Pick Pay Phone lock

With the Charlie Brown lock pick.





Sorry... I don't know.

DogP
 

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only lock-pick i use ;)

power-drill-1.jpg


never failed me yet.
 
So how do you pick this lock?

Is that a Western Electric lock (e.g., 30B)? If so, it is effectively impossible to pick. Unlike in the movies and on TV, not all locks are "pickable". With regard to the Western Electric payphone locks, aside from rumors and legends, no one is known to have ever successfully picked one. Even the folks from Western Electric couldn't defeat their own locks; they had to use destructive methods if they didn't have a key.

You can read about them here. The "Discussion" section at the bottom of the page talks about how secure these locks are.
 
Is that a Western Electric lock (e.g., 30B)? If so, it is effectively impossible to pick. Unlike in the movies and on TV, not all locks are "pickable". With regard to the Western Electric payphone locks, aside from rumors and legends, no one is known to have ever successfully picked one. Even the folks from Western Electric couldn't defeat their own locks; they had to use destructive methods if they didn't have a key.

You can read about them here. The "Discussion" section at the bottom of the page talks about how secure these locks are.

Interesting read. I've drilled one of these locks before. Not easy. Took several hours to finally get in. I'd like to pick this, but sounds like it would be almost impossible.
 
Western Electric/A.T. & T. payphone locks are difficult.

We had one on location where we had lost our key to the upper housing. Called in a professional locksmith whose done these before for the phone company. First he took a hammer and cold chisel to the lock. When he got it in to about a 1/4" deep he then took a giant square shanked straight slot screwdriver and vise grips to it. That worked..... the old brute force method.

I have *heard* of people nowadays getting in with a lock pick gun if you want to go the picking route.
 
Is that a Western Electric lock (e.g., 30B)? If so, it is effectively impossible to pick. Unlike in the movies and on TV, not all locks are "pickable". With regard to the Western Electric payphone locks, aside from rumors and legends, no one is known to have ever successfully picked one. Even the folks from Western Electric couldn't defeat their own locks; they had to use destructive methods if they didn't have a key.

You can read about them here. The "Discussion" section at the bottom of the page talks about how secure these locks are.

False. It's been picked. Be sure to read the comments on this video too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuEq8sVfOhI

 
False. It's been picked. Be sure to read the comments on this video too:

What are you talking about? There's nothing in that video or the comments which established that anyone picked that lock. The only one in the comments who tried to pick it is "Texas Jim", who broke his pick in the lock and then disassembled it:

Texas Jim
9 months ago
I broke a pick off in the lock and I am in the process o disassembly.
 
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It did not show the lock being picked.

yeah but it's been done.

i picked my way into a Medeco lock on my payphone, so if that can be done, so can a weak-ass western electric lock.

no lock is impenetrable from picking. none. if there is, it'll be picked soon...
 
yeah but it's been done.

Or so you say.

i picked my way into a Medeco lock on my payphone, so if that can be done, so can a weak-ass western electric lock.

A Medeco lock is not a Western Electric lock, and the part I "bolded" is laughable, given that the latest versions of the Western Electric payphone locks have been around for about 50 years, and there is no conclusive evidence that anyone has ever successfully picked one. If it were a "weak-ass" lock, people would have been continually robbing the Bell System / AT&T blind back in the days when there was a payphone full of money on practically every street corner.

no lock is impenetrable from picking. none. if there is, it'll be picked soon...

Or so you say (again).
 
"To date, only one person (on record) has been able to pick these locks. John Clark was arrested by the FBI and sentenced to 8 years (he should be out now),and my guess is that he isn't telling anyone how he did it. Whatever device he used to pick these locks left marks that eventually led to his arrest."
-source: http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=16286

other cool reads/links:
- http://www.crypto.com/photos/misc/wecolock/
- http://www.keypicking.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=8296
- http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4615.0
- http://www.binrev.com/forums/index.php?/topic/31189-breaking-into-pay-phone/
 

Yes, "neat". That's the second video you've posted that not only does not support your position, but actually supports the opposite of your position.

"To date, only one person (on record) has been able to pick these locks. John Clark was arrested by the FBI and sentenced to 8 years (he should be out now),and my guess is that he isn't telling anyone how he did it. Whatever device he used to pick these locks left marks that eventually led to his arrest."

I've already seen that thread, and without real sources (such as from the FBI or court records with enough details to tell us that he not only defeated the lock, but did it with a non-destructive method, i.e., that he "picked" it), it falls under the category of "rumor" and/or "legend" that I mentioned in my first post. Also, even if it is true, why is it that a "weak-ass" lock has only ever been picked by one person?
 
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