The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-14
TIE PARIS EXPOSITION.


on clean plate. l am-to change the subject
constantly reminded Of this experience of the
author Of the Irish Sketch Book, when looking
at the safes in the Exposition. In America we
know tolerably we'll what a safe should be.
With our pleasant practice 81 burning up every
thing once a year, it has been forced upon us to
study the matter Of security. We have done so
practicallY-haviug the fire at hand-and sue
CessfulIy, inasmuch as safes are in universal use
in every part of the United States. As a rule
they are solid, angular objects, plainly painted
green, and indicating strength rather than
beauty. A few, to be sure, have been made for
parlor use, and these are gay aud brilliant in
decoration, but they do not alter materially the
broad defnitiOn. broker merchant, or store
keeper procures one OF our green friends, and
it stands quietly and faithfully in the corner, a
silent sentinel, ready to perform its duties on
the shortest notice. This simplicity of outward
show does not seem TO be acceptable to the
tastes of Europe. Some Of the most extra
ordinary objects in the Exhibition are called
safes. They are constructed in the most fanciful
way, and are filed with singular contrivances
for doing nothing. Externally they Rlisten and
glitter in the sun like gems, being polished and
FURNISHED with all the care that is usually be-
slowed on the latter. The effect is pretty enough,
but it seems superfuous ia an object of absolute
utility. There is a safe in the French Oepart'
ment which has sheet of lookiug-glass in front
"a matter of vast convenience TO the clerks, no
doubt, but Of very little utility in case of fire
The interior Is sub-divided into an infinite mum
Der of boxes, pigeon-hoes, drawers, trays,
secret recesses etc. can easily imagine a poor
disconsolate $1,000 bill being lost in such a mad
denmg labyrinth.
The history of safes only extends over period
of forty years. There are many who still re-
member the old.fashioned know cheste," as
they were called. They were simple wooden
boxes covered first with thin sheet-iron, then
banded and strapped, and the whole made fast
with large knobby nails, in imitation of the
rivet-heads of boiler. The wood with which
these chests were constructed was submitted to
q chemical process. 1t was saturated or soaked
in salt water or brine, and so long as the mOis-
ture was retained, served as a good nor.con-
ductor. The fibre charred instead of igniting'
and combustion proceeded slowly. 1t was found,
no wever, in the course of time, that saturation
produced decay, and, in the lapse of few years,
the wood became mass of dry rot, exceedingly
liable to take fire of its own accord, or from the
slightest external circumstances. Something
different had therefore, to be discovered. 1t was
speedily but Accidentally found in the material
called plaster OF Paris. The accident was in this
wise'-A young mechanic, who had been en-
gagged in making moulds OF casts with plaster of
Paris, b 4ving finished his labors, was preparing
to "wash up" and go home. For this purpose
he attempted to heat some water in kettle
wherein previously he had mixed his plaster
After stirring the fire impatently on several oc-
casions, he was surprised to find that the water
did not get warm with its accustomed rapidity'
and further inspection showed that the kettle
contained the debris of his plaster castings
Upon throwing them out, the difficulty was
Immediately obvated and the idea of the non
conducting power of plaster of Paris was con-
ceived. Its application as filing for safes
followed almost Immediately, but several years
elapsed before anything like success was at
tanned. The calcned plaster was OF no use as a
fre-proof cement, unless mixed with water, and
the water made the interior OF the safe moist,
and so mildeWed and destroyed the books and
papers, oxydized the iron, and laid the tounda-
tion for an early and certain decay. Premiums
were then offered for fre-proof filings, and the
result has been a steady and constant improve
ment in fre-proot protectors, when properly
made Water is still an element used in filings,
even when called dry filings; but it does no
eVapOraLe OF lose any VI Is QUALITIES uuIAl az
tackled by the FIRE. 1t is unaffected by the heat,
or the atmosphere, or the temperature of the
room in which it is kept.
There is but one American safe in the Exposi
tion but it is creating more discussion than all
the others put together. / am under the inn
preston that 1t will take the prize; at all events
it deserves the most marked consideration
And, indeed, Mr.. Sas G. Herring, whose houses
are situated at New York, Philadelphia, New
Orleans, and Chicago, is determined that it shall
have the most marked consideration, Mr.. Her
ring, need scarcely add, is the manufacturer.
His name is well known in this branch of in
dustry. So long ago as ls4Oit came prominently
before the public. In that year great trial OF
safes took place at Coffee-house-slip, foot OF
Wall street. New York, in which all the leading
fre-proof safes then climbing into popularity
were destroyed, save the Salamander Safe, with
which Mr.. Herring was associated. Since then
Mr.. Herring has devoted himself exclusively to
the business. The manufacture, which in the
year / have named occupied a dozen men,
now gives employment to more than three
hundred. MIR. Herring does not think that
the fury had made a sufficient examination
of the various safes in the building, and
he is perhaps a little irritated at the effect
which mere external work seems to have on the
public mind. At all events he desires further
test, and has affaby proposed to make an inter
national bonfire of their safes in competition
with his own. He is willing to stake from one
to fifty thousand francs on the result. This is
Naa