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A treatise on fire & thief-proof depositories and locks and keys / by George Price
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TESTIMONIALS.

161

ance offices, and other gentlemen taking an interest in the matter,were present. The fire was kept up burning until a quarter-pastthree oclocktwo and a half hours from the commencement,and was then withdrawn. Being extremely hot, it required to besoused with water until four o'clock before it was sufficientlycooled to be opened. It appeared to unlock with little difficulty,although the door was slightly warped by the contracting influ-ence of the water. The brass handle seemed to have been par-tially melted, and broke on being pulled. When the door wasopened, the contents presented the following appearance :Thevapour, supposed to be at a temperature of 212° Fahr., had dis-solved the glue on the backs of the volumes, and thus loosenedthe leather. The wood shaving was a little darker, the edges ofa few of the circulars were slightly discoloured, but most of themwere untinged, and the books, with the exception of being damped,presented no appearance of being near a fire ; the papers in thedrawers, opened half-an-hour later, were also safe. The watchwas going, and indicated four oclock, but on being taken out,the sudden transition from heat to cold seemed to paralyse itsenergies, for it held its hands over its face, as if for protection,and refused to move. The bank note, with the book enclosing it,were unsullied. The five members of the city council, namedabove, with a number of other gentlemen, placed their signaturesto a document testifying their opinion of the fairness of the test,and stating the contents of the safe to have come out unscathedfrom the fiery ordeal. We may remark that, so far as an arti-ficial fire can be made to resemble that of a building, the test wasa fair one. The conical mode in which the wood was made tosurround the safe, threw the heat directly upon it, and from thelength of time this was continued, the outer case must have beenred-hot ; indeed, the warping of the sides and door, and dis-colouration of the iron, were sufficient indication of this. Weunderstand that Mr. Price rests his claim to a share of publicsupport on two points. The first is that he uses no solder, hisobjection to it being that it melts at a comparatively low tempera-

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