The Washington times., 1894-04-16
THEY CRACKED THE SAFES
Government Experts Easily Went
Through Burglar-proof Makes.
THE FORTHCOMING REPORT
Now the Owners of Patents for Making Bur
glar-proof'' and Champion" Safes Don't
Want the Story to Get Into Circulation.
The Two Systems.

The makers of "burglar-proof" safes are
very much disturbed for fear that report
which was made to the Secretary OF the
Treasury some time ago on experiments con-
Quoted by experts in safe and vault construc-
tion will become public property. The re-
! port has been issued from the Public Printing
Office, but copies of it are scarce. They are
held so close that preparations are now being
made it is said to reprint the result of the ex-
periments in book form for general circula-
tion.
1t is said also that the manager Of one OF
the great express companies has expressed
the hope that the publishers will not issue the
book, as he fears that the publication of so
much information about the insecurity OF
safes may provoke an epidemic OF bank
burglary, and possibly of express. robbery.
have a copy of the report of the Treasury
experts before me, and it is very interesting
reading even to a layman. The experiments
were made with view to determining the
safest construction for the new Treasury
vaults, which are TO be built some day when
Congress wakes up and makes an appropria-
ton for the purpose. The government ex-
ports were Robert II. Thurston, Theodore n.
Ely, and +. A. Pratt.
The experiments were conducted Tor them
by Prof. Charles Z. Munroe and Lieut.. Samuel
Rodman, OF the army. As result OF these
experiments, the experts recommended to
the Treasury Department two forms of vault
construction as possessing advantages over
all others examined. but wound up their re-
port by suggesting that the details OF con-
struction be left to the officials OF the Treas
ury Department.
The two forms of construction so highly
recommended, it should be said. have not been
put to the practical tests used to determine
the merits of other forms Of construction. In
fact, while all of the experiments to prove the
fallibility of other safes and vaults were made
at the works of one of these companies. the
experts have to regret that they had time Tor
only "short visit to the factory Of the other
concern making this style OF safe, and that
there was no vault made by the other concern
for their inspection.
And il must be remembered further that
these experts report positively that there is no
form of vault construction which will with
stand absolutely the action of burglars tools
and explosives. and that the most that can be
expected of any of them is that it will keep
the burglar at bay long enough to make it
likely that his work will be interrupted.
And furthermore. these experts say, no syS-
TEN Of vault construction is safe without an
auxiliary guard to give the alarm in case the
vault should be attacked.
The new form of construction which the
commission recommended to the Secretary Of
the Treasury so highly uses chilled iron in
stead of steel. This chilled iron is used prin-
cipaly for ear wheels. Its strength and due
tility are vastly greater and its blow-resisting
power much greater than that of common
irons.
Its property of hardening by sudden chill
ing Is its most remarkable characteristic
3 , sreyh h.A hon +tnTl iron 10
poured into a mold of which any part is COM
posed of a heavy mass of cold iron, the imme-
diate reduction of the temperature OF the
molten mass to that of the colder iron pro-
duces an effect similar to that observed in
hardening steel. and with the result peculiar
TO this case OF giving permanent hardness,
which cannot be removed by simply heating
to red heat and slowly cooling, AS in the case
of steel. 1t can only be altered by remelting,
and the hardness thus produced in good
metal exceeds that of steel. In fact it is not
unusual 10 So bstitute tools OF chilled iron for
tools of steel when the metal is too hard to be
cut by ordinary tools.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company has
employed these chilled iron tools in its shops
at Altoona for years. These peculiar irons
are found in both the East and the West.
They bring in the market a slightly higher
price than ordinary brands of iron. Their
peculiar qualities depend on chemical prop
critics not yet lully determined.
1t must be remembered that these chilled
irons are not the peculiar property of one
man or one company. They are sold in the
open market, and anyone who wishes to do
so may use them in vault construction. And
rs the experts recommend that the plans for
the construction of the new vaults be widely
advertised and the contract let to the lowest
bidder. it follows that anyone is at liberty to
try for the contract for this peculiar construc-
ton. if the Treasury officials determine in ac-
cordance with the report of the experts to
make use OF it in one or more of the vaults
So it is not from fear of the loss of the con-
tract for building the new vaults that the
makers of safes are anxious to retire the re-
port of the government commission from cir
culatiop.
They are afraid that the result of the publi-
cation OF the experiments which were made
with some well-known safes will damage their
business. For the experts print with their re-
port a long series Of pictures, showing how
easily they penetrated the safes OF different
makes with ordinary burglar tools; and the
names the safes appear in prominent places
in these pictures to the confusion of their
makers. / don't propose to advertise the
makers of drilled iron safes and vaults, there
is more than one of them, or TO expose by
name the makers of other styles of safes II
is enough to say that almost every well-known
safe was included in the experiments. The
result Of them ought TO interest anyone who
owns q safe of the so-called ''burglar-proof
class.
The report made to the Secretary OF the
Treasury is illustrated with more than fifty
engravings showing the results of these ex-