Milford chronicle., 1910-07-08
STORED IN ARMORED VAULTS.
The Whole Building Is Embedded In a
Solid Concrete Foundation, and the
Underground Strong Rooms Are In
pregnable-The Night Watch.

J. is in gold coin. ready TO be put In ell
e culation or to be stored In the nationa
treasury at Washington against the is
sue Of a corresponding number Of gol,
certificates A million or two Is II
bronze and nickel coins. Finally al
amount Of bullion varying from
, small quantity to several hundred mil
lions Of dollars worth occupies tn,
: four massive vaults designed for tn,
uncoined metal.
Now. how is this vast hoard pro
tected?
First Of all, the whole mint is EN-
bedded in n solid concrete foundation
about three feet deep. Concrete, as
every one knows. Is one OF the strong
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-
ton, comes a solid armor of battleship
steel six inches thick. so strong that
an expert working on It a week could
scarcely make an impression. much
less penetrate It by hand tools.
The vaults themselves are sunken
deeply below the ground Descending
| several flights of stairs and passing
| by doors guarded by a fearsome ar
| ray Of rifles for use by the night
guards. a long, fairly wide corridor
Of solid concrete masonry shows the
entrances to the six vaults, one for
the silver already referred TO, one for
all 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 a few dollars worth OF
this substance makes an uncomforta- |
bly, heavy load It is not thought nee
essary to surround it 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 a vault both
men have TO be together. and It IS a
rule Of the department that both shall
stay together till 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
one finds himself in a
huge room partltioned off in fifteen
by steel gratings Of the
strongest kind. A straight passage /
six feet wide and the height Of the
chamber gees 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. {
# which the value usually totals :
about S30OOO0
Beyond these storage places a steel
grated door In the passage itself has
o be opened and then still another :
o get completely to the end Of the I
'oom All along the length OF this
,assageway, from the entrance to the
'ault to the end. are the compart-
nents for the coins, separated from
he passageway by exactly the same I
ind Of gratings as those which divide 1
he way itself into sections.
The bottom, the sides and the top Of a
his vault are lined with steel plates,
nd about the entire vault is the three q
Dot protection Of concrete. Within the
ault itself are the separate compart- =
lents. each locked. These compart- +
rents are examined shortly after the
nd Of the fiscal year and are then
aaled by the examiners. so that any
ltrance to them would be impossible
'ithOut the breakage of the seals In
lch compartment devoted to the stor-
ge Of gold the coin IS stored first in
lgs which contain $1,000 each in half
lgles. eagles or double eagles. and
len these bags are arranged twenty
] a shelf Each shelf has thus $780, /
70 on IT, The shelves are arranged in ]
'ws downward, ten from top to bot !
IN Of the compartment, each row
wing thus S1.OOOOOO in gold in It. |
lights the entire section |
each vault. and the electric current
so arranged that If it were possible
r the vaults to be tampered with the /
would Immediately give no
e outside that something was wrong.
A detachment Of guards every night
stationed at the entrance to the
lirways leading to the corridor.
lich gives access to the vaults them
Ives. Their orders are to shoot down {
y one attempting an entry.
For the protection Of the mint from
e a well drilled fire brigade has d
arge OF the extinguishing apparatus.
ere are thirty-one fire alarm sta -
MS located in the corridors and y
,ms throughout the building.
1t night every fifteen minutes thirty
e watchmen ring a signal notifying
, watch in the telephone room that
is well. All these men carry re-
vers during the night watch. II the :
nal from any watchman was not
lrd at the right time an instant
run would be sounded. Philadelphia