IMPROVEMENTS IN IRON SAPES, CHESTS, AND BOXES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Price, of 'Wolverhampton, in the County of
Stafford, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN IRON
SAPES, CHESTS, AND BOXES."*
Sealed the 6th July 1855, and dated the 31st January 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION Jeft by the said George Price at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st January 1855.
I, GEORGE PRICE, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN IRON SAFES, CHESTS, 'AND BOXES," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists in painting or coating the inside of the body,
and the inside lining or casing, and the iron forming the chambers, and also
the case at the back of the door, and all other parts connected with fire-proof
safes, chests, and boxes, with a mineral paint, to prevent the chemical fire-
proof composition or non-conductor enclosed within the chambers, cases, or
linings of such safes, chests; and boxes from corroding, or eating away the
iron forming the same. I also case-harden the outer and inner doors or lids of
iron safes, chests, and boxes, or any part thereof. I also insert in the locks

page_text: used for iron safes,, chests, and boxes a series of compartments, formed of strips
of iron or other metal, and directed, transversely, or of honeycomb form, in
those parts of such locks not occupied by the works, so as to prevent gunpowder
from being inserted in the vacant places through the key-hole. I also insert
n those parts of the door in iron safes, chests, and boxes called the lock .case,
wherein the large bolts are enclosed, a series of compartments, formed of strips
of iron or other metal, with transverse divisions, or of honeycomb form, in
those parts of such lock cases not occupied by the bolts and works belonging to
the same, so as to prevent gunpowder (except in very small quantities) from
being inserted in such lock cases, by means of drilling holes through the plate
or plates forming the door and front of such lock cases.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Price in the Great Seal Patent Office on, the
25th July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
PRICE, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto.
me, the said George Price, Her. special licence that I, the said George
Price, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said George Price, 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 "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN IRON SAFES, CHESTS, AND BOXES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Price, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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.

page_text: .
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Price, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :-
―
The first part of my Invention relates to such safes, chests, and boxes as are
fire-proof; that is to say, such safes, chests, and boxes as have hollow sides,
the chambers in the said hollow sides being filled with alum or other salt,
which, on the application of heat, liberates its water of crystallization, and
arrests the passage of the heat into the interior of the safe, chest, or box by
the evaporation of the said water; or the hollow sides of the said safes, chests,
and boxes are filled with an imperfect conductor of heat, instead of saline
matter containing water. I have found that the chemical mixtures or
compositions used for filling the hollow sides of fire-proof safes, chests, and
boxes sometimes act upon and corrode the iron of the safe, chest, or box
to such an extent as to dangerously weaken the same.
This part of my
Invention consists in the application to the interior surfaces of the chambers
formed in the sides of safes, chests, and boxes of a mineral or other paint or
composition which shall defend the interior of the said chambers from the
action of the matters enclosed in the said chambers. I prefer to use for this
purpose a paint or composition made of red or white lead mixed with linseed
oil and a small quantity of turpentine. The paint or composition may be
applied by a brush or otherwise.
'
The second part of my Invention consists in case-hardening the plates
forming the outsides, and such other parts of safes, chests, and boxes as it may
be deemed advisable to case-harden.
In order that this part of my Invention may be the better understood, I remark
that the process of case-hardening consists essentially in the conversion of the
exterior surface of articles of iron into steel, or a compound of iron and carbon
having the hardness of steel, and that the said process of case-hardening is
effected by heating the iron to redness in contact with some substance which
will yield carbon to the said heated iron. As, however, the process of case-
hardening is well known and commonly practised, and constitutes no part of
my Invention, I do not think it necessary to describe the said process in detail.
This part of my Invention consists in case-bardening the whole of the exterior
surface (and sometimes also the interior) of safes, chests, and boxes, whereby
the said surfaces are rendered so hard that they cannot be perforated by a
drill, or any other-ordinary cutting instrument. When safes, chests, and boxes
are case-hardened according to my Invention, it is unnecessary to use the steel

page_text: plates which are sometimes placed in the interior of-safes, chests, and boxes
for the purpose of impeding the passage of drills and cutting tools!
The third part of my Invention consists in the introduction of strips ofviron
or other material, disposed in the manner illustrated' in the Drawing, into the
lock case and hollow parts of the doors-of-safes, chests, 'andeboxes, for the
purpose of forming a reticulated or honeycomb structure in the said parts;
the object of this part of my Invention being to prevent the' introduction of
gunpowder or other explosive material into the said hollow parts: wo.
17
"
Figure 1 represents the interior of the side of a safe in which the lock and
bolts are situated. a, a, a, are strips of tin plate or other material placed in
the positions represented; so as to form a series of 'small cells; although I prefer
to make the said cells in the way represented; that is to say,by placing strips
a, a, a, in a zig-zag direction between other parallel strips b, byet other ways of
making the reticulated or honeycomb structure may be resorted to Figure 2
represents a lock for a safe, chest, or box; the parts of which unoccupied-by-the
works are filled with a reticulated structure; formed by packing togetherra
series of short tubes, as will be understood by an inspection of the Drawing:
The part to which I principally apply this part of my Invention is the lock, and
the case at the back of the door, in which the 'bolts are situated and work. By
making those parts of the lock cases and doors of safes, "chests, and boxes not
occupied with the works of the lock, or the bolts, of a reticulated structure
instead of leaving the same hollow, I prevent the introduction of gunpowder;
excepting in small quantities into the lock case, or that part of the door in
which the bolts work: If a hole is drilled or otherwise made through the
external plate of the door or lock case, the said liole only opens into one of
the 'compartments" of the 'honeycomb, and it is only possible to fill the said
one compartment with gunpowder from the said hole, and the quantity of
gunpowder which can be introduced into one of the said compartments is
insufficient to produce injury by its ignition or explosion.
Having now described the nature of my said
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
myself to the precisè détails 'herein described; as the same may be varied
without departing from' the nature of my said Invention'; but I claim;
:
Invention, and the manner of
understood that I do not limit
"Firstly, painting or coating the interior of the chambers in which fire-proof
composition or imperfect conductor of heat is put in fire-proof safes, chests,
and boxes with a mineral or other paint, or other composition which will defend
the iron or metal of the said chambers from the chemical action of the
materials put therein, as herein-before-described.

page_text: Secondly, case-hardening the exterior of safes, chests, and boxes, and such
other parts of the same as it may be thought advisable to case-harden, as
herein described.
Thirdly, forming those parts of the lock case of safes, chests, and boxes not
occupied by the works of the said lock, as well as those parts of the door in
which the bolts work (which said parts are usually left hollow or unoccupied)
of a reticulated or honeycomb structure, so as to prevent the introduction of
gunpowder into the said parts except in quantities too small to damage by their
explosion the locks or bolts, as herein described, and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawings. .
In witness whereof, I, the said George Price, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
5 Witness,
. MARY ANN DAWES.
GEORGE PRICE. (L.S.)