BANDITS DEFIED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22819, 28 August 1937, Page 2 (Supplement)

BANDITS DEFIED

NEW STEEL BLINDS PROTECTING BANK TELLERS BULLET-PROOF "VENETIANS" Among tho subjects that men with nimble minds like to ponder are perpetual motion, relativity, squaring the circle and devising a fool-proof method of preventing bank robberies. Like many another inventor, J. A. Boivin, a Canadian, thought a lot about tho bandit-proof cashier's cage. But unlike most others, he not only did something 'about it, but is actually getting orders from banks for tho installation of his Venetian blinds around tlio long-suffer-ing teller. For that, in a nutshell, is Mr. Boivin's idea—Venetians of 3-16-inch cold rolled steel that snap shut when the intended victim of the hold-up steps casually on a floor button. Mr. Boivin, who is a native of Lac St. John, Quebec, now lives in Quebec City, and it was there that he told an interviewer recently of his invention. It was in Oshawa, that he got the first germ of his idea, ten years ago. "I was working for the Ontario Tourist Bureau there at the time," Mr. Boivin related. "One day I was in a bank and we were discussing the large number of bank hold-ups that had occurred ill the United States and Canada. Suddenly someone said, 'Why does not an inventor devise something that would ■prevent this?' and afterwards I said to myself, 'Why, indeed? And why not I?'" One Idea Pursued Mr. Boivin admits ho is a "one shot" inventor. For a decade all his sparo timo has been given to his bandit-proof cage. No other invention has entered his mind. For tho first seveif v years he tried and rejected other ideas for protecting a bank's cash. Meanwhile ho was earning a living selling insurance, selling correspondence school courses, and driving railway trains in the west. Three years ago ho built his first model. Ho might have emerged into the limelight as the saviour of banks then, he maintains, if some Boston bankers he submitted his invention to* had not been too conservative. They hemmed and -hawed, then decided they couldn't have anything to do with anythiug so new-fangled. His'first bandit-proof cage in actual operation has been installed in tho Caisse D'Economic, Quebec. Two more have been ordered by .Montreal banks, and a large Canadian cinema theatro chain is about to instal one for a trial in one of its theatres. Mr. Boivin hopes to make his fortune when all banks and other institutions with vulnerable cash fall into line and instal his cages. His Venetian blind protectors have not yet come under the acid test of an actual hold-up, and while Mr. Boivin is not actually hoping that some unwary bandit will give it a trial, he is confident that it would meet the test. If Nerve Fails

A friend, however, staged a mock hold-up, with a gun and everything, but couldn't make any impression 011 the wall of steel after Mr. Boivin had "sprung the trap." He is now working on an improved model, incorporating gadgets that would start bells ringing and simultaneously taue a photograph of the bandit. The inventor instructs cashiers to put up their hands when the bandit commands, anil in the same movement to step on a little button convenient to the foot. This releases a concealed 28pound weight, which snaps all the shutters tight. The teller is then enclosed in 93 square feet of bullet-proof steel. He simply stays 111 there until the discouraged bandit leaves or is carried off by pol ice The installation costs about £.' 100, hut Mr. Boivin believes that the first hold-up thwarted will more than cover the initial cost. It takes a month to instal, and the inventor personally supervises the work. \ Another improvement to bo incorporated in later cages is dual control, so that even if the cashier loses his nerve and forgets to press the button, the manager from his office or any other employee from their desks c6uld shut the blinds by pressing a concealed button.