US1319416A - Electric safe and vault protecting device - Google Patents

Description

D. M. PEASE.

ELECTRIC SAFE AND VAULT PROTECTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I2. I918.

Patented Oct. 21,1919:

rm: cmx'mmn PLANOGRAPIf cdl, WASHINGTON, m c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DEXTER M. PEASE, 0F BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO MARK R. COLBY, OF

PORTLAND, OREGON.

ELECTRIC SAFE AND VAULT PROTECTING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 21, 1919.

Application filed March 12, 1918. Serial No. 221,877.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, DEXTER M. PEASE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Berkeley, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Electric. Safe and Vault Protecting Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a safe or vault and particularly pertains to electrically operated means for controlling the doors thereof.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a safe or vault which is so designed as to insure the protection thereof by the sounding of an alarm positioned within the safe in case the shell, doors or look are molested by an unauthorized person, said alarm system being rendered inoperative only when controlled by the proper person or persons in possession of certain keys thereto.

The present invention contemplates the use of a safe having a false screen covering the doors which are double walled, said walls being insulated from each other and included within electric circuits, said circuits also including a source of electrical energy, an alarm member, a switch and a relay, which elements constitute the electrical apparatus with which the present invention is concerned and by which the safe is protected.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view in perspective disclosing the safe in its locked condition.

Fig. 2 is a view in vertical transverse section through the safe, particularly illustrating the double safe walls, the control boX and the false front door or screen.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view in section and elevation illustrating the lock of thecontrol box and the manner in which its operation is directly controlled bv the false front door of the safe.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view disclosing one of the alarm pins by which a circuit is completed when the false door is opened.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view illustrating the manner in which a circuit is completed from the outer shell of the safe to the false door when the door is closed.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the arrangement of the electrical apparatus within the control drawer and the circuits included therewith.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 10 indicates a safe having an inner shell 11 incased by an outer shell 12. These two shells are suitably held with their walls in spaced relation to each other and are dielectrically separated. As here shown, the outer case is formed with an additional closure 13 within which a control drawer 141 is mounted. The drawer 14 is provided to accommodate a set of electrical instruments which will be hereinafter described and which are among the vital elements of the present invention.

The outer shell 12 is closed by a pair of safe doors l5 and 16 of common construction and which are fitted with suitable locks. When these doors are closed they are e11- tirely concealed beneath a false front door 17 which covers the front of the safe and is mounted upon hinges 18. This door is of an all metal construction, it being understood that the inner and outer walls and the doors of the safe are of similar construction. When the false door 17 is in its closed position, it is held by suitable fastening locks 19 disposed along its side. The front panel of the drawer 14- is also formed of metal so that when the safe is locked, the entire exposed outer surface thereof will be metal for a purpose which will hereinafter be set forth.

Positioned within the drawer 14: are a battery 21, a manually operated switch 22, a relay switch 23 and an alarm bell 24:. The battery is connected by one pole with a metal face plate 25 of the drawer. This plate is insulated from the main body of the drawer, the sides of which are indicated at 26 and are likewise of metal. The lock 27 of the drawer is mounted upon the body portion 26 and is insulated from the face plate 25. The oppositepole of the battery is connected by a conductor 28 with one pole of the bell. The opposite pole of the bell is connected to a binding post 29 of the relay switch apparatus by a conductor 30. This post is in turn connected by a conductor 31 to the plate 26 of the drawer. One end of the relay coil is connected to this binding post while the opposite end is connected to contact with the inner shell.

a binding post 32, which post is also in com; munication with the bell and the battery through a conductor 33. Disposed at the opposite end of the relay coil is an oscillating switch blade 34, which, when influenced by the coil, is drawn against contact binding posts 35 and 36. One of these posts is connected with the post 29 by means of a conductor 37, the other post being connected by a wire 38 with the switch 22 and another wire 39 with a fixed contact 40 on the back of the drawer. A similar contact 41 is disposed upon the back of the drawer and is electrically connected with the side plates 26. The contacts 40 and 41 are insulated from each other and are adapted to bear against complementary contact members i2 and 43 in separate communication with the inner and outer shells 11 and 12 of the safe.

An alarm member cooperating with the lock 27 is particularly shown in Fig. 3, where it will be seen that a spring-pressed bolt 4% is provided to normally obstruct the movement of the lock bolt. The bolt 4% is electrically connected with the outer shell of the safe and is held out of engagement with the bolt of the lock 27 by means of a pin 45 which extends inwardly through an opening in the face of the safe and is carried by the screen or false door 17. Thus it will be seen that when this pin is relieved, the bolt L4 will press against the bolt of the lock and complete a circuit. This insures that the false door will not be opened without' sounding an alarm.

In order that the door is not pried open at any point around its perimeter, a series of contact pins 46 are disposed through openings in the inner and outer shells, as particularly shown in Fig. 41. These pins are spring-pressed and normally held out of However, when the false door is relieved from pressure against the face of the safe, the pin will more against the inner shell and complete a circuit from it to the outer shell. hen the door of the safe is closed and the false door is disposed thereover, positive contact is made between the outer shell of the safe and this door by a spring contact member 47, shown in Fig. 5.

lVhe-n'the safe is locked by the fastening of its doors 15 and 16, it may be further protected by concealing these doors behind the false door 17 which is fastened in its closed position by the fastening members 19 and 20. After the false door has been closed, the control drawer may be closed and locked, it being necessary to move the bolt 4% from the path of the lock bolt upon the closing of the false door before the drawer can be locked. lVhen the drawer is locked the contact members 4:0 and &1 will be in communication with the contact members 42 and 43 respectively and in case the switch 22 has been closed a cuit will be completed between these shells by the tool and will pass along conductor 39 through the switch and the battery, from thence along conductor-28 to the bell and therethrough, thereafter completing a circuit through the coil of the relay and a circuit through the metal side plate of the drawer. The alarm bell will be sounded and the relay switch blade will be influenced to )ermanently close the bell circuit so that the bell will ring continuously until the drawer has been unlocked and the switch broken.

In case the false door of the safe is relieved from pressure against the safe face, the bolt .4 will bear against the bolt of the lock 27 and complete a circuit therethrough, sounding the alarm, or the pins 46 will complete a circuit between the shells. It will be evident that the false door must be closed before the drawer is locked in order to move the bolt 4E4: out of contact with the belt of lock 27. Due to the fact that the lock is insulated from the face plate of the drawer,

care must be taken to prevent electrical contact between the lock and this plate. If this is not done, the alarm circuit will also be completed.

It will thus be seen that the safe here disclosed is provided with means for completely protecting it by a self-contained alarm system and a protective casing which would effect the alarm when the safe is in any way molested.

hile I have herein shown the preferred form of my invention as now known to me, I wish it understood that various changes in the construction, combination and ar rangement of parts may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desir to secure by Letters Patent ise 7 1. In a device of the character described, a safe having an outer metal wall, an inner metal wall insulated therefrom, a removable control box inclosed within said outer wall,

an electrical alarm apparatus contained with-- 2. In a device of the character described,

a safe having inner and outer dielectrically separated walls, a control drawer mounted within the outer wall, an electrical alarm apparatus within the control drawer, and means whereby the closing of th drawer will place all of the circuits of the apparatus in condition for closing and whereby electrical communication between the two walls will close the circuit of the appara tus to sound the alarm.

In a device of the character described, a safe having inner and outer walls, dielectrically disposed with relation to each other, a removable control drawer inclosed by the outer wall, an electrical alarm apparatus within the control drawer, means whereby the control drawer may be closed to include the safe walls in the electric circuit of the alarm apparatus, a screen adapted to be positioned over the doors of said safe, and means whereby the movement of the screen from its concealing position will complete the circuit across the safe walls to the apparatus within the control drawer and sound an alarm.

4. In a device of the character described, a safe having inner and outer walls dielectrically disposed with relation to each other, a control drawer inclosed by the outer wall, an electrical alarm apparatus within the control drawer, a screen adapted to be positioned over the doors of said safe, means whereby the movement of the screen from its concealing position will complete the circuit of the apparatus within the control drawer and sound an alarm, and means whereby the closing of the screen before the drawer is closed will complete said circuit to sound the alarm.

5. In a device of the character described, a safe having inner and outer walls dielectrioally disposed with relation to each other,

a control drawer inclosed by the outer wall, an electrical alarm apparatus within the control drawer, a screen adapted to be posi tioned over the doors of said safe, means whereby the movement of the screen from its concealing position will complete the circuit of the apparatus within the control drawer and sound an alarm, a lock for said drawer, and means whereby an electrical contact may be made between the face of the drawer or the outer shell of the safe and the lock of the drawer.

6. In a device of the character described, a safe having inner and outer walls dielectrically disposed with relation to each other, a

compartment fonmed by the outer wall, a drawer positioned within said compartment, a door normally closing the inner wall of the safe, a protecting screen adapted to be disposed over the door, an alarm apparatus carried within the drawer, an electric circuit including the alarm apparatus, and the sep a rate walls of the safe when the drawer is closed, and means whereby electric contact between the two safe walls or between the drawer and outer safe wall will complete the circuit through the alarm apparatus.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DEXTER M. PEASE.

WVitnesses:

W. W. HEALEY, M. E. EWING.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. 0.

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