From Coffer to Safe Deposit

From the wooden chest or coffer dug out of a solid tree trunk or constructed of massive timbers, which formed the early receptacle for valuables to the latest safe deposit and treasury is a far cry. Those who wish to study the evolution of the ancient wooden coffer and its manifold forms should consult Mr. Fred Roe's intensely interesting work "Early Coffers and Cupboards."

Our present concern, however, is with metal receptacles. Perhaps the form that approximated most closely to the modern safe, and which has survived in considerable numbers, is the medieval treasure chest, a large iron oblong box constructed of heavy bands of metal and leaving a ponderous lock in the lid, throwing many bolts under a flange round the mouth of the chest. The interlaced bands of iron of which these chests were constructed remind us that in those days the production of iron steel sheets by rolling was, of course, unknown; even the larger surfaces of armour, etc., were produced by hammering out metal to the required thickness. 

The keyholes of these chests were ingeniously masked, and in certain cases the lock in the lid was either supplemented or replaced by heavy hasps secured by padlocks. Such chests are frequently found in muniment rooms, in the halls of trade guilds and in museums; they are of considerable strength, the complicated and finely constructed bolt work and warded locks offering sturdy resistance to the old time marauder. Indeed, in cases where their large warded keys have been lost, the opening of such chests has often been a lengthy process even for the latter day locksmith. Most of these chests appear to be of foreign construction, the covering plates of the lock work being in many cases finely fretted and chased, while in other cases decorative painting adds to their interest.

These and the later forms of iron chest or safe, however massive, afforded little or no protection against fire, and the necessity for receptacles giving some measure of fire resistance resulted in the introduction of various forms of proofed safes, the walls of which were packed with certain substances designed to give off vapour on being subjected to high temperature and assist in the preservation of the contents of the safe.

The constructional details of many of these early safes were open to criticism, especially as regards the arrangement of the bolt work, and the method of attaching the outer plates to the framework.

The illustration below shows the manner in which the bolts, instead of shooting straight from the door into their sockets or flange, emerge diagonally and enter angular apertures provided in the body of the safe or frame of door, knitting the frame and door together with especial tenacity. Another improvement was the substitution of round bent corners for the rectangular safe corners formerly constructed, thus preventing the insertion of wedges into the angle joints and the wrenching off of the back of the safe, a favourite method of the burglar in dealing with the commoner types of safes, and sometimes attempted in the case of those of leading makers

Later on compound drill resisting armour plate consisting of alternate layers of steel and other metals of varying hardness was used in the construction of the bodies of both safes and rooms, special combinations of metal being devised to counteract the use of the blowpipe, which had in many instances been successfully employed in penetrating ordinary plates by melting holes in them.

Among other recent innovations in safe and door construction by Chubb's is the Stelocrete system, by which use is made of a special form of ferro concrete, which has proved singularly effective in the case of party wall and other doors designed to prevent fire extending from one building to another, the severe tests to which such doors have been subjected having given most satisfactory results. The system has also been applied with success to the construction of safes.

The diagonal bolt principle.

Space prevents extended details of these protective materials and devices, but brief reference may be made to some of Chubb's more important strong room work. A quarter of a century ago a sensation was created by the production of a steel strong room of such dimensions that its completion was celebrated by an extensive luncheon party being accommodated in its capacious interior.

Rooms of far greater dimensions are now regularly produced, and, with future reduction of the Government's war requirements, will, no doubt, increasingly occupy the Chubb factories. Some idea of their strength may be gained from the fact that certain recently constructed treasury doors alone have weighed, with frame, nearly ten tons, yet so accurately are they poised on their massive crane hinges that they can be moved by one hand.

Crane Hinge, Armour-Plated Strong Room Door, weighing 6 tons.

All these arrangements are designed to baffle the modern cracksman, who presses into his criminal service a number of weapons unknown to the burglar of a century ago.

Armed with modern explosives and with the oxy-acetylene blowpipe, few indeed are the safes of a past era that would provide any defence against these tremendously potent modes of attack.

Chubb's present day work, therefore, is directed towards the construction of security work which can successfully defy both nitro glycerine and the white heat temperatures of the modern blowpipe and electric burning.