GUARDING BULLION

Waipa Post, Volume 42, Issue 3304, 2 June 1931, Page 7

GUARDING BULLION

WORLD’S STRONGEST PLACE

The Bank of England is being rebuilt, and already three years have been spent on the work. It will be another three years before the task is finished, but recently the hoarding was taken down and the public can now see the outside of the new building.

But it is not the outside of the new bank which will be the real wonder; it will be the marvellous and ingenious devices inside that will guard its treasures from thieves that will be the bank’s greatest triumph. A modern bank is one of the wonders of the world. Its strongrooms, with their massive doors and marvellous locks, cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. Some of the nickel steel /plates in the walls weigh sixty tons each, and under the floor is a bed of concrete and steel ten feet thick. The door is the greatest marvel of all. Often these doors are round in shape and weigh 25 tons. Each is held by 24 massive bolts, find every bolt weighs nearly a hundredweight.

The locks that fasten the door are among the cleverest inventions of man’s ingenuity. They have no keyholes into which explosives could be put by burglars, but are turned on spindles and have a wonderful combination of parts, so that no one can open them without the clue. Clockwork set for a certain hour prevents them from being opened before the proper time. There are corridors right round the strongrooms, with mirrors placed at angles so that watchmen can keep a lookout all round. Sometimes steam pipes run in these corridors, and in case of attack by thieves jets of steam can be turned upon the burglars. At other times the corridors can be quickly flooded with water.

When finished the Bank of England will be the strongest place in the world.