IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE AND BURGLAR PROOF SAFES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Farrel, of the Firm of Herring, Farrel, and
Sherman, Safe Manufacturers, of the City of New York, in the
United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FIRE AND BURGLAR PROOF SAFES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Farrel at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
July 1871.
I, JOHN FARREL, of the Firm of Herring, Farrel, and Sherman, Sáfe
Manufacturers, of the City of New York, in the United States of
America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN FIRE AND BURGLAR PROOF SAFES," to be as follows :-
:-
I construct the outer metallic wall and the door of the safe of several
plates or lamina respectively of welded high and low steel or steel and
iron, Franklinite, or spiegel cisen, and wrought iron. I also make the
various bolts and spindles used throughout the safe of Franklinite
combined with steel or iron, or vice versa.

page_text: In one modification the sides, top, and bottom of the safe are formed
by one or more continuous encircling bands, and the front and rear
corners fitted with solid and seamless angled frames. To guard against
the introduction of explosives I pack all scams and joints leading into
the safe with elastic packing, and for the best results the packing round
the door is placed at the bottom of a recess or groove, into which a
corresponding tongue is forced when the door is closed. The hinged pin
of the door is either made to slide laterally or otherwise so located or
moved that the tongue and groove or recess will not bind in opening
and closing the door. To prevent discolouration and injury of any
papers or other contents accidentally resting in contact with it during
a fire, the door is lined on its inner surface with wood, papier maché, or
like non-heating substance. For the fireproof filling I use a combination
consisting of Epsom salts 25 parts, gypsum 50 parts, and hydraulic
cement 25 parts by bulk.
-
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Farrel in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th December 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
Farrel, of the Firm of Herring, Farrel, and Sherman, Safe Manu-
facturers, of the City of New York, in the United States of America,
send grecting.
:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Farrel, Her special licence that I, the
said John Farrel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Farrel, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with; and no others, from time to
time and at all' times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain´and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE AND BURGLAR PROOF
SAFES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John

page_text: Farrel, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Farrel, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings and Figures
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
-
My Invention relates to improvements adapted to enhance the
efficiency. both of burglar proof and fireproof safes, and safe and vault
doors, and in carrying out said Invention I use the special features
of either separately or both varieties in combination.
In the construction of safes with the special object of resisting attacks ·
by burglars, I build the exterior wall of a series of plates or lamina of
metal, whereof the chief and stoutest is Franklinite or spiegel eisen, or
similar hard inductile cast metal not susceptible to attack by cutting
tools, and incapacitated by nature from being softened by heat applied to
the surface. This is to be placed on and secured by any process known
to the art to an inner plate of wrought iron, and an outer plate is added
to the Franklinite metal to protect it from fracture if attacked with
sledge hammers, such outer plate being composed of several layers of
non-hardening or Bessemer steel, alternated with steel that may be
hardened or tempered; these are welded together and the welded plate
subjected to a hardening process, thus producing a compound plate of
great resisting capacity against attack with sledges, and the wall made
as above described I believe to be surpassingly perfect as a resistant of
all known modes of attack by burglars.
In the above combination I do not confine myself to any particular
relative arrangement of the metals, but that described I deem advisable.
To provide security against the introduction of explosives and explosive
liquids, such as nitro-glycerine, into the interior of the safe through the
various seams around the door, and at the joints where bolts and lock
spindles are inserted, I pack all such joints with suitable gaskets of

page_text: india-rubber or other elastic substance.
In so packing the joints around
the door the best result is obtained by forming tongues and grooves or
recesses respectively in the flanges of the door and jambs of the door
frames, and inserting the elastic packing in the recess or groove, Figures
3 and 4. In such case the closing of the door thrusts the tongue or
flange corresponding to the packed recess against the elastic medium,
and compresses it tightly, making a perfectly impermeable scam.
The method of packing the joints around the spindles or bolts is as
follows A cavity or cavities are made in the central portion or plates
constituting the wall of the safe door around the bolt or lock spindle,
Figure 5, and clastic valves or gaskets with metallic collars are fitted to
the bolt or spindle; these gaskets and collars are of a conical shape
adapted to corresponding valve seats, and this feature operates to cause
the gaskets to hug the spindles closely as they are forced towards the
valve seats by the pressure of a suitable spring.
To prevent the clandestine opening of the safe by the operation of
wedging, I make the margin or face of the frame around the door in a
continuous piece, which is welded fast to a circumambient frame at right
angles thereto, thus forming a solid and seamless frame of rectangular
shape in cross section, as seen in Figure 4. To this frame is secured the
grooved or recessed jambs constituting the door frame, and the latter is
also secured by suitable bolts to the inside of the shell or body of the
safe, and to the outside of said shell is secured in a similar manner an
exterior lamina of metal with its edge or edges contiguous to the edge of
the angle frame. Said lamina is composed of a series of continuous
encircling bands entirely surrounding the sides, top, and bottom of the
safe. The bands may be of welded iron and steel, and I usually make
them of wide bands of suitable thickness by welding together the ends
of a bar. The first is slipped over the body or shell aforesaid when
heated, and being first drawn close down to the frame is shrunk
in cooling to the body or shell. Another is added in the same manner,
and when the required number is placed the structure is completed
by securing to the body a back similar to the door frame above referred
to; the result is that the seams ordinarily occurring at the corners are
obviated, and the force exerted by wedges inserted in the seams which
are exposed would have no effect thereon to widen or open them. The
precise construction of the shell or body on which the bands are secured
is of no consequence.

page_text: In many cases the builder may find it desirable to begin with the
back and add the front frame and door at the last.
With the solid and seamless angled frame and a recessed or tongued
and grooved door and jambs, I combine a certain construction of hinges
whereby the door may be opened easily and without binding, and for
this purpose I have illustrated certain plans severally adapted for use in
different situations, the choice to be determined by circumstances and
the requirements of a given safe.
In Figure 3 I have shown a bead so arranged on the edge of one of
the flanges as to project laterally into a recess made to receive it in the
jamb; this prevents the door from being swung open on its hinges
even when unlocked without being first released from the bead and
recess. When they are used the proceedure therefore in opening the
door is to first draw out the rear edge or hinged side of the door sufficient
to withdraw the bead, as seen in Fig. 3; this is permitted by having
the pintle of the hinge movable. The principle of said hinge is to have
the pintle to slide (or swing) away from its normal location; thus onc
portion of each hinge is arranged in a suitable way or slot where the
pintle works and so may be moved with respect to the other portion or
leaf in starting out the hinged side of the door as required. To assist
in this starting out the rear of the door when it is very heavy I use
either a worm or a handle fixed to the door frame and working in
a bracket on the door, Figure 3, or I have a lever hinged to the door
frame and connected to the pintle, as seen dotted in Figure 3, a half
turn of the worm by its handle or a slight pull on the lever draws out
the rear of the door, after which it is swung open on its hinges in the
usual manner.
In cases where the bead mentioned is absent and a single pintle
may be used, a superior plan is to arrange the pintle or pintles of the
hinges in a plane which will intersect the recesses in the door and
jambs or door frame, that is, so that an are of which the pintle is the
centre will pass between such surfaces as indicated by dotted lines in
Fig. 4.
To prevent the removal of the bolts, spindles, or like parts employed
in safes or the locks thereof I combine with the metal or metals of
which the bolt or spindle is made, such as wrought iron or steel, or
both welded together, another metal of an entirely different nature,
being inductile and in its own normal condition inherently hard and

page_text: imperviable, said combination being mechanical and effected by reducing
the hard metal to a molten mass and pouring the same around the
other metal or into holes made therein lengthwise or transversely or in
any other manner by which the aforesaid combination may be accom-
plished. For such hard cast metal I use any hard inductile white iron,
Franklinite, spiegel eisen, or any metal requiring a melting heat to bring
it to a working condition. A conical bolt so protected is seen in
Figure 6.
Figure 5 also shows a method of protecting the lock spindle against.
drilling. Said spindle is divided and an intercepting piece of Franklinite 1
is interposed between the two sections. This is encased in an envelope
of some metal susceptible of being turned to fit the cavity made to
receive it in the wall of the safe or door.
In case of fire when by the overturning of the safe the books and
papers are thrown against the heated door and injured, to prevent this
I attach a protecting medium to the inside of the door, such as papier
mache or wood, and so placed that the closing of the safe door will
close such. band against the bookcase and thus dispense with an extra
door to the bookcase.
In the construction of safes for protection against fire, I make a very
light, cheap, and strong safe by having the main outer shell of a single
sheet of metal, shaped to form the sides, top, and bottom, and strengthen
such shell with inside braces of light angle iron. A door or frame at
the front and a suitable back completes the structure.
I employ a novel filling to resist fire, consisting of the following 2
substances in the proportions named :-Gypsum or sand plaster, 50 per
cent., hydraulic cement 25 per cent., Epsom salts 25 per cent. These
are thoroughly commingled and packed into the space usually pro-
vided for the filling of the safe to render it capable of resisting fire.
In specifying the following matters as of my Invention, I do not 3
limit my claim to them, but shall claim whatever else it may transpire
that I am entitled to under the foregoing description and the Drawing
forming part of the same. I therefore particularly claim,-
The combination of the Franklinite or spiegel eisen metals with com-
pound plates cf hardening and non-hardening steel welded together for 3
walls of safes..

page_text: The combination with a wall so made of conical bolts protected in
the manner described and represented in the Drawing with Franklinite
or spiegel eisen.
The use of said Franklinite or its equivalent to prevent the drilling of
the lock spindles as specified.
The methods of packing the joints around the door and door frame as
described, and of packing the joints or seams around the lock spindle
substantially as specified.
The arrangement and combination of the metallic portions of the
exterior walls of the safe substantially as specified to prevent wedging
open the scams.
The combination with a tongued or recessed door and door frame of
the hinges specified for the purposes set forth, meaning to claim any
sort of hinge by which the rear and front edge of the door may be first
opened or both at about the same time.
The combination with such hinges of the worm levers or handles
specified or their equivalent for the purpose set forth.
The combination with the metallic door of the safe of a wooden or
other non-conducting bookcase front to protect the contents of the
safe as specified.
The fire-proof filling made, applied, and used in the manner sub-
stantially as described.
In witness whereof, the said John Farrel has hercunto set his
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of
our Lord 1871
Witnesses,
FRANK O. HERRING,
251, Broadway, N.Y.
GEO. D. WALKER,
121, Nassau St., N.Y.
JOHN FARREL. (L.S.) .