The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1910-04-13
WELL GUA..vlD CASH
The Millions Piled Up In the Mint
at Philadelphia.
STORED IN ARM0RED VAULTS.
The Whole Building Is Embedded In .
Solid Concrete Foundation, and the
Underground Strong Rooms Are In.
pregnable-The Night Watch.

The Philadelphia mint always con.
tains coin and bullion which fiuctuates
in value each day between a half and
three-quarters of a billion dollars. One
hundred millions of dollars of this
amount Is In silver dollars stored for
several years In room by itself 100
by 80 feet in area. About $30o000.00
is In gold coin. ready to be put in cir
culation or to be stored In the national
treasury at Washington against the Is
sue of a corresponding number OF gold
certificates. million or two Is In
bronze and nickel coins. Finally an
amount of bullion varying from a
small quantity to several hundred mil
lions of dollars worth occupies the
four massive vaults designed for the
uneoined metal
Now, how Is this vast hoard pro-
tected?
First Of all. the whole mint Is EN-
bedded In solid concrete foundation
about three feet deep. Concrete. as
tNtI1 Obt hhohs, 40 oht Va VIC otioDb
est of all known substances and the
most impervious to drilling or wear
Then ON the interior, where the vaults
are placed, within this concrete protec-
tlon, comes solid armor of battleship
steel six inches thick, SO strong that
an expert working on 1t week could
scarcely make an impression. much
less penetrate 1t by hand tools.
The vaults themselves are sunken
deeply below the ground. Descending
several flights Of stairs aud passing
by doors guarded by fearsome az
ray Of rifles for use by the night
guards, long, fairly wide corridor
Of solid concrete masonry shows the
entrances to the six vaults. one for
the silver already referred to. one for
ull kinds of coinage. but mostly for
gold. and the remaining four for the
gold, silver and nickel bullion, The
bronze bullion lies In another room by
Itself, but as n few dollars worth OF
this substance makes all uneomforta-
bly, heavy load 1t Is not thought nee
essary to surround 1t with the minute
safeguards used In the case Of the
precious metals
The vaults themselves have a double
combination. That to the outer door
Is known by the cashier only and that
to the inner door by the custodian Of
the vaults only To enter Il vault both
men have to be together. and 1t IL
rule of the department that both shall
stay together TIL the inspection or
other object for which the huge safe
Is opened is accomplished.
Entering one OF these great cages
after FIVE minutes working at the
combination. one finds himself in n
huge room partItioned off In fifteen
compartments by steel gratlngs OF the
strongest kind. A straight passage
six feet wide and the height of the
chamber goes down the length Of the
room from the door At the entrance
are stored the bronze coins, the cents.
about $4,000 worth of them. but the
amount varies from day TO day. Next
come the more precious nickel coins,
of which the value usually totals
about 100000
Beyond these storage places a steel
grated door In the passage itself has
10 DO opened and then still another
to get completely to the end Of the
room All along the length Of this
passngeway. from the entrance to the
vault to the end. are the conpart-
ments for the coins. separated from
the passageway by exactly the same
kind OF gratings as those which divide
the way itself into sections.
The bottom, the sides aud the top of
this vault are lined with steel plates.
and about the entire vault IL the three
foot protection OF concrete. Within the
vault Itself are the separate eompart-
ments. each locked These compart-
ments are examined shortly after the
end of the fiscal year and are then
sealed by the examiners. NO that any
entrance to them would be impossible
without the breakage of the seals. In
each compartment devoted to the stor-
age OF gold the coin Is stored first In
bags which contain $4,000 each IN half
eagles. eagles or double eagles. and
then these bags are arranged twenty
ON n shelf, Each shelf has thus $780,
600 on IT, The shelves are arranged In
rows downward. ten from top to bot
tom OF the compartment. each row
having thus Sl,ooo.oc0 In gold In 1t.
Electricity lights the entire section
of each vault. and the electric current
Is so arranged that II II were possible
for the vaults to be tempered with the
electricity would Immediately give no
tice outside that something was wrong.
detachment of guards every night
is stationed mt the entrance to the
stairways leading To the corridor.
which gives access to the vaults them
any one attempting an entry.
For the protection OF the mint from
fire well drilled fire brigade has
charge of the extinguishing apparatus
There are thirty-one fire alarm sta
lions located In the corridors and
rooms throughout the building
AT night every fifteen minutes thirty
one watchmen ring signal notifying
the watch in the telephone room that
all Is well. All these men carry re-
volvers during the night watch. II the
heard at the right time an instant
alarm would be sounded. Philadelphia
Record