USRE8949E - Improvement in electrical envelopes for safes, vaults - Google Patents

Description

BEST AVAILABLE COP- E. HOLMES 8n H. C; ROOME;

Assignur, by mesng assignments, to the HOLMES BURGLAR ADARM TELEGRAPH G0.

Electrical-Envelope f'or Safes, Vaults, 800. No. 8,949. Reisued Oct 28,1879.

. BEST AVAlLABLE COP UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' EDWIN HOLMES,

JERSEY CITY, NElV JERSEY,

or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AND n'ENRYo. ROOME, or

ASSIGNORS, BY

MESNE- ASSIGNMENTS, TO

HOLMES BURGLAR ALARM TELEGRAPH COMPANY, OF NEW YORK CITY.

IMPROVEMENT IN ELECTRICAL ENVELOPES FOR SAFES, YAULTS, 81c.

ssue No. 8,949, dated Division A.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that we, EDWIN HOLMES, of the city of Brooklyn, in the State of New York,

and HENRY (1. Boone, of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson andState of' New Jersey,

-. have invented anew and useful Electro-Magnetic E nvelope or Lining for Safes, Vaults, and

other Structures, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description, reference be'- in g had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 represents an interior face view of our improved envelope or lining as applied to one side of a safe or vault, or wooden case inclosing the same, and Fig. 2a transverse sec-' tion thereof in part.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspending parts.

Our invention relates to electro-mag netic attachments to safes, vaults, and other structuresor inclosures which it may be desired to protect against burglary or other finproper interference; and, in general, 'it consists in so constructing and arranging an electric envelope or an electric lining for such structure that when it is properly connected with a battery and an alarm apparatus any perforation of it, as well as any seveij'ng of its connection, with the battery, will cause the alarm apparatus to give a signal.

To this end the invention comprises a combination of the electric envelope or lining with a galvanometer or instrument-the movements of which are produced by variations in a current of electricity from a battery or otherelectrical apparatus inconnection with the safe, vault, or other structure to be protected. Said invention also includes a peculiar construction of the envelope or lining, which is made of separate parts connected with the opposite poles of the battery, and which are imperfectly insulated'from eachother, or are connected with each other by a resistance-coil or other resisting medium: These two parts, as more particularly involved in that phase of the invention which forms the special subjectof the present division of this Reissue, consist of thin layers of some good conducting material,

these layers being whollyor partiallyinsulated from each other by some suitable interposed material, to which they may be glued or cemented so as to form a single compound sheet.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, a and b represent two thin and pliable plates of sheet metal, which may be so separated from each other by a' thin int-erposedsheet, c, as to allow a slight current of electricity to pass from one to the other when the plates are connected with the opposite poles of battery. This efiect may be produced either bymaking the interposed sheet 0 out'of a partial orpoor conductor, or, if a non conductor, by making it so thin in one ormore places that it will allow of the passage of a slight current through it at such point or points.

A like effect may be produced byinterposing between the plates at and b a non-conducting material, and then connecting the plates .by means of a resistance coil or medium, f,

which last, for the purpose of moreclearly ex plaining the principle of the inventiomis the U arrangement shown in the drawings.

The insulator c we prefer to make of cloth or paper properly coated with gum-shellac, so

that it, like the metallic conductors between which it is placed, will be pliable, whereby the whole may be applied in the form of a continuous sheet as an envelope or a lining to a safe, vault, or other structure, or to the inside of a covering surrounding the same.

The envelope or lining thus prepared having been fitted and placed in position rela tively to the walls of the structure which it is designed to protect, one part thereof, as a, is connectd with one pole of the battery by means of the conductor Z, and the other part,- b, is similarly connected with the other pole of the battery bythe conductor is, while the resistance-coil f is connected with ,-the members a and Z), respectively, at the points 72v and g. Y

As shown in the drawings, the conductor Z connects directly with one end of a thin and frangible metallic ribbon, the other end of n'hich is in contact with the plate a. This ribbon is arranged in convolut-ions, or in a zi zag Illtllliel,0\'0l the entire face of the surface to be protected, and is insulated from the underlying metal by an interposed sheet,

the two parts and l), (for which reason it is made the special" subject of another division, 35, of this reissue) it is nut-nitest that, for the purposes of the present patent, this ribbon may be regarded simply as a part ofithe conductor I, which connects the battery with the plate a; or, which practically is the same thing, so far as concerns this patcnhthisribbon may be regarded as a mere extension of the plate a, and thus rs-constitutingapart of one member of the electric lining, which, in a general way, is-inade up oi two members or conductors joined by an interposed resistance coilor medium,

W hen the wires are connected, as described, with the poles of the battery and with the two parts or members of the envelope or lina slight current of electricity, passing over the wire 1' to the part 0', flows through resistance-coil to the part I), and thence,

f" the wire 7:, back to the battery, or vice IZt, in its course becoming difiused over he ntire surface to be protected.

it, instead of a resistance ts d and, Z1, an imperfectly K met or other medium, as above ten, c used, the perforation of the ene -,:r lining with a metallic instrument completely destroy the insulation and give an increased tlo' LO the cu rrent inst clcc l U Should an entrance be attempted by using a non-conductin insrru1nent,it is likely that or I then ll 5 metal of cheer the parts of the cur forced into contact u h the metal oi: the other part, and thus establish direct and'free electrica connection between the two.

The use of the ribbon at stretched over the same surfaceas the plates a and b {with a thin insulation between it and theutas above described) would increase the diificidty of perforating the lining with any kind of an instrument without establishing a direct met lie connection between the different layers of the linin In iact, so far as concerns this result, a layer composed of the metallic ribbon would not differ materially from one con posed I BESTAVAILABLE cor of a continuousmetallic sheet, since, 'pract'r cally, a burglar would find it as diflicult with the ribbon as with the continuous sheet to avoid establishing a connection between it and an underlying sheet or layer of metal.

It is thus seen that an important incident in the construction of the envelope or lining, as here shown, is that, while made up of at least two metallic parts or members, these members overlie one another, being separated only by a thin sheet of other II'IR LGLlZEl -QlthGL a non-conductor,when aresistance-coil is used, or, when the coil is not used, a poor conductor capable of itself of affording the needed resistance, as hereinbefore explained. This superimposing of the parts of the lining or envelope with thin interposed. layers of insulating material furnishes ample security against short-eircuitin'g the conductors inside the safe or other structure in such way as to isolate aportion of the walls of the-structure circuit. Agaimwhere a resistance coil or medium is introduced into that, portion of the circuit which forms the envelope or lining, any tampering with the, batte-rycohnections I out- ,ope lining would at some point he.

side, with View to cutting the safe out from the circt1it,would either interrupt the current altogether or change its intensity, the first result takin g place when either of the wires is simply cut,an d the second when the wires are shortcircuited; and, in the latter case, even if a resistance-coil should be placed in thencw cir cuit, iteould not be expected to prevent a fluctuation in thestrength of'thc current,since it is to be presumed that the ll1lIGl1'll(ldl61',nOl3 having access to the resistance eoil of the orig struction and arrangement, and so would be unable to substitute for it, when establishing his new circuit, a resistance or" equal power, and consequentlythe result would be a change in he intensity of the transmitted current, i in. this would be attended with a corresponding movement of the needle of the galvanonn eter and of the other parts of the alarm apparatus,

' 5 obtain an alarm. from the fluctuation or page 05 the current as above produced, it requires to connect the wires 70 and Keith *anozneter or instrument the movements of which are produced by Variations in a current of elcotricityfioiu. abattery or other electrieal apparatus in connection with the safe, vault, or other structure. A bell in connection with the apparatus may he used to sound the alarm.

Qt course it is to be understood that the galranometer and alarm, as well as the battery, are to be placed at any required distance from the structure to be'protected.

Ne aware that others have proposed to ctthe protection of sates and similar strut-t es by entering the 'lrlr 5 of the same with Wire conductors, 'hieh a curre t of electricity was to l th a magnet introduced into the cit t without cutting the resistance-coil out of the iual circnit,wculd be uninformed as to its con+ rep or point,

circuit being broken by the cutting or rupturing of the conductor; but we are not aware that any such prior system involved the use, in connection with that portion of the circuit which constitutes the envelope or lining, of a resistance coil ormedinm, and the use elsewhere in the circuit of a galvanometer or instrument capable of indicating by its movements not only the interruption of the current by the ab solute breaking of the circuit, but also any variation of its intensity, in either direction, consequent upon any change in the condition of the circuit other than the cutting or breaking of the conductors.

What, therefore, is claimed as new is- 1. The combination of an electric envelope or lining for safes, vaults, and other structures with a galvanometer or instrument the movements of which are produced by variations in a current of electricity passing from a battery or other electrical apparatus through such envelope or lining, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. An envelope orlining for safes, vaults, or

other structures, composed of two overlying parts or conductors imperfectly insulated from each other, or connected with each other through a resistance coil or medium, and in connection with the opposite poles of a battery or other electrical apparatus, for action as specified. 4

An electric, envelope or lining for safes,

vaults, and other structures, composed of thin therewith, substantially as and for the purpose described.

' EDWIN HOLMES.

HENRY C. ROOME. Vi tnesses:

ROBERT H. DUr. u-AN, BENJ. A. SMITH.

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