IMPROVEMENTS IN FIREPROOF SAFES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Snell, of 16, Clement's Inn, in the City of
Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIREPROOF SAFES."
-A communication from abroad by Rufus Sanborn, Machinist, of
D 317
TT
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Spell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration,
on the 29th January 1867, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent
Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRÉSENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SNELL, of 16, Clement's Inn, in the City of Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FIREPROOP SAFES," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the
same, and have made solemn Declaration that the same is a communication
to me from abroad by Rufus Sanborn, Machinist, of Ripon, Wisconsin, in the
United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Snell, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification under my hand and seal fully
describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed in and by the following statement, taken in con-

page_text: nection with the accompanying Drawings, on which Fig. 1 represents a
perspective view of my improved safe complete, and Figs. 2 and 3 are separate
views of the water vessels, showing them in different positions.
The nature of this Invention consists in placing in the interior of a safe
water vessels having steam valves for the purpose of affording additional
security to the contents of the safe in case of fire, by filling it with the steam
generated by the boiling of the water in the vessels. The water vessels may
be either attached to and form a fixed part of the structure of the safe, or be
inserted in a safe of any ordinary form or construction, so as to be readily
removable at pleasure; such differences in no way affecting the nature and
principle of my Invention.
The ordinary mode of constructing safes is to form them with hollow walls
which are filled in with some incombustible and non-conducting substance;
but experience has shown that even when they prevent the access of fire they
cannot be relied upon to preserve the contents of the safe from injury or
destruction by heat. It is obvious, however, that papers or books cannot be
charred or destroyed by heat while enveloped in a bath of steam, and I have
found by actual experiment that steam is not injurious to books or manuscripts
of paper.
The object of the present Invention is to take advantage of this fact by
insuring an ample supply of steam to the interior of the safe to protect its
contents in case of its exposure to a high degree of heat.
I make the exterior case of my safe A in the usual way, with a double wall
filled in with a non-conducting material; on the inside of these walls and
between them and the inner case in which the books and papers are to be
deposited I place water vessels B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and I, of such size and
form as to adapt them to the spaces they are intended to fill. There may be
one or more of them in each space, and one G is to be attached to the inside
of the outer door of the safe. From any desired point on the edge or surface
of the vessel a tube t projects to its mathematical centre, and through this
tube the vessel is supplied with water; if the tube extends quite to the centre
the vessel may be nearly half full of water and yet no portion of it will escape
in whatever position the vessel may be placed. This is clearly illustrated in
Figs. 2 and 3, which show vessels in different positions and indicate the level
of the water in each. The object of this arrangement is to prevent the injury
of the contents of the safe which would result from the escape of water from
the vessels in case of any accidental change in the position of the safe, such
as its being thrown on its side or turned bottom upwards. The external
The
orifice of the tube is closed by a valve v pressed inwards by a spring s.

page_text: water vessels are made of thin metal, so as to be rapidly affected by heat
applied to the interior of the safe, and the valves while preventing the ingress
of air allow the ready escape of steam generated within the vessels.
When a safe containing water vessels constructed and arranged as herein-
before described is exposed to a high degree of heat the water in the vessel
nearest to the source of heat is soon brought to boiling point and envelopes
the contents of the safe in steam. The other vessels, in the order of their
proximity to the fire, become successively heated, and contribute their supply
of steam to the protection of the contents of the safe. A very considerable
space of time would, under the ordinary circumstances of a fire, be required
to convert the contents of all the vessels into steam, and to expel the steam
when produced from the safe, and thus the chances of preserving the contents
from destruction would be greatly enhanced by this postponement of the period
at which cbarring would become possible. The water vessels berein described
can be introduced into any of the ordinary safes in use at prescut, as well as
into safes constructed with a special view to their employment.
Having thus fully described my improvement I wish it to be understool
that I do not confine myself to any particular form or position of the water
vessels or any particular form or construction of safe; but what I claim and
desire to secure by Letters Patent is,-
First, introducing water vessels, provided with steam valves, into a fire-
proof safe of any construction that will admit them, said vessels being of such
size and conformation as to adapt them to the form and dimensions of the safe
in which they are placed.
Second, providing each of such water vessels with a tube t, reaching from
any portion of the edge or perimeter to or towards the mathematical centre of
the vessel, as and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Snell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
W. SNELL. (L.S.)