Time lock

For the 1957 film, see Time Lock

A time lock (also timelock) is a part of a locking mechanism commonly found in bank vaults and other high-security containers. The timelock is a timer designed to prevent the opening of the safe or vault until it reaches the pre set time, even if the correct combination(s) are known. Timelocks are mounted on the inside of the safe's or vault's door. Timelocks were originally created to prevent criminals from kidnapping and torturing the person(s) who knows the combination, and then using the extracted information to later burgle the safe or vault, or to stop entry by staff at unauthorised times.

Modern Electronic Time locks can have many functions such as multiple different codes as in a Digital Electronic Combination Lock (some with different functions), pre-set time lock settings (open and close times), settable Time Delay Lock from 10 seconds to 99 minutes, pre-set vacation times (Christmas day etc.), Dual code facility and a full audit trail providing a detailed record of the lock history showing who opened the lock, when and how long it was open. They also use a non-volatile memory so that no information is lost if the batteries go flat but will be openable when the batteries are changed after the pre- set time if the correct code is entered.

Further Reading

• Erroll, John; Erroll, David. American Genius: Nineteenth Century Bank Locks and Time Locks. Quantuck Lane, 2006, ISBN 978-1593720162.

External links

• Bank Vault Time Lock Collection