The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-29 00:00:00

IRE SUE•2REASURY.

ARGOSIES OF GOLD—NINE...IC TONS OF COIN IN SAFE.
The vaults of the United States Sub-Treasury
are said to exceed in size those of the Bank of Eng-
land. The strong and burglar-proof manner in
which they have been constructed excites the admi-
ration of all beholders. There are two of these im-
mense vaults, one at each corner of the Pine-street
end of the rotunda. The rooms are perhaps 20
feet long by 15 feet wide, and 10 or 12 feet high.
They contain no window ; there is but one door
opening into each, and gas-lights are kept burning
inside.
The internal appearance of these vaults has a
striking resemblance to a fashiona,ble tomb in
Greenwood Cemetery, rows of cases being arranged
around the sides of the room, each about two feet
square, with iron doors attached. There is one
door for each case, and when the apartment has
been filled with bags of gold or bundles of green-
backs the doors are closed. Each case will contain
half a million of dollars, put up in bags of five
thousand dollars each. When a case is thus filled
the door is closed, and a seal is affixed in the pre-
sence of the Naval Officer and the Surveyor of the
Port. It takes 100 bags to hold half a million of
dollars. In the first vault entered there were 72
compartments arranged round the room, which
formed a tier somewhat higher than a man's
head.
Running over the top of these was a balcony with
an iron railing in front. There was piled up in this
balcony, in one heap, six million of dollars, in five
and ten dollar bills ; one-half million of dollars in
internal revenue stamps, fifty thousand dollars in
fractional currency, put np in large paper boxes,
and five and one-half millions in United States
bonds.
The floor of the vault rests on 30 feet of solid
masonry, from the ground up. On the top of this
granite there are two feet of wrought iron, and be-
tween the iron plates a space filled up with bullets.
If a rogue should succeed in boring through the
granite and iron, the moment his drill touched a
bullet, that would commence to revolve, and by the
time he had penetrated it another ball would drop
in its place ; in this way be would soon find that he
bad an endless job before him, and the attempt to
get into the vault would have to be abandoned.
The sides and top of the room are composed of
eight feet of granite and two of iron, arranged in
the same nianner as for the floor. This safe, as
it is called, was invented by Mr. Isaiah Rogers. Mr.
Rogers once remarked that if the people at the
Treasury building should happen to get locked out
of the safe it would take him a month to break into it.
A night watch is kept to look after these strong
boxes, but they are considered perfectly safe with-
out him.
There are four doors to be opened, one after the
other, before we can enter the safe. Each one of
these doors weighs two tons, and contains locks of
different patterns. A lever is so arranged that after
the doors are closed four large iron bolts are thrown
across the door-way, resting in sockets, which have
been made in a pillar of wrought iron. If a thief
should succeed in cutting the hinges of one of
these doors, usually considered to be the most
vulnerable point, the door would not drop down
from its place, and nothing would be gained. Like

the deacon's celebrated one-horse shay, these doors
are made as strong in one part as in another, and
the hinges show no signs of weakness. It will
take a fearful earthquake to shake them down.
No good idea can be given to the reader of the
locks and their operation, but a few general remarks
may be of interest. The first door has one of
Dobb's Eureka locks ; there is no key-hole for this,
and the outside combination wheel is divided into
the let ers of the alphabet, the nine units, and
fractions of figures. The combinations which may
be made by this arrangement are endless, and no
one can open the lock, shoving back the bolts,
unless he knows the words, figures, and fractions
which have been used in locking the door.
Even if a person was so fortunate as to get from
Mr. Birdsall the combination, he must have an ex-
tensive acquaintance with the lock to know how to
manipulate it correctly. The second door contains
an Ishain lock, which is altogether different from
Dobb's lock. The third door has L. Gale's Monitor
lock, and the fourth door contains Gale's double
Treasury locks. From one of these doors, after it
has been fastened, a portion of the lock is taken
off, and put under lock and key in some secret
place. Without this it would be useless to attempt
to get into the safe.
The second vault is much larger than the first
one described, but just as difficult to get into. There
are one hundred and twenty cases in this room
where gold can be put and sealed up. At the time
we looked into the vault there were ninety tons, or
forty-five millions of dollars in gold, stowed in the
room, and twenty millions in paper. The green-
backs, es they are paid into the Treasury, are put
up in packages of one thousand bills each, all of the
same denomination. A package of one dollar bills
contains one thousand dollars ; of five dollar bills,
five thousand dollars ; of five hundred dollar bills,
five hundred thousand dollars.
In one small box we were shown six small
packages, each of which contained one million of
dollars. Money is handled in the Treasury building
in a wholesale manner, packing trunks standing
about full of it, large willow baskets on wheels
being used to carry it in, &c. The sight of it be-
comes so common that the clerks employed regard
it with the utmost indifference, handling it as they
would so much brown paper.
The vestibule of the second vault is called the
book vault, and contains the cancelled obligations
of the United States, a ton or two of paymaster's
checks. All these books and checks are carefully
preserved.—New York Gazette.

PARIS EXHIBITION.

AMERICAN NOTES.

The American Department at the Exposition
presents many attractions which, in spite of all the
delay in its completion, makes it well worthy of
notice. We propose to mention, during the period
of the Exposition, all the varied articles on exhibi-
tion in our department. In the Annexe, and near
the American locomotives, may be seen the life-
saving raft, an invention of Mr. Perry, which
is rapidly coming into favour in America.
From its compactness and lightness, and the ease
with which it can be used, it has been selected by
the Navy Department of the United States for
universal adoption. The raft on exhibition is
capable of saving the lives of 50 persons; it cannot
be overturned, and so much confidence is felt in the
merits of the invention that a party of navigators
propose to leave New York for Paris upon one of
these rafts, to arrive during the Exposition.
A large number of interested persons may always
be seen in the vicinity of the models of street rail-
ways and cars, as exhibited by Mr. Eastman, our
Consul at Bristol. By a practical use of this sys-
tem, it is believed that all objections to city rail-
ways will be surmounted. By the arrangement of
the rails any other vehicle than the car itself can
travel on them with great facility and comfort,
thus making the street railroads thoroughly popu-
lar with every one. The immense convenience that
such a road would furnish to the travelling public
in Paris is hardly conceivable, and it is to be hoped
that the authorities will see the importance of this
matter and introduce it.

There is in tlle-Ainerican department a small
cannon, which, from the fact of its being securely
chained, one would imagine liable to a sponta-
neous explosion. We are informed that this is the
famous " Ferris Gun," ordered to be built by Pre-
sident Lincoln. It is made of wrought iron, with
a series of rings surrounding it, and outside still
another set of rings made of steel. The peculiarity
of this gun is the fact that a much larger amount
of powder is used in proportion to the weight of
ball than in other guns of the same calibre, viz.,
240 z. of powder to a 31b. ball, while the usual charge
for a muzzle loader would be 4oz. of powder for the
same weight of ball. This particular gun has been
fired several hundred times with the result that at
35 deg. the ball was fired to a distance of nine miles.
This was done in the presence of an examining
board of and under orders from the United States
'War Depot. The initial velocity was 2,200 feet
per second. It has been estimated that a gun built
on this principle, with a dumber capable of burning
9lbs. of powder, would throw a steel ball of 1001bs.
through twelve inches of solid iron, or, elevated to
35 deg., would send the same ball or shell ten
miles.

We last week spoke of some of the most supe-
rior American products in the Exhibition, and
in this issue we propose to call the attention of
our readers to goods in the American Depart-
ment which arc attracting great attention, and,
in our judgment, deservedly so. Among them are
those of the Tucker Manufacturing Company
of Boston, Massachusetts. These consist of chan-
deliers, lamps, brackets, clocks, cases, statuettes,
&c., made of bronzed iron. They are from beauti-
ful original designs, and reflect great credit on Mr.
Francis Fracker, the company's designer.
Mr. Niram Fracker, of Boston, Massachusetts,
is the inventor of this method of bronzing, and by
the discovery he will work an entire revolutio❑ in
this important branch of trade. These goods are
equal to the finest French bronze, and can be manu-
factured for one-fourth the price. The company
have on exhibition a statuette of Webster, the
great American statesman, that cannot be sur-
passed.

The Daball Patent Rotary Fog Trumpet i 3 the
invention of C. L. Daball, of New London, Con-
necticut., U.S.A., and represented here by Mr. S.
T. Daball. We were present when this trumpet
was in operation, and confess we have been very
much pleased with it as a means for the transmis-
sion of sound. It can be heard from ten to twenty
miles, is easily worked, and for marine purposes, to
protect our seafaring people from harm, and our
merchants from the loss of their property, it is an
invaluable invention, and one that cannot fail to
commend itself both to the scientific and practical
man. This trumpet produces a sound unlike any
other ; and what adds to the worth of the machine,
the sound can be increased to almost any volume.
The trumpet is worked by the " Ericsson Caloric
Engine," and has been adopted and set up in several
places by the American and English Governments.
We believe it is the best thing of the kind yet
produced, and worthy the attention of all National
Governments.

The Special correspondent of the Standard re-
marks, that " now that the American department
is beginning to be opened, we find that it contains
many of those ingenious notions and inventions in
which our cousins across the Atlantic excel. There
is a small machine called The Matrix Composi-
tor,' invented by John Sweet, who is in attendance
to explain it. It is a most ingenious contrivance,.
and for some sort of work is likely to supersede the
present mode of printing. It is about half the size
of a piano, and is furnished with keys. Upon the
top is a revolving wheel with letters, which, upon
the keys being touched, press upon a soft block of
paper, on which they leave a deep impression. As
this operation is continued, pages or columns are
impressed, forming a mould from which stereotype
plates can be cast, the labour of distributing the
type, and the very numerous errors caused in proofs
by the letters getting into the wrong boxes of the
type case, being entirely avoided. A lad or
girl could after a little practice work with this ma-
chine faster than the most experienced printer could

set up type. It is, however, only admissible for
some sorts of work, and this because mistakes can-
not be corrected. For reprints it is admirable, but
for the printing of original matter or newspaper
work, where after corrections are needed, it could
not be used. The sort of mistakes likely to occur
in setting up a reprint, such as repeating a word or
a line, can be obviated by cutting out the part re-
peated, and closing up the remainder before sending
it to be stereotyped, but even this sort of alteration
would be attended with considerable difficulty. An-
other invention, and that of the most important and
useful kind, is exhibited by Dr. Ileim, of Spring-
field, Ohio, the inventor and patentee. It is called
the hydrostatic Scale,' and is used for ascertain-
ing the exact load which a vessel is carrying, and
also to indicate the existence of leakage at sea.
Admirably simple as the invention is, it is yet rather
difficult to describe lucidly. Each vessel should be
fitted with two of these scales, one near the bow,
the other near the stern. A hole is made in the
ship's bottom of two inches in diameter ; from this
a tube of about three inches in diameter goes up
to the level either cf the deck or cabin, as may be
desired. The water in this tube will manifestly be
at the same level as that outside the vessel. In the
tube is a light hollow eopper rod, which floats in
the water, and projects up beyond the top of the
tube. Upon the upper part of this hollow rod is
a graduated scale. As the level of the water is in
the tube, so does the rod rise or fall, and indi-
cate the level of the water outside, that is the
depth of submersion of the ship. Supposing
now that the vessel were empty, these rods would
be down level with the tops of their tubes. Every
ton of cargo which was put on board would sink
the vessel so much in water. Say, for example,
that one hundred tons in the fore compartment of
the ship and an equal quantity in the stern would
bring her down a foot. The rods would then pro-
ject a foot, and their scale would mark 20) tons.
So on until the full cargo was reached, and the rods
would then show that the vessel was down to her
full burden line, and that no more cargo should be
taken on board. These rods could be enclosed in
glass cases, so that they could not be opened
or tampered with, and the Government inspector
would be therefore able to see before a vessel left
harbour that she was not loaded beyond safety
mark. In a similar way after the vessel was once
at sea, if she sprung a leak, the captain would at
once notice by the rods that she was lower in the
water than before, even if the difference were only
a few inches, and according as the fore or aft rod
was elevated he would be enabled to tell the general
position of the leak. The total expense of one of
these rods for a ship of large size is only
ten pounds, and as it occupies no appreciable space,
it would be well if the authorities could direct that
in future no ship, at any rate no emigrant ship,
should go to see without one. Had the ill-fated
London been furnished with one of these little in-
struments, no question could have arisen as to
whether or not she were overloaded. The Govern-
ment inspector would have seen at a glance how
many tons of cargo she bad aboard, and how low
she was in the water, and had she carried more than
her authorised freight he could have prevented her
putting to sea.

"Degener and Weiner, of New York, exhibit a
patent hand-press for circulars, cards, or other
small printing, which works with twice the rapidity
of any hand-press with which lam acquainted. It
Is well worthy the attention of makers of small
presses, and would be likely to meet with a very
extensive sale."