Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-05-26

HEY WEIGH MANY TONS
Charge of Dynimate Needed to Effect
Entrance Would Wreck the
Buildins-Heavy Water
proof Doors.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Merchants
are robbed; the safes of country banks
that carry a surplus of perhaps $40, 600
or $50, 900 are often riddled by burglars.
How is IL that the millions quietly re-
posing within the doors OF scores of
banks in the larger cities are never
attempted? For il is a fact that during
the last twenty-five years no attack,
successful or otherwise, has been
made on any bank vault in the United
States in cities of over $4,000 inhabit-
ants. Most of the bank robberies occur
ing today take place in towns of $500
to $500 inhabitants. In the larger cities.
where the treasure really is, no one
even attempts to rob a bank, Why is
this?
Money a protect money. That is
the whole secret. The country banks
depend on safes costing perhaps a few
hundred dollars; a great city bank
spends perhaps $3.50, 900 for it's burglar
n tireproof vaults. And these vaults
are proof. They are absolutely unas-
sailable. The guarding OF a banks
money has been reduced to such a
science that a banker, having once
taken the proper precautions, never
gives the matter a further thought,
though he has millions OF dollars with
in his doors.
The fireproofing for a large vault
can be constructed for from $l0,0 900 to
$500 1t is the burglar proof steel
lining that brings the cost of vault
construction up to the six figure mark.
Heavy Waterproof Doors.
Think of a steel door weighing twelve
tons or a hinge alone weighing one ton.
When the door consists of ten inches of
drillproof steel plate, plate Tapped on
plate, do you wonder that even the
most daring burglar has ever attempted
it? such a great door usually has some
four and twenty-five or three inch steel
bolts, which shoot out automatically
in four directions as soon as the door is
closed. The entire closing of the door
is absolutely water tight. The closing
has actually been tested one whole
night under water. The closing Is one
of the tongue and groove" variety,
and the groove is packed with pack
inc.
This formidable door is furnished
with a time lock that can be set for
any number of hours and that cannot
be opened until the hour for which it is
set arrives. The doc is furnished with
perhaps three duplicate timers, so that
if two should fail to work there would
still be one to open the door.
Inside the great door a massive graf
ing, called the day CRATE, gives access
to the vault. To this chamber. which.
with its four-inch walls of drillproof
steel, is worthy of Vulcan himself, only
the active officials of the bank have en-
trance. Here are the ~tellers' safes,
where they keep the money for the
days business.
Piles Of Gold and Notes.
Here are bags of gold, IS, 900 in each,
piled up like 81 many bags of buttons,
each bag being securely tied and sealed.
Here are packages of bills stacked up
like bricks. The ones and twos in 81, 900
packages and the tens and twenties in
$4,000 packages. The bills in each of
! these packages have been counted, tied
up and sealed by two persons in the
presence of each other, so that the bank
a guarantee the amounts as given on
the labels without ~recounting. Here,
inside the tellers' safes, are compart-
ments where the collateral received for
loans TO depositors is kept.
But this is only the outer division of
the vault chamber; beyond 1t is another
massive grating dividing the vault int
two rooms. No single official can n
trate to the inner shrine, and one of
the two officials necessarily present
must be a director of the bank. Here
is the holy of HOLES, where repose the
reserve funds of the bank-millions of
gold and paper money The reserve
funds are kept in safes on which locks
are timed to open every morning, so
that If necessary the bank tellers could
I have the .soncy at a moments notice.