Is the 'South Vault' in the Philly Fed similar to the cylinder doors at the NY Fed and PA Treasury?
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I think whoever wrote the description mis-used the word "cylinder" compared to how we use it. We've been using "cylindrical door" to describe vertical-axis doors like the NY Fed and PA Treasury, and "round door" to describe the much more common doors that are more technically a frustum (or stepped frustum, or conical frustum). I can't really blame the writer for looking at the door and thinking "cylinder" as opposed to "rectangle". After all, the writer also claims that closing the door creates a vacuum inside.
Here's a better picture of the combination knob and light switch for the combination viewer:
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I found a couple articles that suggest the NY Fed has two cylindrical vault doors on each of the three floors that have vaults, 6 total. I also found some NY Fed blueprints that seem to validate the articles. Does anyone know how many cylindrical vault doors are at the NY Fed?
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Here's another high res image of the Cleveland Federal Reserve bank vault door:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/canton...57639180762246
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There is a press photo of the famous paper-clip impression at the Cleveland Fed, for sale on eBay. Here are the images of the photo, from the auction.
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The text suggests the incident happened around 1942.
Presumably there is a similar indentation on the door but it would be rather inconvenient to photograph.
Thats always amazed me how a soft steel paper clip imprinted the frame of the largest, heaviest and thickest vault door ever made. Always assumed the door casting would have been a relatively tough steel, but the fact the soft steel paper clip imprinted the circular frame means the frame can only be soft mild steel- perhaps there is a matching print on the door as well but my guess is the door would (hopefully) be tougher and that would have helped impact the clear print in the frame.
I would have expected the soft paper clip to be softer than either the door or frame, and for it to have been squashed as flat as a sheet of paper. It's interesting as soft mild steel used on such a massive door frame where the frame actually houses all the locking controls and the locks, doesn't inspire me with confidence except for the fact the controls are 5 or 6 foot away from you!
It actually makes me wonder just how secure some of those massive doors really were, almost to the point of safety in brute thickness alone being the primary thinking, and also the resulting 'intimidation factor' it produced, over more critical issues of defensive materials and equal protection covering the door and the locking mechanism as a whole.
Here are the only other photos I know of the paper clip:
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In comparison to the press photo which seems pretty scratched up, maybe that pic is from the door and the others from the jamb or vice versa. I guess they could be from the same place if the scratches were removed.