

just a perfect demonstration for this safe lock Alex.

[@marcodanilo3570]

Top 💯💯💯💯💯😎😎 terrific work bro 👍

[@elliotlee233]

Great video, I'm a locksmith in the north of England and have never seen one of those safe locks before, fascinating and really helpful if I ever come across one, thank you :)

[@EdocDab]

Fantastic demo. Very clear. Thanks for sharing that👍Awesome lock that I have wanted to see demonstrated for quite a while👍

[@alexandermundy2403]

Thank you, the mechanics of it are so elegant they needed to be shared.

[@EdocDab]

@@alexandermundy2403 Absolutely!

[@alexandermundy2403]

@m0g has noticed something that I missed when he got his Fichet Moneo safe lock. There is a spring-loaded lever that rests against the bottom part of the bolt driver (the round single piece that throws the bolt). It has no apparent purpose for the operation of the lock. If the bolt driver was pushed back a little bit it would not allow the bolt driver to turn the direction needed to throw the bolt to the open position. The bolt driver can only be pushed back if the back plate was removed or bent out of shape on my lock. If the back cover was removed on my lock then the bolt and the bolt driver would fall out. On his newer lock there is also a shoulder screw in the bolt driver from the front of the lock that would prevent the bolt driver from moving back more than required for the lever to work but not fall out. Also, his newer lock has retaining shoulder screws for the bolt itself so that if the back is removed the bolt cannot fall out. He hypothesized that it is a re-locker to thwart a dial punch attempt to crack a safe. I agree with his determination especially since the newer lock has additional features that would make it work better as a re-locker. It isn't shown or mentioned in the patent and I contacted Fichet about it but of course didn't get a response.

[@camronbay1]

Interesting lock design.

[@E67Official]

Thank you very much for this video! Really interesting and unique lock, very well described

[@priestlocksport480]

Very cool demonstration. Thanks for sharing!

[@froggypicker]

What an amazing presentation, i was not aware of these safes. Thanks for showing!

[@froggypicker]

So interestingly the "beehives" (is that a technical term?) are working exactly like in the kaba simplex mechanical lock. 2 plates with notches, one for the throw action and one for immobilizing part of the hive to allow rotation of the under wheel. Very cool to see the same concept used, though your piece is way more of a show piece than a simplex :) I should do a video of my early (~60) simplex version, a pretty fine piece of engineering alas not as pretty.

[@alexandermundy2403]

Beehives is my term. The patent calls the 2 main parts of the beehive the "combination rings" and the part that locks them together a "combination catch"

[@froggypicker]

@@alexandermundy2403 thanks for the details!

[@Pyrolock]

Wow -- amazing & beautiful restoration -- Thanks for sharing

[@alexandermundy2403]

Thank you, my wife thinks I'm crazy for taking the many many hours it took.

[@tp3521]

Well that's a clever idea!

[@m0g07]

VERY cool video, thanks so much for making it and sharing! What an ingenious (and maybe slightly insane lol) mechanism.

[@alexandermundy2403]

Thanks m0g! Hope you get the Moneo I pointed you to.

[@m0g07]

@@alexandermundy2403 Me too, seems promising though, so just keeping my fingers crossed for now :)

[@samirhamid8451]

thank you

[@samirhamid8451]

Hello my friend. I thank you very much for this detailed explanation. I am a beginner in this field in the maintenance of safe doors. I need your help to develop my expertise. Can you send me by e-mail books and videos on how to maintain French doors, as well as changing the passwords..with thanks and appreciation i need your e. mail or whatsapp no.

[@_least7808]

Great video with lots of information - thank you for that! I wander - why so many French locks look like a work of a clockwork maker😁 Very cool lock, but I wander if the code doesn't "leak" through the sound when dialing the combo...

[@alexandermundy2403]

Unless the center "gear distributor" is in the bolt throw position it holds the plates away from the "beehives" so nothing contacting to change the sound or feel while dialing.

[@_least7808]

@@alexandermundy2403 I meant that when someone is dialing a combination and you hear the clicks, the sound could give the combination away...

[@alexandermundy2403]

No, the sound of clicks will not be different because when the outer dial is in any of the 7 dialing positions the slide that contacts the "beehives" is held away from the "beehives" by the back of the "gear distributor". Only when the outer dial is in the position for throwing the bold will it allow the slide to contact the "beehives". Here is a pic pre restoration that I have circled what I am talking about. i.imgur.com/z5p7g2i.jpg

[@suddenobserver4516]

@@alexandermundy2403 Maybe @_least meant not the "tentative method", when you simultaneously dial and test the combination, but a listening device that is placed near the lock can reveal the combination by recording a number of clicks for every tumbler, and even inconsistent dialing can't guard against this

[@alexandermundy2403]

Ah I see what you are saying, a secret recording or listening device near the safe. Guess one could click past each correct number then click back to the correct number to thwart that, but one would have to be pretty paranoid to do that every time. 🙂

[@suddenobserver4516]

This lock scrambles itself, that's interesting. But can it be opened not by dialing the combo, but by moving the latch against its 2 mm spring, which is in a fence plate? Is there enough space to do?

[@alexandermundy2403]

From the US Patent: "In the course of the movement of the to-and-fro member 140 the stop surface 156 of the member 154 moves in front of the projection 122 of the bolt driver 120 (FIGURE 29). The latter, which was immobilized by the member 154 co­-operating with the projection 122, can then turn." In other words, the bolt driver cannot turn until the top sliding plate moves which moves the small lever that the 2mm spring pushes against past the raised part of the bolt driver. "From the first movement of opening of the bolt, therefore, the combination of the counters is destroyed. When it is desired to close the lock, it is sufficient to turn the control knob 211 in reverse direction. The bolt drive ring 120 is driven in rotation in reverse direc­tion, and the pin 121 brings back the bolt 110 towards its closing position. At the end of the movement, the pro­jection 122 pushes aside the lever 154, by its action against the arm 155 of the latter taking advantage of the resiliency of spring 160." In other words when the bolt driver is turned back the top sliding plate moves back to its position when locked which releases the "beehives" (

[@thelockpickinglebowski633]

Insane.