Year: 1876

At tie robbery of the Grafton (Mass.)
Bank. the tools used were so numerous
and bulky as to make fair load for a
horse to draw.


The burglar decides 10 try the drill,
but the metal walls of the case are of


such hard temper that an ordinary drill
is pOwsriess ON them He is ready for


this, and sets the combination blow
pipe to work. This is a blow-pipe which
directs on the spot to be attacked flame


of combined oxygen and nitrogen gases,


and the intense heat softens the metal


to that degree that the drill makes a
speedy impression upon it. The hole
once made, the blast is introduced, anS
the safe blown open. But possibly even
the combination blow-pipe fails, but the
modern burglar is ready with another
appliance. He has an air-pump to which
two rubber tubes are attached. To the
end of these a metal trough, with HAT
edges, is joined. He places this trough


flat against the safe, so as to cover the
joint of the door in the frame, and care
fully fixes it there witch putty. With the
same material he stops up and makes air
tight the remainder of the crack, only
leaving one space uncovered at the bot
tom of the door. The whole safe is now
practically a part of the sir-pump.
He begins to pump; the air in the safe
is exhausted, and more rushes in through
the uncovered space under the door,
Here our burglar holds paper or card
on which fine gunpowder is spread, and
the rush of air carries this inside the safe.
Tie humping is continued until the re-
quisite charge is introduced, and it is
then exploded.


The blow pipe and the air-pump are
the latest as they are the most danger
Gus tools in the burglars outfit, and as
soon as they were known, which has not
been a great while, it became evident
that safes must have some new appliance
specially adapted to resist them. Safes
made only to withstand the attacks of
steel wedges, crowbars, and sledges,
would give way at once before the more
subtle and silent operations of these
newest of TOOLS Therefore the safe man
reconstructed the doors of his safe, and
made them fit into grooves which were
packed with rubber, so that between the
doublings of the grooves and the great
weight of the door, when it swung in
and was locked, the elastic material made
the joint perfectly air-tight. Against
this the air-pump was useless; but the
blow-pipe was not so easily provided for.


To meet this it was necessary to dis
cover some new material, or some new
combination OF old The makers Of
safes claim that they have found this in
the metal called 'Frauklinite, mine
raj composed of peroxide of iron, oxide
of zinc, and oxide of maganese, in ap-
pearanee much like the magnetic oxide
of iron. 1t is found in considerable
quantity only in Sussex County, N. j.
The peeuliarity of tine metal which fits
il specially for the walls of safes is that
it hardens OH cooling to its original dens-
ity; and thus the burglar is little better
OFF after using his blow pipe than he was
before; whereas other metals are so soft
ened that his drill goes right through.
The pse of Franklinite and the packed
Joints are the latest of the improvements
in safes. and it is claimed that safes so
constructed are proof against anything
that that the burglar can bring to bear
on theiu. so far as now known. But it
should Ire remembered that if the safe
maker i. gi,ead now, his friend, the bur-
gar, may pass him in the race again,
and. finding some new tools, rob the best
safe matte Then the shoemaker must
start again ffom the new ground, and so
it goes on.