IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SAFES AND STRONG Rooms
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Philip Brannon, of 54, Parliament Street, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF SAFES AND STRONG Rooms."
Sealed the 5th December 1874, and dated the 10th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Philip Brannon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th June 1874.
I, PHILIP BRANNON, of 54, Parliament Street, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SAFES AND STRONG Rooms," to be as
follows (that is to say) :—
:
My Invention has reference to the formation of all kinds of fire safes,
fire-safe strong rooms, and the like, of two or more successive insulated
encasements composed of cemented mineral substances mingled with fibre
and firmly sustained by imbedded and protected bonding wirework and
framing, the spaces between the encasements being employed either for
non-conduction, packing, or for air or water jacketing, and consists in

page_text: the employment of any burnt and other hard ballastings mingled with
mineral or metallic filaments or fibre united with the ordinary calcareous,
argillaceous, and silicious cements, such, for example, as Portland and
gypsum cements, or silicate of potash or soda, and the like, and bonded
throughout by an imbedded wire and metal fabric for the external or
fire casings, doors, and insulators, or of any ballast, fibre, and bonding
united with ordinary cements for internal casings and with bituminous
or oily cementings for water-jacket casings and fittings, the said
materials being formed into continuous clamp made sheets or in com-
pressed separate slabs joined together; and in employing .the said
materials for my said Invention, I construct thereof ordinary two or
three case moveable safes, when of small size, in permanently formed
and continuous casings, but when of larger size, of separate slabs and
insulating blocks securely fitting into each other.
In forming my fire safe closets and strong rooms or compartments
as permanent parts of the fixtures in a building, I provide for their
remaining in situ when all around may be burnt out by sustaining
them on pillars, girders, or bressummers of like material, otherwise
described by me under my former Patent, No. 2703, of 1871, and either
supported independently from the ground or fixed into solid brick or
stone walls and chimney stacks, or by making the fire casings them-
selves internally trussed and bonded by the said imbedded fabric of
wirework and framing, and so united to the walling as to sustain the
whole weight of their own structure and contents, and when practicable,
for economy and effectiveness, I prefer to form such fire-safe structures
vertically over each other on the solid party walls on each floor.
The spaces between the insulated casings I sometimes fill with, any
suitable non-conduction packings, but I prefer on my system to treat
them as circulating air or water jackets. For the former I admit the
air by an opening or flue from the exterior, generally at the base, and
direct the current by insulated blockings through the cavity at the
exposed faces and allow it to escape after traversing the whole circuit.
For the water jacket, I secure the admission of the water from an external
pipe and ball cock, or other ordinary water-supply regulating arrange-
ment under control, so that the inflow of the water shall in self acting
stop at the upper level, but in the event of fire the water is arranged
to rise above the crown of the safe and flow over the outer case of

page_text: the same. The water jacket door is fed by circulating action through.
hollow or tubular pins forming the centres on which it is hung.
I also form a circulating air jacket inside a water jacket and protect
all descriptions of the ordinary metallic thief-proof strong rooms and
safes by enclosure within my said fire casings or fire safes or fire-safe
rooms.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Philip Brannon in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PHILIP
BRANNON, of 54, Parliament Street, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her.
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Philip Brannon, Her special licence:
that I, the said Philip Brannon, my executors, administrators, and.
assigns, or such others as I, the said Philip Brannon, 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, excrcise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS.
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SAFES AND STRONG ROOмs," upon the condition.
(amongst others) that I, the said Philip Brannon, 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 Philip Brannon, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, and the Drawings therein referred to (that is
to say) :-
My Invention has reference to a modified arrangement in the con-
struction of all kinds of fire safes and fire-safe strong rooms, by
employing two or more successive insulated encasements composed of
cemented mineral substances mingled with fibre and firmly sustained
by imbedded and protected bonding wire and metallic framing, and
using the spaces between the encasements cither for a non-conduction
packing or as an air or water jacket, and consists in forming the said
incasements insulated and disposed as aforesaid of concreted burnt
argillaceous earth or other mineral substances, such as crushed slag,
çlinkers, bricks, feldspar, granite, or silicious grits mingled with mineral
or metallic filiaments or fibre combined and united in a plastic state
with the ordinary calcareous, hydraulic, and silicious cements, such, for
example, as Portland and gypsum cements, or the silicates of potash
or soda, or the like, and bonded throughout by an open metallic or
other fabric, and in employing in the said combination of materials for
water jackets, casings, and fittings bituminous or oily cementings; I
also either form the skins or encasements of continuous clamp made
sheets or in compressed separate slabs joined together and separate and
insulate them by blocks of the same composition or by washers of any
felted or textile material previously saturated with clay, alum, or other
suitable anti-combustion mixture and pass the connecting and sustaining
bolts, webs, or fastenings through perforations formed therein.
In forming my fire-safe closets and strong rooms or compartments
as permanent parts of the fixtures in a building, I provide for their
remaining in situ when all around may be burnt out by sustaining
the said safes or closets on pillars, girders, brackets, or bressummers,
composed of the above-mentioned materials, or supported on pillars or
arches of brick or stone, or otherwise attached to solid walls and
chimney stacks by making the imbedded fabric of wirework and
framing, so as to be united to the walling and sustain the whole weight
of their own structure and contents, and when practicable, for economy
and effectiveness, I prefer to form such fire-safe structures vertically
one over the other on the solid party walls on each floor.
:
I fill in the spaces between the insulated casings with alum, infusoria,
powdered earths, sand. or other non-conduction packings, but I prefer

page_text: to treat them as circulating air or water jackets by admitting the air to
the former by an opening or flue from the exterior, generally at the
base, and direct the current by the insulating blockings through tho
cavity at the exposed faces, and allow it to escape after traversing.
the whole circuit; and in supplying the water jacket, I use an ordinary.
supply apparatus under control, so that the inflow shall be shut off at
the upper level, and the water can be made to rise, in the event of fire,
above the crown of the safe and flow over the outer case of the same.
The water jacket door is also fed at the same time by a circulating
action through hollow or tubular pins forming the centres upon which
the door turns.
I also form, by means of threc encasements, an internal air jacket
and an external water jacket, and I employ either of the aforesaid
arrangements for enclosing and protecting from fire any ordinary safes
or thief-proof safes and strong rooms.
And in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I now proceed to describe the same by.
aid of the accompanying Drawings, reference being had to the letters
and figures thereon marked (that is to say) :-
Fig. 1 represents a sectional view of my improved two-skin safe
showing the two doors open with the position of the locks and insulators;
Fig. 2, an enlarged sectional portion thereof, taken through the dotted
line in Fig. 1, shewing the imbedment of the angle-iron frame and the
bonding or wire fabric attached to and strained towards the inner side
of the outer case, and the outer side of the inner case.
Fig. 3, sectional side view of a three-skin safe with circulating air,
jacket and regulating overflow water jacket, with both doors closed.
,
Fig. 4, transverse vertical section of hollow door shewing the cir-
culation of water through the tubular pins upon which it opens and
shuts.
And Fig. 5, outside corner view of a two-skin safe, partly in section,
shewing the position of the imbedded frame wire, bonding, insulating
washers and blocks, and air space.
In each Figure the same letters of reference denote similar corre-

page_text: A, A, internal skin or case to which the shelves are attached;
B, B, intermediate skin; C, C, external skin or encasement; D, D, in-
sulating blocks and washers covering the connecting bolts; E, E, the
washers; F, F, air space or jacketing; G, G, water jacket or space
supplied with water under control, so as to be filled flush or made to
overflow, as required; H, H, interior of safe, with or without shelves;
I, I, door;. J, J, hollow water jacket formed in door; K, K, socket or
hinge, upon which the door opens and shuts; L, L, tubular centres or
pins of the hinges, through which the water is supplied to the water
jacket of the door; M, M, embedded framing and strained wire fabric
bonding the whole encasements together; N and N', air inlet and out-
let passages; 0, 0, apparatus for supplying the water and discharging
the same over the external roof of the safe.
.
In conclusion to the foregoing description, I would here briefly note
that safes upon my principle of construction may be made with two or
three concentric cases of the said materials, each case being in itself a
continuous and complete boxing or encasement of separate slabs fitting
into each other, or by setting up a back clamping behind the wire fabric
and forcing the fibre about and around the same, under pressure o
within moulds, as may be found necessary.
I also protect all descriptions of the ordinary metallic thief-proof and
fire-proof safes by enclosing the same within my improved fire-cement
casings, so as to give additional securety in any portable or fixed form,
fitted in like manner to the above, with air and water connections for
employing my non-conduction air or water jacketing.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed
and carried into effect, I would have it clearly understood that I do not
by any means intend to confine myself the precise details herein-
before set forth and described, as the same may be otherwise varied
without departing from the general principle of this my said Invention,
nor do I claim as new and of my said Invention the exclusive use of the
several parts, combinations, and processes herein-before described and set
forth, except when the same are employed in and for the purposes of my
said Invention, which I hereby declare to consist,-
b
Firstly. In forming fire safes and fire-safe strong rooms in two or more
separate encasements or shieldings of artificial fibrous stone composed of

page_text: the aforesaid material strengthened and bonded together throughout
the body by an imbedded strained permeating wire fabric formed and
sustained on a wholly or partially imbedded framing of angle, or
tee iron, and insulating the successive encasements with washers and
blocks of the same and felted materials, as herein-before described.
Secondly. In employing the cavity between any two such encasements
as a water jacket, and in forming doors to such safes, also with a cavity
containing water, and admitting of circulation thereof through hollow
centres, on which the said doors move, and in utilising the said spaces
for forming the circulating air jackets, in the manner and for the pur-
poses herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Philip Brannon, have hereunto set
hand and seal, this Seventh day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
my
Witness,
1.
B. F. WEATHERDON,
Law Chambers,
77, Chancery Lane.
PHILIP BRANNON. (L.S.)