The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-03-10
BANK BURGLARS.
The House Appropriations Committee
is Engaged in Studying Them.
No BureIar-Proof Vault Can be Made Sc
cure-The Four Points of Attack.
Washington Star.]

tdulUS dU Uu6 SuD-bICcSUllCo AL OVhCI
parts of the country. The Treasury De-
partment has been trying for years to
persuade Congress to make an approprla-
tion for this purpose. The Secretary OF
the Treasury does not want the recon-
struction done all at once. He wants one
vault at time attended to. 80 "hlle
the ultimate expense will be very great
the immediate appropriation Will De
comparatively small. The government
commission which examined the treasury
vaults to years ago reported that vault
No, 1.-THE principal silver. vault-lss of
absolutely no value as a protective
construction" The same commission
condemned in almost as strong terms
six of the other seven vaults and said
that vault No.2 should simply be kept
long enough to get the other vaults re-
placed OF reconstructed. The safes in
the redemption bureau, which are used
for the storage of small quantities OF
money at night, are of the pattern OF the
last generation and they also should be
replaced.
1t is probable that the mem bers of the
appropriation committee have learned
more about burglar methods through
the study of this problem of vault con-
struction than they ever knew before.
The Secretary of the Treasury has laid
all the facts before them in detail. Us
ually the authorities shroud the methods
of criminals with as much mystery as
,of h.,
ton of the details of their work my help
to educate other criminals. The COM
mission which was appointed to lnvestI-
gate the vaults of the treasury told
the Secretary that burglary methods
were so we'll known that no publicity
given to them could be made to serve
any BAD purpose So the commissions
report which the House committee has
been considering is perfect textbook in
vault burglary.
The Four Methods.
There are four metht DIS of attack used
by the modern vault burglar. The sim
plest of these is to drill the walls or door
of vault and obtain access to the locks
or bolts SO that the door can be unlocked
from the inside. The second is to strip
off layer by layer the steel and iron
sheets of which modern vaults are made.
The third is to employ an explosive in
some part easy of attack and to destroy
the lock, break open door or break or
weaken the walls of a vault. The
fourth IS to compel the officer in charge
of the combination of vault to open
the door.
There is no such thing as burglar
proof vault or safe. Experiments as
we'll as practical experience have shown
that there is no form OF construction yet
burglars tools. The principal safe
guard against burglary is that on which
the Treasury Department has relied for
many years-the multiplicity of the
guards about the vaults. Next to that
the greatest security is in the construc-
tion of vault whose walls Will be so
difficult of penetration that before the
burglar can get clear through he will be
discovered. But when set of burglars
equipped with finely tempered drills has
an entire night undisturbeo in which
to get inside a. vault there is no vault
vet constructed which is proof against
them.
The Construction of the Modern Vault.
The invariable construction of the
modern vault is in layers of soft and
tough steel or iron. The softer material
is intended to give strength and perma-
nence of form to the mass; the tough
metal, to resist the drill. The soft metal
by itself would yield rather quickly to
the drill; the tough metal being brittle,
would be shattered easily by an explo-
sive The softer metal is usually the
best of what are known as the mild"
steeIs made by the Bessemer process.
Iron is subject to flaws by lamination
or cinder streaks and therefore is not
SO desirable as steel. The harder metal
is either high carbon steel or an
iron and chromium, known as chrome
steel.
The common method of manufacture
is to alternate three layers of iron of
soft steel with two intermediate layers of
steel capable of taking on extreme hard
ness and to roll them down together,
hot, to form sheet of the thickness of
half an inch, SO that the i'm bedded
steel plates will offer the greatest resis-
tance to a well tempered drilling or cut
ting tool. These composite sheets are
then built into the walls of the vault,
alternating with heavy half-inch iron or
soft steel plates until thickness of sew
eral inches IS obtained. Absolute i'm
penetrability is not to be had and is not
expected, but Il the wall can De mdue
to resist an attack over night or even
over two nights and two days-two holI-
days or holiday and Sunday frequent
ly intervene between working days-the
result is considered entirely satisfactory;
Vaults have been made recently of solid
of the chilled iron used IN car
wheels.
In ordinary vault construction set
of slap bolts" is used, each passing
through one sheet and screwing into the
sheet beyond. The second sheet being
bolted to the first, another set OF bolts
fastens the third sheet to the second; the
two sets of bolts breaking joints. SO
that no bolt hole penetrates more than
two sheets. The walls of the vault are
always built from the inside outward.
Where the method of attack is to strip
the sheets from their places, ordinary
bolts are frequently drawn by clamps or
nippers.
Door and Time-Lock.
The weakest part of vault or safe is
the door. 1t is constructed, like the
wall, of alternate layers of soft and hard
steel. In the ombination or ordinary
time-lock system there is a steel spindle,