Safe

A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure, lockable enclosure that protects objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body and door may be cast from metal (such as steel) or formed out of plastic through blow molding. Bank teller safes are typically secured to the counter, have a slit opening for dropping valuables into the safe without opening it, and a time-delay combination lock to foil thieves. One key distinction between safe types is whether the safe is secured to a wall or structure or can be moved around.

A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure, lockable enclosure that protects objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body and door may be cast from metal (such as steel) or formed out of plastic through blow molding. Bank teller safes are typically secured to the counter, have a slit opening for dropping valuables into the safe without opening it, and a time-delay combination lock to foil thieves. One key distinction between safe types is whether the safe is secured to a wall or structure or can be moved around. ==History== The first known safe dates back to the 13th century BC and was found in the tomb of Pharaoh Ramesses II. It was made of wood and consisted of a locking system resembling the modern pin tumbler lock. In the 16th century, blacksmiths in southern Germany, Austria, and France first forged cash boxes in sheet iron. These sheet-iron money chests served as the models for mass-produced cash boxes in the 19th century. In the 17th century, in northern Europe, iron safes were sometimes made in the shape of a barrel, with a padlock on top. In 1835, English inventors Charles and Jeremiah Chubb in Wolverhampton, England, received a patent for a burglar-resisting safe and began a production of safes. The Chubb brothers had produced locks since 1818. Chubb Locks was an independent company until 2000 when it was sold to Assa Abloy. On November 2, 1886, inventor Henry Brown patented a "receptacle for storing and preserving papers". The container was fire retardant and accident resistant as it was made from forged metal. The box was able to be safely secured with a lock and key and also able to maintain organization by offering different slots to organize important papers. ==Specifications== Specifications for safes include some or all of the following parameters: Burglar-resistance Fire-resistance Environmental resistance (e.g., to water or dust) Type of lock (e.g., combination, key, time lock, electronic locking) Location (e.g., wall safe, floor safe) Smart safes as part of an automated cash handling system It is often possible to open a safe without access to the key or knowledge of the combination; this activity is known as safe-cracking and is a popular theme in heist films. A diversion safe, or hidden safe, is a safe that is made from an otherwise ordinary object such as a book, a candle, a can, or wall outlet. Valuables are placed in these hidden safes, which are themselves placed inconspicuously (for example, a book would be placed on a book shelf). Fire-resistant record protection equipment consists of self-contained devices that incorporate insulated bodies, doors, drawers or lids, or non-rated multi-drawer devices housing individually rated containers that contain one or more inner compartments for storage of records. These devices are intended to provide protection to one or more types of records as evidenced by the assigned Class rating or ratings; Class 350 for paper, Class 150 for microfilm, microfiche other and photographic film and Class 125 for magnetic media and hard drives. Enclosures of this type are typically rated to protect contents for , 1, 2, or 4 hours; they will not protect indefinitely. They may also be rated for their resistance to impact should the safe fall a specified distance onto a hard surface, or have debris fall upon it during a fire. Burglary-resistant safes are rated as to their resistance to various types of tools and the duration of the attack. Safes can contain hardware that automatically dispenses cash or validates bills as part of an automated cash handling system. ==Room-sized fireproof vaults== For larger volumes of heat-sensitive materials, a modular room-sized vault is much more economical than purchasing and storing many fire rated safes. Typically these room-sized vaults are utilized by corporations, government agencies and off-site storage service firms. Fireproof vaults are rated up to Class 125-4 Hour for large data storage applications. These vaults utilize ceramic fiber, a high temperature industrial insulating material, as the core of their modular panel system. All components of the vault, not just the walls and roof panels, must be Class 125 rated to achieve that overall rating for the vault. This includes the door assembly (a double door is needed since there is no single Class 125 vault door available), cable penetrations, coolant line penetrations (for split HVAC systems), and air duct penetrations. There are also Class 150 applications (such as microfilm) and Class 350 vaults for protecting valuable paper documents. Like the data-rated (Class 125) structures, these vault systems employ ceramic fiber insulation and components rated to meet or exceed the required level of protection. In recent years room-sized Class 125 vaults have been installed to protect entire data centers. As data storage technologies migrate from tape-based storage methods to hard drives, this trend is likely to continue. ==Fire-resistant safes== A fire-resistant safe is a type of safe that is designed to protect its contents from high temperatures or actual fire. Fire resistant safes are usually rated by the amount of time they can withstand the extreme temperatures a fire produces, while not exceeding a set internal temperature, e.g., less than . Models are typically available between half-hour and four-hour durations. In the UK, the BS EN-1047 standard is set aside for data and document safes to determine their ability to withstand prolonged intense heat and impact damage. Document safes are designed to maintain an internal temperature no greater than while in a constantly heated environment in excess of . Data safes are designed to maintain an internal temperature no greater than while in a constantly heated environment in excess of . These conditions are maintained for the duration of the test. This is usually at least 30 minutes but can extend to many hours depending on grade. Both kinds of safe are also tested for impact by dropping from a set height onto a solid surface and then tested for fire survivability once again. In the United States, both the writing of standards for fire-resistance and the actual testing of safes is performed by Underwriters Laboratories. An in-floor safe installed in a concrete floor is very resistant to fire. However, not all floor safes are watertight; they may fill with water from fire hoses. Contents can be protected against water damage by appropriate packaging. Reinforced, fireproof cabinets are also used for dangerous chemicals or flammable goods. ==Wall safes== Wall safes are designed to provide hidden protection for documents and miscellaneous valuables. Adjustable depth allows the maximization of usable space when installed in different wall thicknesses. Some wall safes have pry-resistant recessed doors with concealed hinges. A painting or other wall decoration may be hung over a wall safe to hide it. Small safes may be fixed to a wall to prevent the entire safe being removed, without concealment. Very small secure enclosures known as key safes, opened by entering a combination, are attached to the wall of a building to store the keys allowing access, so that they are available only to a person knowing the combination, typically for holiday lets, carers, or emergency use. ==Safe-cracking== Safe-cracking is opening a safe without a combination or key. There are many methods of safe-cracking ranging from brute force methods to guessing the combination. The easiest method that can be used on many safes is "safe bouncing", which involves hitting the safe on top; this may cause the locking pin to budge, opening the safe . Physicist Richard Feynman gained a reputation for safe-cracking while working on the Manhattan Project during the Second World War. He did this for recreation, describing his experiences and methods in detail in his book Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. He made the point that the secure storage he successfully opened clandestinely (to which he would have been given access if he asked) contained contents far more important than any thief had ever accessed, all the secrets of the wartime atomic bomb project. ==UL safe standards== Underwriters Laboratories (UL) testing certifications are known to be some of the most rigorous and most respected in the world. UL provides numerous ratings, the most common security and fire ratings as discussed below. UL ratings are the typical rating standards used for safes within the United States. They are only matched by B.T.U/VDMA certifications (Germany). ==European safe standards== Depending on the usage, the European Committee for Standardization has published different European standards for safes. Testing and certification according to these standards should be done by an accredited certification body, e.g. European Certification Body. EN 1143-1 is the main testing standard for safes, ATM safes, strongroom doors and strongrooms. For safes it features eleven resistance grades (0, I, II, ..., to X). From one grade to the next the security rises by approximately 50%. Testing is based on a free choice of attack tools and methods. Testing requires partial access (hand hole) and complete access attempts, on all sides of the product. The security is calculated by using ratings of tools and the attack time. The result is expressed in resistance units (RU). EN 14450 is a testing standard for secure cabinets and strongboxes. The standard covers products meant for purposes where the security resistance required is less than that of EN 1143–1. For fire-resistant safes the EN 1047-1 (fire resistance standard similar to the fire resistance safe standard of UL) and EN 15659 (for light fire storage units) were published. ==Gallery== File:S03 06 01 024 image 3158.jpg|Iron safe with bronze decorations, including appliqué heads of deities arranged in a row, found in Pompeii, now in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples File:Cashbox from 18th century.JPG|18th century sealable cashbox, sometimes called a barrel safe (Finnish customs service museum in , Suomenlinna) Image:0011Moebeltresor.JPG|A small hotel safe, secured to a wall to also prevent it being removed unopened. ==See also== Access control Concealment device United States government safe and vault door specifications Gun safe Lock Manual override Physical security Safe deposit box Security Safe room Strongroom Time-delay combination locks ==References== ==Further reading== Locks, Safes, and Security: An International Police Reference, published by Charles Thomas Publishers, Springfield, Illinois, United States. (2000) . ==External links==

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