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I was wondering is anyone had a Columbia BS or other coin-op Graphophone with the original key for the lock as I need to make a reproduction one for mine.
so if you have that key, could you take a clear picture with a ruler next to it so I have a good pattern?

thanks for any kind of help.

Making a key from a picture would be very hard to do accurately. All you need to do is unscrew the lock and take it to a local locksmith to have him make a key directly from the lock. I've done that with several coin-ops. Quick and inexpensive.

It paid off in a big way when I had a key made for my Edison Bijou. When I went in the locksmith had a few things from his basement off in a corner with a for sale sign. I ended up buying a Mills Commercial poker machine, ca. 1910, for $500. I kept it a few months and sold it for a few thousand. I'm glad I needed a key!

I do have a key, but it's homemade and ugly. I want the bow to look like the original so that's why I wanted a picture.
I would not bother using pictures otherwise.

I guess my intentions weren't clear.

I can't positively guarantee that this key is original to the machine, but I have very strong reason to believe that it is. This BS is the nicest one I have ever seen in over 50 years of collecting, complete with original signboard, horn, and reproducer, and flawless throughout.

However it is the earliest style, with groove across the sides of the lid and no decal, and open-front coin slide. I don't know if they may have changed anything about the lock in the later version with decal.

Thanks a lot René! I'll assume it is the original and copy the design.
It will be good enough for a reproduction anyway.

TinfoilPhono wrote:I can't positively guarantee that this key is original to the machine, but I have very strong reason to believe that it is. This BS is the nicest one I have ever seen in over 50 years of collecting, complete with original signboard, horn, and reproducer, and flawless throughout.

However it is the earliest style, with groove across the sides of the lid and no decal, and open-front coin slide. I don't know if they may have changed anything about the lock in the later version with decal.

I made a copy of this template, but it did not work. After taking the lock apart, I added 4 notches for the bolt mover and 3 spring-loaded levers. Now it works like a charm. The straight blade should work in a lock, where the 3 levers have been removed. There may even have been factory original variations of the 3 levers, in which case the lock has to be taken apart like mine. By just doing permutations there are 27 different locks and keys when using the same three levers and allowing for repetitions.

The keys to Columbia coin-operated machines were not standardized in how they were cut. While they all used the same locks and key blanks, each machine had a different cut of the key. In other words, the possibility of one original key from a Columbia BS working on another Columbia BS is pretty low. They did this to protect the machine and the owner when multiple machines were placed in an establishment. I suspect there were a set of keyed locks that were used (not an infinite variation) so one key may work in another of the same example, but again, that possibility is pretty low.

I agree with Rene, take your lock to an old-time locksmith. I've had luck with a locksmith locally who horded original key blanks. When he is done, you have an original key. Unfortunately, he's to his end of many of the original key blanks, so I am on the hunt for another old-time locksmith.

Shawn

Wondering if machine operators who placed multiple coin op phonographs in a location could order them keyed alike. That would likely be more convenient than having each keyed differently.

Later, operators of disc coin operated phonographs, such as the Gabel Automatic Entertainer, had the option to order their machines keyed alike, even though each machine would be in a different location.