LSS+ Electronic Infobase Edition Version 5.

applicable to the description of lock before-mentioned as the

subject matter of the patent herein recited, and is effected by
filling up nearly two-thirds of the space ordinarily left in
locks for the passage of the key, and leaving only sufficient
room to pass the key in, perform the operation of locking or
unlocking, and withdrawing the key immediately after it has
performed these operations, instead of turning the key around a
complete revolution, as hitherto done, and by this improvement
the available space for the presence or action of gunpowder is
reduced to a minimum."

I am unable to discern any difference in principle between

Milner's first and second patents and Walter H. Tucker's, dated
October 1st, 1852, except, that in Milner's first patent "the
space which has ordinarily formed a receptacle for a large and
destructive quantity of gunpowder being by "his" invention
reduced to the smallest possible capacity, is in his second
"reduced to a minimum." The specifications of both these patents,
together with Tucker's, will be fully described and illustrated
by diagrams in the chapter on powder-proof locks.

CHAPTER FOUR: Requirements of an

Iron Safe to make it Secure
against Thieves and Fire

In deciding upon what means to employ to secure our valuables

from thieves, we must not forget that as improvements take place
in the arts and sciences, in the same proportion does the thief
increase in ingenuity and intelligence. Therefore, even the
improved safes and locks made have been found faulty and wanting,
when operated upon by the present genre of skillful and
scientific burglars.

An iron safe, to be secure against fire and thieves, must possess

the following merits:

The iron plates forming the body should be of sufficient

thickness and put together so that no violence or ingenuity could
easily defeat them;

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(c) 1999-2004 Marc Weber Tobias