Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-08-27
THE oxY-AcETYLENE TORCH.
Safe Breakers Invention Makes Il
Easy to Cut Through Hardest Steel.


doors Of New York's innumerable
safes and vaults marks the locking
up until morning Of billions Of dol
lars In cash and securities. Now and
then burglars break into safes and
make away with their contents. Once
in long while the loot will run into
a fortune, but usually the haul does
not rise above q few thousands. This Is
principally because the largest Of these
treasure chests are veritable citadels
Of steel and stone covered with a net
work Of electric wires. the acme of
the safe builders skill. But no mat
ter how thick the steel walls, no mat
ter what ingenious scientific devices
are employed to ward Off the cunning
Of thieves, in the heart Of every bank
er and every safemaker there Is the
lingering fear Of the unexpected. 1t
is nearly 80 years since the first safe
making company was started In the
United States. and from that day to
this the warfare between the burglar
and the safemaker has been incessant.
One industry has advanced steadily
under the ever active stimulus Of the
other. AS fast as the ingenuity Of the
burglar has enabled him to overcome
the last move of the shoemaker, the
shoemaker has had to study his OPP
ponent's hand and figure out how to
check him. Then 1t becomes the bur-
glars move, and so on. Today the
burglar, IL he avails himself Of the
latest devices, has the advantage.
At the convention Of the Police
Chiefs Of the United States and Can
ada, which was held at Toronto a few
days ago, the use Of the oxy-acetylene
blow pipe for cutting through the
hardest steel was the subject Of
long discussion. Much concern was
expressed by the most prominent po-
lice and detective heads present be-
cause they feared that 1t might sup
plant dynamite In the hands OF the
yeggmen, and thus place within their
reach treasures vaster than any safe
breaker ever dreamed Of attaining
before. The most modern safes are
practically dynamite proof. but only a
few Of them could Withstand for even
five minutes the gently kissing tongue
Of flame. whose power Of disintegrat-
ing metals Is greater than anything
ever known. This combination Of
pure oxygen and acetylene gases was
discovered and the appliances for its
use invented by Frenchman named
Bournonville some ten years ago. 1t
was introduced into the United States
in 1907, and the oxy-acetylene appli-
ances have been manufactured here
ever since. They are in use In great
number Of factories. on board the
steamships, in railroad work shops and
on wrecking trains-everywhere, In
fact, where steel has to be cut or
welded.
The highest temperature that can
be attained with solid fuel in fur
mace is 5000 degrees. The combina-
ton of the gas flames Of oxygen and
hydrogen. once considered the hot
test Of all products Of combustion, Is
less than 1000 degrees. The oxygen
acetylene flames temperature Is more
than $500 degrees Fahrenheit. Ace
tylene produces about five times more
heat to the cubic foot than hydrogen
and nearly doubles 1t in intensity.
When acetylene and oxygen are COM
bined and the flame condensed into
a very small volume the result is a
finely pointed tool Of incredible power.
At the end of the blowpipe there are
three needle-like holes. side by side
a small fraction Of an inch apart.
From the two outer ones spurts the
hydrogen flame. This heats the met
al that It touches so the metal be-
comes soft and red. Then the oxygen
flame Is turned on. This unites with
the carbon in the metal and disinte-
CRATES 1t. 1t does not melt the metal;
It simply burns q narrow path through
1t. The cut Is smooth and the metal
on either side Is not affected by OK
idization. The speed with which
this sharp flame cuts its way through
the toughest steel Is remarkable. A
15-inch IT" beam can be severed by
It in less than three minutes. Half
inch steel plates can be cut at the
rate of IA inches every minute, one
inch at the rate Of a foot every go
seconds, and plates inches thick at
the rate Of 8 inches a minute.
From this 1t will be seen that the
average safe would be as easy to
cut through with this appliance as
can Of peaches would be for the
housewife to open with an ordinary can
opener. The only difficulty Is that
the standard apparatus, the heaviest
part Of which is the two gas tanks,
weighs about 800 pounds. This Is
but a trifing obstacle to the clever
burglar, however. He has been
known to rig up two automobile gas
tanks, each less than Is inches long.
for his purpose.
That the fears Of the police CHIEFS
all over the United States are we'll
grounded is shown by the occurrence
of several of these safe burglaries at
widely different points in the west
lately. A few months ago safe In
a Twenty-third street store in this
city was cut into by the use OF an
oxy-acetylene torch. Nothing was
known about the matter until the next
morning. There was no disorder, no
debris about the empty safe, such as
usually follows the use Of dynamite.
The burglars simply had made a neat
circular hole a little larger than the
rim Of the combination. They had
taken out all the implements,
thrown back the bolts and opened
the outer door. The inner part, where
the money was. they had treated in
much the same way, by cutting off a
few hardened steel bars and cutting
out a lock. 1t could not have taken
more than ten minutes in all. There
was no noise, just a thin pencil Of in
tensely white light and q soft kissing
flame.