I ran upon an open Lowrie Safe & Lock Company wall safe in the rehab of an early-1900’s 2-flat grey stone on the west side of Chicago. We were going to have to drywall over the safe so I wanted to spare it and began to dig deeper into learning more about their construction and history. I’m always curious as to how things work and wanted to know if it was possible to crack a lowrie wall safe…
How to Crack a Lowrie Wall Safe
The safe was painted and wouldn’t close and I didn’t want to close it because I didn’t want to take the change that I couldn’t get it open so after looking closer I discovered that the safe door and door frame were attached to the body of the safe by six square-headed bolts that I was able to remove by hand. I took the door and frame home to take a closer look and learn how it operated AND figure out the combination too 🙂
The safe door and frame removed from the box:
The inside of the safe:
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| LOWRIE S&L CO NY PATD FEB 11-OCT 14 ’02 MODEL 68 |
The bolts on the back of the door frame:
Here is an advertisement I found for this safe, including a diagram for installation:
That diagram above encouraged me not to try to take out the box of this safe since it seems like it will be bolted as well as imbedded in the masonry of the building.
How The Lowrie Wall Safe Works
The way the safe works is that the dial turns a shaft on which 3 keyed plates turn. The keyed plates perform the role as the physical lock by turning inside three channels in the opening of the safe. The 3 channels have a large notch on the top and two smaller notches on the bottom. When the plates are all aligned correctly it allows the door to open. The combination is comprised of three, 3-digit numbers, and in my case I’ve learned the combination is 68, 13, 76.
Following are the details of what happens when you unlock it. When you turn the dial to the right (clockwise) at least 2 times around and stop at 68, you align the outside plate as shown by the notch in the top of the plate lining up with the notch in the top of the door:
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| The outside plate is in place |
Now turn the dial left (counterclockwise) past 13, continuing counterclockwise one entire revolution to 13 again and stop. This aligns the middle plate:
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| The middle plate is in place |
Now turn the dial right (clockwise) to the last number, 76, and stop. This aligns the last plate:
Now the plates are all aligned so they will clear the channels in the opening of the safe. The door pulls straight out and then swings out to the right:
How to Crack a Lowrie Safe
As I’ve studied this safe’s design the question I’ve been asking myself is how I would crack this safe if I ran upon another one and didn’t have the combination. Here is what I believe is the easiest way to crack a Lowrie Wall Safe…
Step 1. Drill a hole at the top center of the door, slightly below the notch.
By doing so you will be able to look in and see the locking plates and most specifically the notches at the top that tell you when they are aligned.
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| The red dot marks the place you should drill a hole, ~1/4″, to expose the notches in the “wheel pack” disks. |
The door of the safe is thin(ner) on the outside half inch gets almost twice as thick in the center. By making sure the inside edge of your hole is entirely on the thin edge (within 1/2″) you will be able to drill a hole that will be able to see the notches on the plates. Here is another diagram showing how your drill bit should be aligned. The dotted lines show the path of the hole:
I think you must be careful to not drill too low because you may not be able to see “over” the first two plates and see the back plate. I haven’t actually done this so you’ll have to give it a shot and then possibly drill a larger hole if you cannot see well enough. But it helps a ton to have seen the insides of the safe before trying to crack it open.
Step 2: Turn the dial clockwise 2 revolutions and stop when you see the notch of the outside plate line straight up.
Step 3: Turn the dial counter-clockwise until the middle plate’s notch lines up with the outer plate’s notch.
Now the outside two plates should be lined up with both of their notches straight up.
Step 4: Turn the dial clockwise until the back plate’s notch points straight up.
Once the three notches line up you should be able to pull the dial straight out and open the safe door.
Hopefully this helps someone re-claim some long-lost treasure in a newly opened wall safe.
We later discovered that there was another wall safe in the other unit of the building but someone had already removed the door and frame and drywalled over it:
Here’s a close-up video of me unlocking the safe so you can see how it works:
Here’s a wider view of the unlocking process:
Here is a link to a locksmith where he alludes to drilling a safe just like this one:
Here’s some articles/discussions on Lowrie Wall Safes:
- HowStuffWorks “How Safecracking Works”
- A (Legit) Safecracker Defies the Stereotype
- Lowrie Wall Safe Auction
- Techniques of Safecracking (book)
- Pictures of an actual Lowrie Safe in a home
Here are some random advertisements I found when searching for more information on these wall safes:
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Thank you so much. I’ve gotten the paint off from around the dial and the door. I’m confident that I could do the method in your tutorial. However, the dial still won’t turn. I’ve tried it with pliers and it won’t budge. I’ve been googling it but not finding much. Any ideas? I’m not sure if it’s rusted…. I was thinking of putting ice packs on it to slightly shrink the mechanisms and trying again.
I would probably (carefully) try a heat gun. Wear leather gloves and heat up the dial area and then use a pair of channel locks on the dial (cover the dial with something to keep from scraping it up) and try turning it that way. I’m guessing the reason it won’t turn is paint that wicked into the seam around the dial (and under the dial). All the parts are metal so you should be able to get it hot inside the dial area.
Can I hire you?
I don’t live in Chicago anymore, sorry.
I have one of these safes in my bedroom in my Chicago apartment and I desperately want to open it. It is painted shut, the dial doesn’t turn, and I don’t have the combination.
Also I’m not good at this stuff, would a locksmith be able to do something like this?
I just don’t know where to start.
Kristin, I’ve found that locksmiths vary greatly in their ability so I cannot promise that any particular locksmith would be able to get into this. I’m confident I could but only because I’ve seen the inside of one. You’ll have to get the paint off of it first. I would probably (carefully) use a heat gun to get the paint off and then I’d use the method I recommend in this article.
The dial turned perfectly but, I think that the Lowrie safe that I was given access to was painted shut between the door and the frame. Thank you for your response sir.
Is the door tight fitting in the frame or is there some play in and out? Is there anything else that you can tell me about this type of safe? Thank you.
I don’t know whether a new safe (or one not used much) would be tighter than this one but there seemed to be a certain amount of play in my safe as if it had been tighter, the friction would have kept you from turning the parts. I don’t have access to my safe at the moment so I can’t give you much more information than that.
Thanks, I just bought an apt in NYC and has the same safe , and when we move in I will definitely take your directions, I have to check but if I remember correctly I believe the dial might not turn however the unit looks clean, any recommendations, I will try to spray in between to see if it just might be rusted or heat it up, any suggestions are welcome ,thanks.,,,Danny (email address redacted by website administrator)