Welcome to our world exploring the Historical, Political and Technological aspects of Locks, Keys and Safes

Page 3 of 6 FirstFirst 123456 LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 52
  1. #21
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    leeds
    Posts
    609
    Country: Great Britain

    Default

    Roy Saunders once told me of a vault he had to open in Africa with a serious door but rubbish walls. Also a diamond mine vault that could be flooded or submerged in case the site had to be deserted in a hurry.

  2. #22
    Huw Eastwood's Avatar
    Huw Eastwood is offline
    Moderator
    Safes Strongrooms & Vaults
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    1,753
    Country: Wales

    Default

    I reckon all they had to do to flood that diamond mine vault was switch the pumps off!

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Bulgaria
    Posts
    686
    Country: Bulgaria

    Default

    I once read a very old article, it might have been in "The Gentleman's magazine" about a sr in London. That had a corridor round all 4 sides and one part of the security system was that the corridor could be flooded.

    One I had to shoehorn a small book-room into a rather nice up market Barratt house. It had the old 1/4" Chubb door. The owner wanted it, I think, largely to protect the outside of his Banker's Treasury. It wasn't an insurance spec. job. So he had some latitude on design. He was on site every step of the way. He wasn't behind the door when brains were handed out! One wall was the wall of a garage which was made out of some very hard brick. We could actually drill our blocks more easily than drilling those bricks. Any road up, to economise on space he wanted steel plate bolted to that wall. We ordered stock sized sheets of steel. At that stage the floor hadn't gone in, so he asked us to run the sheet down to the then ground level. Thus the floor was in part holding the steel in place. The same thing happened with the roof. I was going to bolt the steel in place in the normal way, but he had some brackets which had to be bolted against the steel, so acting on his suggestion, we anchored those in situ but used longer stronger fixings than were needed. Those pretty well anchored the steel as well as it needed to be, especially as he had a Banker's Treasury at 1,250 Kg next to it as well.

    Not to let out any secrets, you don't know where it is, when the construction side of the team had left he asked me if I would do him a small favour. He calmly produced a S & G lock, with a spy proof dial, and an AED and asked if I could fit those to the door to provide dual control with the existing key lock. Of course it was simplicity itself. He tipped me magnanimously for that.

    Anyway the point is that he had some quite unorthodox ideas and ended up with a very nice little room. I have often wondered why a SR and a BT in a domestic home, and what he kept in there It is probably better not to know. He can't have been a gangster as the local Police crime prevention officer came round at one stage and they were talking in a very friendly manner. I also learnt a good trick for when laying the big blocks.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Gilbert, AZ 85298
    Posts
    319
    Country: United States

    Default

    Speaking of rebar/reinforcing...check out the exposed vault wall section of the former Pittsburgh Federal Reserve Bank which is now a Drury Inn

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	rebar1.jpg 
Views:	47 
Size:	167.6 KB 
ID:	19128 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	o (9).jpg 
Views:	34 
Size:	104.7 KB 
ID:	19127 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	C_oZEnaVwAExoxg.jpg 
Views:	38 
Size:	84.1 KB 
ID:	19125 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	o (1).jpg 
Views:	37 
Size:	77.7 KB 
ID:	19126

    The main vault has a remote combination viewer

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Gilbert, AZ 85298
    Posts
    319
    Country: United States

    Default

    Rivet-Grip steel reinforcing was used in the Pittsburgh Federal Reserve per the Rivet-Grip System of Bank Vault Reinforcement handbook published in 1924. Pics of Rivet-Grip reinforcing steel used in the Pittsburgh Federal Reserve are shown in previous post.

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Posts
    10
    Country: Canada

    Default

    Add a 400 amp three-phase electrical grid inside the forms before pouring concrete.

  7. #27
    Huw Eastwood's Avatar
    Huw Eastwood is offline
    Moderator
    Safes Strongrooms & Vaults
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    1,753
    Country: Wales

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by VaultDoors View Post
    Speaking of rebar/reinforcing...check out the exposed vault wall section of the former Pittsburgh Federal Reserve Bank which is now a Drury Inn
    That exposed section of the wall is amazing but looks a classic case of over-steeling the concrete!

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Bulgaria
    Posts
    686
    Country: Bulgaria

    Default

    I thought that, but I am sure whomever they got to do the job would have known their job.

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Aberdeenshire
    Posts
    697
    Country: Great Britain

    Default

    [QUOTE=Chubby;28430]I thought that, but I am sure whomever they got to do the job would have known their job.[/QUOT

    Correct Chubby but unless it is known by which method of attack the wall is most
    likely to be subjected to then it's a throw of the dice. Compromise. Manhole by stitch drilling in this case is out. Creating shot holes by packed lance for explosive charges easy but resultant shock wave would alert security. If however the risk is insurrection and time unlimited then this heavily reinforced wall would be as good if not better than most since the multiplicity of tools required would require enormous amount of time and manpower.

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Bulgaria
    Posts
    686
    Country: Bulgaria

    Default

    Also we don't know what is behind that outer part. As you get into the wall the construction might change.

    Speaking of insurrection, did it have an anti insurrection lock?

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •