Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-11
A BIG BANK VAULT.
How the Largest Ever Contemplated
Is Now Being Constructed.
LIKE THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON
The Pieces Are All Fitted So It Goes
Together Without Noise.
FACTS ABOUT THE BURGLARS ART
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE D1sPArcH.l

NEW YORK, Oct. 10-Most people i'm.
agine that there is something mysterious
about a burglar-proof safe. I confess I
never look upon the internal arrangements
of one of these Gigantic aggregations," as
the circus poster has it, of chilled steel and
bolts and time locks and beetle-browed bars,
but what feel an indistinct impression
sort of feeting shadow-of mysterious mid
night visitors in black masks, of detectives
sin plain Clothes" of drills and jimmies and
billies and handouts and newspaper articles
with ''scare heads"
In some way there is associated quite pro-
miscuously in the mind the cracksman
and his implements of trade along with the
miser's gold and the combination Of metal
which human experience and ingenuity
have devised and perfected to preserve the
one from the clandestine clutch of the other.
This love of gold that takes possession ofthe
human breast can scarcely be more solemnly
typifed than in this eternal hammering and
boiling and welding together of iron and
steel for its protection.
LARGEST VAULT EVER MADE.
With thoughts akin to these 1 stood in
of iron plates, down deep in the bowels of
the earth in the heart of the city, witness
ing the details of how to keep money, The
noises that assail the ears at every step and
drown the roar of the street are not more
poetical than the sounds incidental to q
boiler factory; but somehow the conscious
ness of the wealth these same plates and
bolts are being tempered to hold forces that
peculiar tumble of romance and poetical
sublimity. That one-inch slab of combined
iron and steel, for instance. which is being
turned to a right angle in powerful press,
is to be part Of the immense steel vault
now in course of construction on the next
floor. This vault is for the great banking
house of Drexel, Morgan & Co. 1t is to be
Is feet long by 10 broad and Is high. The
burglar who gets into this cage will want
week or two undisturbed labor and wagon
load of tools. I wanted to see this vault,
which is the largest, strongest and most ex-
pensive ever constructed, as matter of
curiosity and in the possible event that 1
might want to get into it myself some day.
1t would greatly simplify matters to see
how the thing was done
NOT MUCH SECRECY AFTER ALL
Mr.. Marvin, the President of the COM
pany, probably never thought of that, for
he politely turned me over to his superin-
tendent, who not only showed me through
out the immense establishment, but per-
mitted me to iot down all the weak points
In nv note book for future use This for
ever destroys my former belief in secret
process, hidden mystery or some hocus
pocus about safe construction. The follow
Ing information may save burglars and other
people who have things worth burgling
good deal Of trouble.
Formerly, vault for bank was made of
alternate sheets of iron and steel, one laid
on top of the other to the required thick
ness. The expert burglar could drill
through the soft iron with ease and break
the brittle steel with hammer Now these
plates are constructed of chrome or carbon
steel and iron welded-a plate of steel, a
plate of iron and plate Of steel, etc-to
the uniform thickness Of one inch. This
creates hard, tough plate when tempered
that cannot be touched with file. In con-
structing bank vault such as this Dre1el,
Morgan & Co. affair, the entire vault Is
built here and afterward taken apart and
set up where it belongs in the bank.
HOW IT IS PUT TOGETHER
First, detailed drawing is made, and
from this drawing every plate can be or
dered from the mill. These plates are vet
soft, and in this condition are accurately
trimmed under the powerful rotary shears
and double-headed planers, heated to a
white heat and bent to the necessary angles
and rabbeted and punched and threaded for
screw bolts. They must be laid in place be-
fore the latter process and carefully fitted,
the rabbetted edges closely joined and all
joints broken, both as to the particular layer
and the ones beneath it. In vault architect
ure the workman proceeds in exactly the re-
verse order pursued by the house builder.
That is, he builds the roof first, and all work
is done from the inside. The burglar is
compelled by force of circumstances to work
from the other direction at q carefully de-
signed disadvantage.
On a thickness of one inch of steel and
iron plating, laid in bent framework and
double corners of the same material forming
the outer shell, are succession of layers Of
1k-inch metal of the above description to
the thickness of three or more inches. On
top of this is a complete lining Of half-inch
solid steel All of these layers are screw
bolted onto the preceding one, with three
quarter-inch bolts countersunk.
TEMPERING THE PIECES.
Now, when the whole vault is thus COM
pleted the next step is to take it all apart,
send every plate and screw down below,
subject each piece to q white heat in the
great furnace, and then dip 1t into the big
vat of water. This is the temperlng. When
1t gets through this process it is found that
plates have been warped and expanded by
the heat. The great steel house must there
fore be rebuilt, and every piece reftted to
place. The material has now become so
tough and hard that nothing will touch it
but the emery wheel. No machinery can
trim it. So the brawny workmen press the
edges and ends against the whirring wheels,
which cut the tempered steel into showers
of flying fiery sparks and take off the triding
increase.
The vault is thus slowly rebuilt as 1t will
finally appear in the bank. When it is fin
tshed the next step is to take it all down
again. The pieces are transferred to the
bank building, and there in its place Of
trust the structure is again and for the third
time put together.
DOOR OF THE BIG VAULT.
In the meantime the construction of the
massive door to this vault, a double, inner
and outer door, with its "a bolts of two
inch steel, has been going on. There is
detail drawing of this door showing every
piece and its relation to every ether piece.
The frame is of steel, 3Ax2H inches and |
the combination of bolts and locks is about |
the same as that of the plate vaults of the |
United States Treasury in Washington. |
The Sargent-Greenleaf time lock, with its |
double combination and divided RESPONSE |
bility, forms the key to the financial situa-
ton in this case
From 80 to 40 men are at work on this |
single vault, and it requires six months of |
their labor to finish it. This independently |
Of the mills that furnish the plates. There |
ire similar, but smaller, vaults in course of |
and little further advanced, |
On the next floor.
at is race between the manufacturer