A NEW AND USEFUL FIREPROOF SAPE
Year: 1867

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by Hezekiah Hazard Bryant at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declara
tion, on the 14th June 1867, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent
Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, BE IT KNOWN, that I, HEZEKIAH
HAZARD BRYANT, of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, United States
of America, have invented "A NEW AND USEFUL FIREPROOF SAPE," and do
hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings making part of this
Specification, and in which Figure 1 is a vertical section of such safe, and
Figure 2 a vertical section of its door.
The plan of construction I propose to adopt in building my fireproof safes,
bank vaults, or other similar structures for the safe keeping of valuable
property or records, is this, viz., first, having constructed five sides of an iron
case of any required dimensions, I then build a "tank" of the same conforma-
tion in its exterior measurements, save that it is made enough smaller so that
when it is placed in its proper position within the case mentioned it will leave
sufficient space for the circulation of steam or air completely around it, so
that every part or nearly so of the interior surface of the case mentioned, as.
well as the exterior surface of the "tank," will come in contact with the steam;
or air, or both. This "tank" I divide into five compartments, so that they re-
present its back, top, bottom, and two of its sides, each one of which I fill nearly.
full of water for the purpose of generating steam whenever the structure may
be subjected to a sufficient degree of heat. Each one of these compartments
is provided with a vent or opening leading therefrom into the space between

page_text: the "tank "and the case before described; to this vent within the com-
partment I attach a flexible tube or hollow pipe of a sufficient length to reach
therefrom to any part of that compartment; to the other end of this flexible
tube or pipe I affix a "buoy" for the purpose of floating that end above the
surface of the water, thereby providing a means of escape for the steam which
may be generated through the vent just described, from whence it escapes
through the vent or vents provided in the first or outer case, or through a
vent or vents that will admit it into the vault or place of deposit in the
structure and from thence through the crevices about the door. Each one of
these compartments is also provided with a pipe leading from the exterior
surface of the first wall or case into said compartments, which pipes are so
arranged as to admit as much water and no more to the compartments as
each will take and still leave the required space between the surface of the
water and the walls of the compartment for the steam escape tube to continue
in working condition regardless of what position the structure may be placed
In the remaining or sixth side of the case first described the door of the
structure is made, upon the interior surface of which is placed a "tank" for
water and so as to allow a circulation of air and steam as described for the
other portion of the structure; this is also provided with same vaults, water
or feed pipe, flexible tube, and buoy, the same as the several compartments of
the tank first described.
in.
In the Drawings above mentioned as illustrating my Invention A denotes
the outer casing or shell of the structure; B its steam or air circulating space
or chamber, and a, a, etc., outlets formed through the outer shell A and
communicating with the interior of the space B; C, C, E, C, are the steam
generators; b, b, b, etc., their vents; c, c, c, the flexible tubes connecting
with such vents, and D, D, D, etc., the buoys or floats secured to the free
ends of such tubes. The water supply pipes for supplying water to the
generators are shown at d, d, d, etc.
The advantages which I claim and can establish by practical tests for my
mode of building the structure herein referred to over those of any other
manufacture are these, first, that my mode of construction is cheaper than any
other; second, that in a given quantity of space (which is of great importance
in these structures), used for water tanks I put twice as much water as any
other method, thereby more than doubling the power resistances gained there-
from; third, that my mode saves the whole structure from anything more
than an unimportant damage whenever exposed to fire, while none other
makes the least of such an attempt to save any thing more than the deposit..
So, long as there is any water in any safe it does it no more harm to burn it

page_text: than is done to a steam boiler in building a fire beneath it, precisely that much
and no more.
First, I claim the combination in the construction of a fireproof safe, bank
vault, or any structure of that nature for similar purpose, or for a like pre-
servation of other property, whereby a space or vacuum of any degree, extent,
or dimensions is produced so as to admit of the circulation of air, or steam, or
both, or their equivalents, at any point or points between the interior surface
of the walls or sides of the vault or receptacle for deposit within such
structures and the exterior surface of the first or outside walls or sides of the
same, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.
Second, I claim the flexible tube or pipe and the buoy whether used separate
or in connection, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.
Third, I claim the vent or vents leading from the water tank or tanks or
any of their compartments to any part of the space between it or them and the
outer walls or sides of such structures; also the vent or vents or valve or
valves leading from any part of said space through the outer wall or walls of
the same, or into the vault or vaults thereof, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
Fourth, I claim one or more water or feed pipes leading from the water
tank or tanks or any of their compartments to any part of the exterior surface
of such structures, whether without when the door or doors of same are closed,
or within when it or they are closed, substantially as and for the purpose
specified.
Fifth, I claim the construction of a fireproof safe, or structure which has
the same or similar objects in view, whero no material or composition is used
as a filling between the plates of metal used for the sides or walls thereof, or
the construction of the same, where such filling is used, of a wall or walls
either of which shall measure in it or their thinnest part less than three
quarters of one inch in thickness when the dimensions of the structure do not
exceed oighteen by twenty-two inches, when in excess of those measurements
not less than two inches in thickness.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 28th May
in the year of our Lord 1867.