Among the late improvements in safe manufacture, applied by Messrs. Herring & Co.. are a new form of hinge. by which the tongued and grooved door is withdrawn perfectly square and true from the jambs in the body of the safe until it is free from the groove with which it interlocks. Safe bodies arc made of solid hard and soft steel, or steel and iron welded plates and angles. The front and .back frames are made solid, with welded corners, and the body between these frames is a solid hoop. The back plate is one piece, which is rabbeted into the frame. Bank safes and vault doors are constructed with outside plates 1 in. thick.
A step is planed on the edge of the doors, and the plates where they join are also rabbeted. The lock and bolt spin dles, as now made by Herring & Co., are provided with a gas ket which renders them air-tight. The spindle is a ground fit, and is constructed of the same metal as the safe door. In every case the spindles terminate on the inside, against the solid bolt frame, and operate the locks by geared wheels, which offset. A new bolt attachment holds fast the bolts in the event of the lock being detached by concussion, or any other means, so even if the lock and the spindles are destroyed the bolts will be held secure.
II. FrRE-PROOF CONSTRIICTION.—In Figs. 10 and 11 is shown the construction of the latest form of Marvin fire-proof safe. Both the stepped front frame, in which the door sets, and the frame of the door itself, are shown by the heavy black lines, Fig, 10, separated by a fine white line, which marks the joint or opening between the door and the front frame. This stepped front frame is constructed to form a tongue and groove with one of its steps—here shown as the second one— which extends along or around the door opening, side and top and bottom of said stepped front frame, but not clown the side against which the back or hinged side of door sets. The
door itself is made with a corresponding tongue and groove on like sides, so that the tongue of the frame and the door interlock by the fit of the tongue of each one in the groove of the other, said tongues breaking joint with the frame and its door. The door is constructed on its hinge side with a heel tongue or projecting flange which extends along its entire side, from top to bottom, without a break, When the door is closed, this flange is projected into a groove of corresponding size, within the first step of the front frame, thus closing and break ing the joint, crack, or opening between the door and stepped front frame at the hinged side. A recess in the inner face of the door receives a sheathing of material which is a non-con ductor of heat, and forms an air chamber which prevents communication of heat from the iron-work of the door to the contents of the safe. The hinges arc annealed and are riveted to the outside of the door and the front plate. The main object of the improvements in this safe is to prevent opening of the joints, due to warping of the frame. The latter is made of solid forged metal, and in fact is a continuous, four-sided angle-iron, constructed of a suita ble size to fit over and receive within it the back portion of the outer walls of the body. It has a slot in its lower side to receive a back plate, which, after being slid to its place, Fig. 11, is secured by a separate bottom piece, closing the gap in the bottom of the angle-iron frame, and is in turn fastened by rivets to said angle-iron frame. The back plate is further secured by fastenings passing through the outer angle-iron frame, through the back plate, and entering an inside system of angles. The continuous angle-iron frame prevents the fire-proof filling working out through the joints, and strengthens the safe.
Sampler : see Ore Sampling.