Protection from fire and thieves

One of the most primitive ways of preparing to extinguish any fire that might arise is the following rule adopted by the City of London in the reign of Richard I. ‘Item. That al...

In order to show the absolute necessity of secure locks and safe depositories for property, especially in banking establishments, it may not be out of place just to trace the sy...

Fire, although most useful in its proper place, is the source of almost countless loss and destruction, and has well earned the character often given it, of being the best of se...

When such buildings as the City Flour Mills and the Pantechnicon--types of many other and similar structures in London and the provinces--are burnt out, in spite of their suppos...

Many of the suggestions in the preceding chapter have been embodied in the numerous patents brought out by engineers and others for what are termed ‘Fireproofing Systems.’ Among...

Of late years there has been an increasing demand for strong safes, and it is in response to this demand that such a multitude of patents have been taken out. Of these very few...

In the planning and construction of a strong-room it must be remembered that the object sought is to obtain a place secure against both the attack of thieves and the ravages of...

When it is known that cash and securities to the value of upwards of six millions are almost constantly kept in the strong-room of one only of the London banks, it will be under...

Perhaps there is a greater demand for fire-resisting than for thief-resisting safes, and certainly it is in the former character that they are most often put to the test. The co...

In the broadest sense of the term there cannot be such a thing as a burglar-proof or fire-proof safe, but in the usually restricted sense of these words it is easy to obtain a s...

Two methods of fire-extinction, mechanical and chemical--Sinclair’s fire-exterminator--Hand fire-engines--Steam fire-engines--Messrs. Shand and Mason’s engines--Messrs. Merrywea...

Names of patentees--Dennett’s construction--Patent concrete--Mode of constructing arches for floors, ceilings, and roofs--Vaults and domes--St. Thomas’s Hospital--Cost of archin...

Fireproof buildings for business purposes--Mr. Braidwood’s opinion on warehouse construction--Use and strength of iron--Iron supports for house-fronts--Wood posts _versus_ iron...

Loss from fire preventible--Official enquiries into fires--Rapid increase and statistics of fires--Causes of London fires in 1873--Tin, lead, etc. combustible--Watching building...

Patents for safes--Safes by Milner, Tann, Hobbs, and Chatwood--Chubb’s diagonal and new patent safes--Wedging open safes--Drilling, and mode of protection--Other methods for ope...

The heat to be resisted--Three qualities necessary--Refractory and evaporating systems--Best materials to use for fireproofing--Public tests--Double enclosure for parchments--Sa...