The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1875-01-22
CTonttesJ'uL Inrenfton.
A VAULT THAT TRAVELS ABOUT, GETS CF
IN THE MORNING AND GOES
TO BBD AT NIGHT.

The fire-proof vault in our courthouse,
i'm which are kept the books, RECORDS anu
all of the public documents, is vault the
like of which is to be seen no"bere e,se IN
the world. 1t was planned and built by
ex-County Commissioner Andrew fraser.
Mr.. Fraser was the leading spirit IN the
late able Board of County commissioners
III planning and perfccting the many lm-
oroyements that have been made Ill all the
county buildings during the past year.
He is chief engineer of the Gould q curry
Mining Company, and Is most sK'lIlui
machinist and ingenious mechanic. he
county was sadly in need of a large hre-
proof vault in which to keep its books, the
almost priceless mining records and the
many very valuable documents OF all kinds.
Mr.. Fraser's mind began to run on vaults,
and after studying all OF the vaults thaC
had ever been built or invented, he nit
upon vault unlike any ever seen or heard
of :, new invention, in fact, for which he
has secured a patent. His vault consists
of two or three parts which trarel ABOUT,
which are sometimes separated and some
times united. Of nights all the parts get
together and 60 off to bed away Gown in
TIE basement of the Court House. The
principal parts are the vault proper, which
is down i'll the bascment-we might say
down i'll the ground This is massive
brick structure, the only entrance to which
resembles the top of a very large chimney.
Then we have the book case, III which are
placed the books and documents, case
which not only holds all of the books and
documents at present i'll :he keeping of the
county. but which is large enough to hold
ALL that will be accumulated for many years
TO come. Next we have the cover of the
vault that part which covers the chimney
like opening at its top. At mig ht the book
case is down in the vault, where 1t is shut
in by the cover. massive structure made
of two thicknesses of heavy boiler iron
with eight inches of cement between. This
cover, which is i'll the shape of scow
turned bottom up, is heavily riveted i'll ali
directions, and is a ponderous affair. 1t
was manufactured in Cincinnati, o., after
drawings furnished by Mr.. Fraser. In the
morning the .janitor of the building takes
hold Of crank and begins turning it. This
arouses the book case. 1t gets up and
taking it's big iron cover upon its head, as
though it was hat, it leaves the vault and
the basement of the building, going to it's
psst on the second floor. There it stands
all day, with one face in the Office OF the
County Clerk and the other in the office of
of the County Recorder, holding out all
the books and documents ready to the
hands of the clerks. All day it stands in
this position, with its big iron hat (the
vault cover on its head. At night the jan
itor again turns the crank, and the big
bookcase knows it is bedtime. 1t starts
at once for the basement. Down, down
it goes to the vault into the depths of which
it disappears, leaving its big hat to cover
the hole by which it entered, and there il
roosts all night in its hole down in the
ground. BY very simple arrangement
of clock work this book case could be made
to open up shop itself-getting up at the
proper hour in the morning and going up
to the Office with it's tons of books and
documents, remaining on duty all day,
and then at a certain hour i'll the evening
suddenly making its bow and descending
to the basement, there to shut itself up in
its hole. All this it might be easily made
to do, so that no man need ever look after
it or think it. All that would be required
would be a small pipe from one of the
water mains, and a simple bit of clock
work to keep the time and let on and shut
off the water. This additional mechanism
has been thought of by Mr.. Fraser, and is
included i'll his patent, but for economical
reasons was not put in here, the County
Commissioners thinking it quite as well
for the janitor to run the apparatus by
means of a crank. Even as it st ands the
vault is really wonderful invention yet
is simplicity ITSELF Virginia (NeU.) En-
terprtse.