SCIENCE AND THE SAFE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 76, 29 March 1924, Page 15

SCIENCE AND THE SAFE.

A BATTLE OF WITS.

BETWEEN BREAKER AND MAKER.

BLOWPIPE AND DRILL. The most scientific criminal operating to-day is undoubtedly the cracksman, an d bitter war is being unceasingly waged between safe-breaker aud safeQuite as interesting as the methods employed by the crib-cracker is tbe li=tory of the war. It started when a carpenter made the first strongbox, and had it smashed open by a knave w ho in all probability used an axe. The carpenters found themselves powerless. IComatter how stout the wood they used, or how strongly the box was constructed a few well-directed blows with a sharp axe were sure to break it open. So the blacksmiths came to the carpenters' rescue by putting iron hoops around the

boxes. for a time the criminals were baffled, hut as soon as they realised that the axe was a useless weapon they turned their attention to picking the rude locks. It was not a difficult job, and in nest to no time the locksmiths were marshalled on the side of the carpenters md blacksmiths. They made stronger and more complicated locks, but victory rested with the cracksmen. The First Safe. The chests in use during Queen Anne's time were made of oak, banded with iron or studded with nails, and having an intricate lock, which extended over the whole of the inside of the lid. For many years, although many were forced open by safe-breakers, these boxes were considered thief-resisting. Then the commissioners who had charge of the keys of the chest in which the Crown Jewels of Scotland were kept lost them, and the box had to be broken open.

Utterly disillusioned, the safe-maTvers carried out exhaustive experiments in an endeavour to perfect a safe that would resist the efforte of the cleverest and most experienced cracksman. Gradually the modern safe was evolved. At first it failed lamentably, but -with the invention of time locks, combination locks, electric alarms, and the like, it became stronger and more likely successfully to resist the safe-breaker. Bank of England Precaution. Even the safe was found insufficient, and the big banks and large business firms had strongrooms installed. One of the largest and most complicated is that of the Bank of England in London. On the top of a foundation of concrete lies water to a depth of seven feet, and above the water are the specially-made plates of the strongroom. The walls and doors —the latter twelve inches thick and weighing four tons —are constructed of undrillable steel, and on top of the room is another lake and another bed of contrete. As an extra precaution it is possible at any time to flood the passages leading to the strongroom.

The thief who breaks into the strongToom of the Bank of England will need to be a super-genius.

In the more up-to-date safes a secret lock is released as soon as the keyhole is tampered with, and the cracksman finds it impossible to move the handle operating the bars.

A few years ago the safe-breaker worked with drill or oxy-aecetplene blowpipe, but his chances ai success by means of these weapons are greatly reduced to-day. Time is his great enemy, and it is on this factor that the safemaker largely depends. Given the time and plant, a cracksman could probably break any safe that has ever been manufactured, but he is only able to carry a small plant with him, and he has only a few hours in which to work. This fact explains ivhy the majority of safes are cracked during the week-end. There is less fear of untimely interruption then, and the safe-breaker does not have to finish his work within a couple of hours.

Xo sooner had the cracksman adopted the drill than the most ingenious tbemists and engineers in the employ of the safe-makers set to work to evolve a process which would result in the production of undrillable steel. By constructing the doors of alternate layers of hard and soft metal they solved the jproblem, not only of the drill, but also lof the blowpipe. Against the soft layers the blowpipe is useless, although it will cut through the hard layers, while the drill Trill not penetrate the hard portions. The safe-breaker has not the time to use both methods.

Nevertheless the blowpipe is still a favourite and a moderately successful weapon. The electric blowpipe produces a flame about 6500 degrees hotter than the ordinary blowpipe, but the outfit is cumbersome, and within recent months the safe-maker has produced|a steel that will resist the most powerful blowpipe. Novelists have made great use of the ability of cracksmen to pick combination locks, "but within recent years the opinion has gained ground that this feat is impossible. It is not so, and many of the smartest crib-crackers use the method. New German Explosive. But the combination lock picker can only acquire that delicacy of touch that is necessary by years of patient research and practice. After several years of practice he is able to tell with uncanny precision when one of the tumblers has fallen, but nowadays his work has been Much more difficult by reason of tne depth of the doors having been in creased.

The clever cracksman is nowadays beginning to experiment with a German preparation which is more powerful than "soup," while it is well known among police officials that there is another preparation, only recently discovered which is capable of bursting the hardest steel manufactured. Luckily little is known concerning it yet, but there have been several eases in England and the Continent in which it has been utilised.

When it is remembered that a famous American crook, "Western George" Howard, opened the vaults of the Manhattan Bank on Broadway, New York, by means of a small piece of wire, it is possible to realise that there is always the chance of the criminal discovering 6ome new but simple method of successfully cracking a crib.