The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-11-12

People seem to Expect Them TO- hut Great
Care L. Taken by Those Who Move Them.
A crowd OF 600 or 100 people always
collects whenever a safe is being NOV
ed In the downtown district, for moth
Ing. not even excsvating for a cellar.
seems 20 interest people more than
such an event. UusaIly every n in
the crowd is wondering what would
happen II the ropes were to break or
the safe slip and the great a Of
Iron or steel came crashing to the
street. But Il never does.
Any man who wishes to Owe his
safe has a right to suspend IL above
the heads of passersby, for there are
no laws against his doing so. Safe
movers are not required to take out
licenses. nor is there any official in
spection OF safemoving apparatus. Yet
accidents are rare. Heavy safes are
so difficult to move that a man does
not try often to move one without the
aid OF experienced men. IL a safe is
to be shifted only two feet on h Of
nee noor safemovers must be sent
Safes sometimes weigh as much as
10000 pounds. and IT may cost any
where from 50 to $500 to move one.
A small safe can be handled by two
or three men, but 20 are not too often
too many. to deal with one weighing
10000 pounds. Recently on Washing
ton street II took 20 men and three
wagons the best part of a day to low
er a safe from the second floor OF a
building to the ground.
The largest safes. such as are used
in banks, can rarely be put in above
h second story of a building. They
are so heavy that the floor will not
support them. In the Continental bank
on the second floor there are two
safes which weigh 30. 900 pounds each.
These were hoisted in through the
windows of the bank by means Of a
derrick. The usual way OF getting a
safe from a wagon into a building IL
by means of pulleys. A block Is fas-
tened to the roof of the building or to
the floor above the window through
hich the safe is to enter. The wind
less Is on h wagon. Sometimes II
takes six or eight men to anage the
windlass. III the safe be unusually
heavy or II IL has to be lifted high the
number of pulleys and windlasses is
Increased. Manila rope Is used for the
pulley. Eight pieces of n and one
half inch rope are sufficiently strong
to carry a 40.000-pound safe. Every
piece of o must be tested each time
before IL is used and every part OF the
apparatus examined. Each man must
unueTstanu MS business tnOrOugnly.
Only thus are accidents avoided. After
the men on the windlass have hoisted
the safe high enough. all but one or
two leave the wager inc go up to the
block and hoist IL In. Safes have been
carried by windlass and pulley all the
way to the top stories of the Manhat-
tan n Champlain buildings. Some
times IL Is necessary to hoist a safe
though an elevator shaft instead of
carrying IL through a window. In such
a case ropes are extended from the
street to the elevator shaft, whence
they are guided by means of a snatch
block through the shaft. Few build
ings have freight elevators strong
enough to lift safes. II they have
1000 pounds Is the limit.
When a safe is TO be moved from
n part OF a room to another sheets
of iron are used to protect the floor.
Four sheets about six feet long and a
foot n a half wide are placed on the
floor in the path Of the wheels.-Chi-
cago Chronicle.