Access Security
Bernardini
Bischoff
Bischoff safes were manufactured in South Africa. The majority of the safes they sold in the USA were manufactured specifically for this marketplace, yet one or two models were not. They were manufactured and marketed in the early 1980s for about 5 years.
Bischoff did not retest this product (as required by Underwriters Laboratories) in the early 1990s… and ceased manufacturing them in the 1980s. The brochures posted below are representations of the “legitimate” products produced by Bischoff in the 1980s.
WARNING! Please note that today you will find “refurbished models” being marketed by a number of safe dealers with UL TRTL-30×6 labels on them, be warned that there’s a very good chance that they are fraudulent safes.
The reason we believe this to be true is the sizes and wall thicknesses do not match up with any of the legitimate UL listed products Bischoff manufactured. If you have a refurbished model with the Bischoff, Austen, or Mutual brand name, you might want to compare it to the wall thickness of the Bischoff Summit TRTL-30×6 models on the brochure below. Just because it’s thicker doesn’t mean it’s stronger!
In addition, they do not have a manufacturer’s date of manufacture and serial number label, as required by UL. As we have been told by many safe technicians across the country who have had to drill open these products, these safes are comparable to the lower security level TL-30 safes Bischoff manufactured in the mid-1980s.
If by chance you own or are considering buying one (or more) of these safes, feel free to contact us with details about your safe (or what’s being offered to you), its dimensions, etc., and we will do our best to help you determine if your product is legitimate or not.
Please note that Bischoff is no longer in business but the name may belong to the company that is shipping them to the USA (Mutual Safes / South Africa). You will find that similar “fraudulent” safes exported by the same company are being (or have been) marketed under the following brand names: Austen, Mutual as well as one internet marketing company that has been promoting these safes as just “model numbers”, such as “LS-2020”, “LS-3420”, “LS-5820”, “LS-6034”. What’s interesting is that these dealers seem to offer a number of models with the same dimensions as the other brands.
Another way to tell that these safes are fraudulent is because NONE of the dealers have a copy of the manufacturer’s brochure or specification sheet, regardless of the brand (or model number). You’ll note that virtually every manufacturer of a legitimate product has a marketing brochure.
FYI, we have been in contact with UL about this as well as all of the dealers of these refurbished safes for the past 10+ years, and NONE of them have been able to prove that the safes are legitimate. Unfortunately, the safe industry has no watchdog organization to protect the consumer from such misleading marketing.
Bridgeman
Chatwood-Milner
Chatwood-Milner was a safe manufacturer that was purchased by Chubb Safe Company of England many years ago. Chubb never used the Chatwood-Milner name until the Chubb Trident series of safes was brought into the United States in the 1970s.
The Trident was marketed here under the Chatwood-Milner name to afford the illusion of exclusivity for this product. This safe became very popular in the United States, especially in the diamond and jewelry trades in New York City where these strong, yet relatively lightweight safes found their way into hundreds of businesses in high rise buildings as well as ground floor locations. We often purchase used models and usually have a quantity of them in stock for resale.
Insurance companies gave preference to these products for the protection of millions of dollars in diamonds and jewelry, prior to the introduction of the first high security torch and tool resistant safes that were tested and certified by Underwriters Laboratories (TRTL-30×6 and TRTL-15×6 listings). Even though these safes were never submitted for UL certification, they retained their prominent position in the industry… insurance companies today still approve the use of these products for the protection of high values requiring safes with the UL TRTL-15×6 and UL TRTL-30×6 listings.
Chubb Safe Company is the world’s largest safe manufacturer and their name has always been synonymous with “high security”. Their manufacturing quality is unparalleled throughout the world, evidenced by the fact that the greater majority of Chatwood-Milner safes in use throughout the USA are still in excellent condition and, if maintained properly, operate virtually the same way they did when they were newly manufactured.
If you would like to see additional products manufactured by Chubb Safe Co., please take a look at the “Chubb” category in this section.
Chubb
Chubb Safe Company is the world’s largest safe manufacturer. Their name has always been synonymous with “high quality” and their manufacturing quality is unparalleled throughout the world. In fact, the greater majority of their European manufactured safes in use throughout the USA are still in excellent condition and, if maintained properly, operate virtually the same way they did when they were newly manufactured.
You will want to note that the Chatwood-Milner Monarch safe, the most popular Chubb safe in use throughout the United States, is the same product as the one with the name “Trident”, that was manufactured in England and marketed throughout Europe in the 1970s and 1980s.
There are a number of products that were manufactured by Chubb in Canada that found their way to the United States over the years. The manufacturing quality of these products are quite good but do not compare with those manufactured in England. Chubb safes with UL listings were manufactured in their Canadian plants.
Chubb is now a member of the Gunnebo Security Group, based in Sweden.
It is important to note that Chubb Safes has no connection to Chubb & Sons Insurance Company. They are two entirely separate organizations.
In the fall of 2009, Empire Safe Company, Inc., was appointed as the exclusive distributor of Chubbsafe high security safes for the USA and the Virgin Islands. You can view the advanced product lines in our “Commercial” section.
Do you need parts for a Chubb product? If you are in need of parts for the Chubb product you currently own or service, please contact our service department with the details so we can find out if the parts are still available. Please make sure to advise the information located on the labels inside the safe, including product/model names, serial number, date of manufacture, etc. Feel free to email a photo of the entire product, making sure to show the front and rear of the door (for identification purposes) as well as a close-up of the part(s) that you are referring to. We will do our best to help you and can also provide the service technician to replace or repair the product, throughout the USA.
Cox
This modest selection of safes provided solutions for clients requiring high security burglary protection for the storage of cash, jewelry, precious metals and diamonds. During the 1980s, safes from this manufacturer were introduced into the United States market.
There were 3 levels of security offered, the Treasury being the top of the line. This particular safe has a very unique boltwork locking mechanism that has 2 handles to operate the mechanism. If you ever see the mechanism of this particular series of safes, you’ll marvel at its intricacy and smooth operation. The high quality of its manufacture and attention to detail makes these safes virtually as good today as they were when they were new.
Dikla
Dikla was a small manufacturer of safes that produced unique safes with the UL TRTL-30×6 security level for a relatively short period of time… probably a few years. The safes were unique in that, instead of encapsulating the one-piece cast barrier material in a steel shell, they had the barrier material finished with grinding equipment to make the wall surfaces smooth and straight.
This method of manufacturing reduced the weight of the safe significantly, but the high cost to manufacture and create straight and smooth walls made the safes too expensive for the marketplace. You’ll also note that the hinges of this particular safe project beyond the right side of the safe… see the attached spec sheet.
The specification sheet we have illustrates only one model. We are not sure how many models were produced, but believe it to be somewhere around 4 or 5. If anyone reading this has a specification sheet showing all models, please let us know as we’d like to include the information on our website.
Empire Safe
Over the years here at Empire Safe, we have designed or collaborated in the design of many types of burglary protection safes, vault doors, modular vault rooms, and security classifications. Our products were designed to fill the needs of our commercial clients requiring quality burglary protection equipment. Some were designed to fill the void in the market to provide solutions that were not being met by others.
The following safes are those which we either created from scratch, created the concept of and/or collaborated in the design of. You can see the majority of their brochures in this category under the manufacturer’s name:
ISM Diamond Vault / UL TRTL-30×6
ISM Treasury / UL TRTL-30×6
ISM Super Treasury / UL TRTL-30×6
ISM Jewelers / UL TRTL-15×6
ISM Jewelers MK VII (torch and tool protection)
Empire/ISM Diamond Safes (torch and tool protection)
Empire Diamond TDR (torch and tool protection)
ISM Ultravault / UL TL-30×6
Empire FX Series / UL TL-30×6
Empire Gotham Six Series
Empire Gotham Series
Empire Professional “PRO6″ Series
Empire Quantum / UL TL-30
ISM Advantage / UL TL-15
Empire Enterprise / UL TL-15
Empire Professional Series (all series)
Empire Avenue Series (all series)
ISM 1-1/2″ Vault Door / Model VD40
ISM 2″ Vault Door / Model VD50A (torch and tool protection)
ISM 3-1/2″ Vault Door / Model VD90A (torch and tool protection)
ISM 7” Vault Door / Model 180A (torch and tool protection)
UL listings we have created:
Safe Listing: UL TRTL-15×6 (high security torch and tool protection)
Vault Listing: UL Class M (high security torch and tool protection)
Fichet-Bauche
Over the past 30+ years, many safes manufactured by Fichet-Bauche have been sold in the United States. The greater majority were tested and listed by Underwriters Laboratories, but there are many that were designed primarily for the European market, each offering their unique level of security. Their burglary protection safes and vault doors are all modern in design and attractive in appearance.
Fichet-Bauche made a corporate decision many years ago to produce products that had a very contemporary style. You will see this in their media protection safes as well. They are not only beautiful but streamline, which helps them fit neatly into many environments. The models we imported were secured by mechanical combination locks, but used/reconditioned models are often fitted with UL listed digital locks.
Lord
MediaVault
In 1985, we at Empire Safe designed this media protection product for the storage of floppy disks, tape cartridges, mini tape cartridges, optical compact disks and microfiche. This product was manufactured for us by Kongo Company of Kumamoto, Japan. We successfully tested this product in Yamaguchi, Japan and introduced it to the USA marketplace in 1986.
Megasafe
Megasafe is a safe company located in New Jersey that has been around since 1914. These safes were manufactured in Macedonia and imported to the USA for this market.
The safes marketed under the name “Treasury TRTL-30×6” were not UL (USA) listed products… they were ULC (Canada) listed products, which do not compare to the UL (USA) products with the same listing. As a matter of fact, these safes compare closer to the lower security range of TL-30×6 safes, so should not be considered a high security safe. UL Canada no longer tests safes according to the ULC performance standards.
Megasafe Super Jewelers TRTL-15×6 safes were manufactured by Soltam (Israel) and were taken off the market in the year 2000 after a UL investigation revealed that the product was not manufactured according to the specifications of the safe successfully tested by UL in the 1990s. This line of safes is closer in security to a UL RSC (Residential Security Container) level and should not be relied upon to protect high values, even though they have a UL TRTL-15×6 label on them. We have a copy of the UL News Release on file if you have such a safe and need confirmation of this. (Note that Soltam sold these safes to other safe dealers in the USA that marketed them under the manufacturer’s brand “Soltam Bankers Treasury”)
Mosler
Mosler Safe Company was the largest manufacturer of safes and vault doors for more than one hundred years. They specialized in burglary protection safes for the financial and commercial industries as well as the government.
Mosler was well known for manufacturing the following products:
- The United States Gold Storage Vault at Fort Knox, Kentucky
- The 50-ton safe that guards the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights
- The famous bank vaults that withstood the Atomic Bomb at Hiroshima
- The largest bank vault door ever built located in the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City
- The massive radiation doors for installation at Oak Ridge, Tennessee (5 feet thick)
Mosler is now owned by Diebold, of Canton, Ohio.
We usually have an inventory of used safes and vault doors manufactured by Mosler, the majority of which are excellent in quality and workmanship.
Please note that the TL-15 and TL-30 money safe brochures attached indicate only the standard models offered by Mosler at a particular time. There are many custom sized products with the same certifications that they manufactured over the years.
Special Note About “TRTL Round Door Money Safes”! It is important to note that the round door models that have bodies of ONLY 1″ thick steel plate (those NOT cladded in 3″ of concrete on all walls) cannot be considered “torch and tool resistant”, so if you have one of these safes, for security and insurance purposes, it should be considered no stronger than a TL-30 “tool resistant only” safe.