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 time lock is a timer designed to prevent the opening of the safe or vault until it reaches the preset time, even if the correct lock combination(s) are known.

Time locks are mounted on the inside of a safe's or vault's door. Usually there are three time locks on a door. The first one to reach 0 will allow access in to the vault; the other two are for backup purposes.

Time locks 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 authorized staff at unauthorized times.

Modern electronic time locks have some functions not available to mechanical time locks, like resettable timers and pre-set times to activate.

A time lock has nothing to do with time-delay locks.

Further reading

Time Lock

Time Lock (1957) is a British thriller film directed by Gerald Thomas. The plot is about a six-year-old boy who is accidentally locked in a bank vault. With less than 10 hours of oxygen left in the vault, it becomes a race to save the boy. The film features a young, pre-James Bond Sean Connery. The boy is played by Vincent Winter and his parents are played by Lee Patterson and Betty McDowall.

Although set in Canada the film was shot in England.

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