CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-PROOF SAFES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Rhodes, of Wade Street, Thornton Road,.
Bradford, in the County of York, Whitesmith, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-PROOF SAFES."
Sealed the 15th September 1859, and dated the 21st March 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Rhodes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
March 1859.
I, WILLIAM RHODES, of Wade Street, Thornton Road, Bradford, in the
County of York, Whitesmith, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-PROOF SAFES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in adapting a supply of cold water between the
inner and outer cases of safes intended to be fire-proof, and between the cases
forming, the door or doors thereof. The water is admitted by a valve, which
is only acted upon by extreme heat or fire, and this said valve allows the water
to flow into the aforesaid chambers or cavities prepared for its reception. In
cases of fire, as the water becomes heated, it passes off, and cold water supplies
its place. By this mode of constructing fire-proof safes, the water, when it
has attained a temperature of 212 degrees of Fabrenheit's thermometer, passes
off as above stated, and by these means the contents of the safe during the
hotest fire are preserved dry, clean, and in their original condition uninjured.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Rhodes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
RHODES, of Thornton Road, Bradford, in the County of York, Whitesmith,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Rhodes, Her special licence that I, the said William
Rhodes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Rhodes, 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-PROOF SAFES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Rhodes, 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 William Rhodes, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what mauner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following.
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in adapting a supply of cold water between the inner
and outer cases of safes intended to be fire-proof, and also between the cases
forming the door or doors thereof. The water is admitted by a valve, which
is only acted upon by extreme heat or fire, and this said valve allows the water
to flow into the aforesaid chambers or cavities prepared for its reception. In
cases of fire, as the water becomes heated, it passes off and cold water supplies
its place.
By this improved mode of constructing fire-proof safes, the water, when it
has attained a temperature of 212 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer passes

page_text: In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now pro-
ceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same
into practical effect, reference being. had to the illustrative Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked
thereon respectively as follows.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved fire-proof safe; Figure 2 is a
horizontal section thereof, taken through the line A, B, at Figure 1; Figure 3
is a vertical section taken through the line C, D, at Figure 2; Figures 4, 5, 6,
are detached portions hereafter described. At each of the foregoing Figures I
employ similar letters of reference to denote corresponding parts, in so far as
such parts appear or can be seen at each of such said Figures respectively.
My improved fire-proof safe is made of three casings of metal or wrought
iron, respectively marked A, B, C, which are maintained at certain distances
asunder, one within the other, by any suitable means or appliances. The
space between the casings A and B is intended to contain water, the space
between the casings B and C is simply an accommodating dry space; D, D,
are the doors of the safe, also formed hollow, as at X, X, Figure 2, to contain
water, which is admitted thereinto through the hinges E, E³, of the doors, said
hinges being peculiarly formed for that purpose, as exhibited drawn enlarged
at Figure 4, and hereafter fully described. G is a pipe for the admission of
cold water into the safe between the casings A and B, and also into the hollow
parts or chambers of the doors D, D; H is an eduction pipe for carrying off
the water when it is heated. The pipe G may be connected either with a
cistern or reservoir containing cold water, or with an ordinary main water-
service pipe, care being taken to protect said pipe from injury; a similar pre-
caution should also be observed with respect to the pipe H, which may
terminate outside of the building, or otherwise; this pipe should also be pro-
tected free from obstruction, so that when in use, the water may pass freely
through the same, the upper end of the pipe G is fitted with a valve a, which
is acted upon by one end of a lever I, the fulcrum whereof is a stud or pin at b,
securely fixed to the casing B, as at Figure 2; the other end of the lever I
has a hollow float K fixed thereon, so that as the water which passes through
the pipe G rises in the water space between the casings A and B, it shall lift
the float and close the valve a. Now suppose a fire to occur in the neighbour-

page_text: hood of a safe thus constructed, the effect will be as follows:-When the
temperature of the water has been raised to 212° of Fahrenheit's thermometer,
the water will evaporate, and the level thereof become lowered,. by which the
float K will descend, and thereby allow the cold water to lift the valve a and
enter between the casings A and B, thus keeping up a constant circulation of
water through the aforesaid casing, and also through the chambers of the
doors of the safe so long as the heat continues to raise the temperature of the
water therein, as before stated. The cold water enters into the hollow cham-
bers of the doors by the passages b, b, formed around the lowermost hinges E,
and the heated water passes off by similar passages formed in the uppermost
hinges E, as exhibited at Figure 1 by dotted lines, and at Figures 4, 5, 6.
By thus constructing fire-proof safes so as to allow a cold liquid to circulate
around the same, it will appear obvious that the contents of the safe will
remain uninjured during exposure of the safe to the most intense heat..
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention of certain "Improvements in Fire-proof Safes," together with the best
means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect, I
hereby declare my Invention to consist in, and I claim the mode above par-
ticularly described, set forth, and represented by the illustrative Sheet of
Drawings hereunto annexed, of constructing fire-proof safes, by means of which
a constant circulation of cold water is maintained around the safe when the
temperature of the water therein is raised as above stated, together with such
modifications in the construction of the improved parts as experience may
suggest, so long as the basis of action of my said Invention be retained,
namely, the circulation of water or any other fluid through the spaces or
chambers formed in the sides, top, and bottom and door or doors of the safe,
as above stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Rhodes, have hereunto_set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
JOSEPH WOODCOCK,
Bradford, York".
WILLIAM RHODES. (L.S.)