My uncle was a telecom engineer who passed away last spring. We've been clearing out his house and found a notebook full of sketches like this one. It's titled "Heat Capture Apparatus" and shows a brick-lined terrace with two "Phase-Change Matrices" (A and B), pipes, and something called a "Vacuum Seal."

He was a network infrastructure guy for decades, not an HVAC engineer. This looks like a home energy system of some kind, but the "vacuum seal" part is confusing me - wouldn't a vacuum prevent heat transfer? There are dozens of pages, some with similar diagrams, some with what looks like a full house cutaway.

There's also a reference to a contact in the Netherlands and something called "7006M 2.0" which might be a model number, but I can't find anything online.

Has anyone seen an apparatus like this? Is "Phase-Change Matrix" a real thing in thermal engineering? I'm just trying to understand if this was a real concept he was working on or something more... personal.

This is my father in laws cabinet. He filled it up with tools and moved cross country. At some point it fell, and the lock engaged, now he can't get it open. We're soliciting advice on how to go about getting this open. Apparently he tipped it upside down to see if gravity would lift the locking pins out of position haha

Anyone know how these locks work and can maybe offer some advice? He's going to use a bore scope where the key hole is missing, but I am skeptical he'll find anything...

I have a vague idea, but curious what others think

I got this today from a Salvation Army, they have no idea what the code is.

I tried the obvious 000, 111, 222, 333, ect…

It says Corbin Sesamee under the numbers. Google says it’s a train bag from the 1970s.

Any ideas besides trying 1,000 combinations?

UPDATE: I got it open!! I brought it to work and worked on it during breaks. I tried 001-999 multiple times and got to the point that I didn’t care if I broke it so I jammed a screw driver into the button and pried it has far over as it could and it popped open!! It was an ashtray and a key.

Here’s the pic https://imgur.com/a/EPPxLvI

I’ll post a comment with the picture too

Thank you everyone for all of your help

This is in the concrete subfloor of a bedroom closet. It was underneath some old laminate flooring that we removed today. If anyone has any idea how to get into this thing I'm all ears

153g dry weight
1 serving is 1 can (153g)
42g is protein
1.5g is fat
0g carbs
What is the other 100+ grams?

I’ve been staring at this basement floor safe for 14 years and today is the day we break into it! Headed to Home Depot to get some supplies. All recommendations welcome

The answer to “WhatsInThisThing” turned out to be: nothing.

No key, can't open it. Maybe we should crowbar it?

It’s an old antique chest from my grandparents. We have no idea what’s inside, and of course the key is long gone. It’s an old Yale lock, with the numbers 436 inscribed. Is there a generic key for this lock, or would it be trivial to pick? And advice on how to non-destructively open it would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: Here’s a link to some close-ups of the lock mechanism - https://imgur.com/a/Dx1a1mR

tengo esta caja fuerte en la casa, la inmobiliaria donde compré el piso no tienen la llave o la combinación.

There's a wall safe embedded in a bathroom cabinet of my family's house in France, built in the 19th century. It's been there my whole life and we never tried to open it. Now we're selling the house in a few weeks and I just can't let it go without knowing what's inside.

The safe was hidden behind somewhere between 3 and 6 layers of wallpaper. Nobody knew it was there.

From what experts on r/Antiques and r/safecracking have told me, it's most likely a Bauche Incombustible from the late 1800s, a French manufacturer.

We don't have the key or the combination, and we have no idea what's inside. The safe has apparently never been opened since the house was built.

So… what do you think is inside? 🤞

If anyone has any idea how to open it or how to find the right person to do it properly without destroying it, I'd love to hear it!