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CHAPTER V.

ON THE IRON SAFES IN GENERAL USE.

Having in the previous chapters gone through thehistorical part of the subject, and having describedall the improvements in iron safes for whichpatents have been granted, and having also statedwhat is required to make them really secure againstboth thieves and fire, I will next describe thevarious kinds in general use, explain their con-struction, and particularize those that afford thenecessary security.

Cast-iron safes, the bodies of which are cast inone piece and the doors in another, are utterlyworthless as preservers of their contents againstfire or thieves; and, as a rule, no safe made of iron,without some other contrivance, can resist theeffects of fire. Safes made of cast-iron will, from thebrittleness of the material, readily yield to the blowof a hammer, or may be easily opened by the use of