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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1949-12-22, Page 7They've Cracked 10,000 Safes Safes are getting safer and tough- • er, but they still hide no secrets from the world's finest safecrackers,. 68 - years -old Dave Worrall and his in- ventive son, Ronald. In a backstreet workshop in the City of London, the Worrell family boast that they know more about the' making and breaking of locks than anyone else in the world. Neither criminals nor police can equal their astonishing skill and ingenuity. Honest cracksmen,• who exercise 'their extraordinary talents for legi- timate purposes only, they recently celebrated the opening of their 10,000th safe—strictly in the course of business, writes Roger Bunyan in "Tit -Bits." For test purposes they have even cracked open the Jewel Room in the Tower of London, home of the Crown Jewels. "Could you break open the, locks in the Bank of England?" I asked these key mien recently. "I think so." Dave beamed. "I' fitted then I" War Office Booby Traps Inheriting two centuries of family skill as locksmiths, the Worralls have also installed—and sometimes cracked—safes in Buckingham Pal- ace and the Royal Mint.. During the war they supplied the War. Office with a list of possible booby -traps in connection with safe -opening and, trained Commandos in safe-brealang After a thief has unsuccessfully worked all night, they have been known to open the damaged lock of a safe in five minutes with nothing more than a spindle of hard bent wire. One of Dave's more difficult jobs was when he had to pry open the toughest safe -door in the world, a mass of multiple -layered metal which alone weighs 30 tons. "We operate on some safes by ripping off the back like the cracksmen in fiction," Dave told nie, "We use a blow -pipe, oxy-acetylene flame or electric drills. Oxy -acetylene cuts through steel like butter. But this 30 -tomer, made of tough steel alloys, could resist a 4.7 gun at 50 yards." All in the Day's Work Using every process known to science, the Worrals worked 120 hours on the prototype safe at the maker's request, testing its safety in the only practical way. Subse- quently, the makers guaranteed it to resist attack for that tune. No safe is every completely impregnable. It is immune only for a limited period.-' Many average safes resist the Worralls for less than an hour. Opening vaults that have jammed accidentally, or safes for owners who have lost the keys or forgotten the combinations, are all in the day's work. In their workroom re- cently stood a safe coated with dried slime and adhering seashells. It had been retrieved from the strongroom of a sunken ship. Father and son have treated safes crushed in earth- quakes, or seared by explosives. During the bombing days, Dave often found safes too hot to handle. They lay glowing in caverns of steaming bomtb wreckage and they had to be given time to cool down. If the contents had been suddenly exposed to . normal temperatures, they might have been ruined. Working against a time -switch can sometimes prove a matter of life or death. Not long ago• a night employee was locked in a fur stor- age vault. Using an emergency tele- phone fitted within the vault he had telephoned for help. Whetn his res- cuers t!eached the scene, 'phone calls to the vault were unanswered. Set like an alarm clock, the time lock drops a tripper that springs back only at the predetermined time. The combinations cannot be work- ed while the tripper is in position. Fortunately the trapped man had read the emergency instructions and sprung the tripper before slumping unconscious. All the key men had to do was find the combination, "If you ever happen to be trapped A HUNGRY BOY'S DREAM—A ragged Italian waif, living in the wake of war, dreams of food, Today he'll receive a glass of Canadian milk from the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). Canada and a score of other United Nations•cotOittieasre helping the sick and hungry children of Europe and the East. Th"e:p-ostal address "UNICEF, OTTAWA" is accepting funds from Canadians to buy Canadian food for such ragged babies as these. Six million children need help. in cold storage," warns Worall, "lift the tripper—or . it niay talce us 12 hours to get, you out instead of 20 minutes." During his career Dave has seen safes improved to the pitch of being crime -proof, yet his locksmith's skill has kept pace with progress. In his apprenticeship days burglars were still desperately attacking old- fashioned safes by cutting the locks away, or blowing them off with gelignite. The strongroom exp erts designed a combination -controlled shutter and then went a step farther and developed the keyless combina- tion lock, No safebreaker in criminal his- tory has ever successfully manipu- lated a combination lock with fingers sandpapered to super -sensitivity, in- tently listening to the click of the tumblers. This scene annoys a Wor- rall workman whenever he encount- ers it in a thriller, The super lock- smiths readily find the first and last symbols of a combination, but work- ing out the center ciphers is a mathematical task requiring infinite patience. "Magnified Can -Openers" Combination safes, however, fail readily enough if a custodian is forced to reveal the secret at re- volver point. Some cracksmen have bludgeoned safes into surrender by ripping off the back with magni- fied can -openers or pouring nitro- glycerine into the door joint and blowing the door oij•. 5o the .tech- nicians next evolved a watertight, airtight safe with no hairline gap between the jamb and the door. To- day, fitted in its frame by the mechanism known as the crane hinge, the door of an average big bank model may be controlled by as many as four time -locks. In ad- dition, since the advent of photo- electric cells and infra -red rays, hid- den wires linked with police head- quarters give warning of intruders. Similarly, there are trick locks de- signed for ordinary bureau use which raise an alarm if the key is turned to the right instead of to the left opening a jammed or damaged safe, a craftsman rarely resorts to explosives. Using a fine drill, Dave Worrell makes an incision little larger than a pinhole and drives the drill straight to the pivotal levers forming the heart of a lock. When the owner of a safe dies without revealing a combination, the master mechanic prefers to pit his -'_ By Harold Arnett WINE FACING A SPOKED HAND - WHEEL WITH A CARDBOARD GUARD REDUCES 11 -IE CHANCES OF INJURING 4 CHILD'S I NG R. . GARAGE LOC. A PADLOCK IN }Kalil DRILLED 'THROUGH THE LOCKING BA1, WHICH PROJECTS 'THROUGH THE 'TRACKS, PREVENTS RE- LEASE OF • 7 -JE HANDF.3AR. skill against the safe without using force. As Dave explains, "When you call a cabinet-maker in for your furniture, you don't want it broken up 1" A Load of Diamonds On one occasion a safe full of diamonds was travelling from Kim- berley to Cape Town when it fell in unloading and was buckled. Master mechanics in South Africa attempt- ed to open it in vain. The jammed safe had to travel all the way to Britain, where Customs officials re- fused to allow it to pass unopened. Eventually representatives of the Customs, the diamond owners and the shipping company had to assem- ble in the Worralls' workshop to see the safe opened. ft took 25 minutes. Perhaps the best tribute to today's safe -makers is the fact that, despite _.greatly improved explosives and the - increase in crime, safe -breaking is steadily on the decrease. Like John Dillinger, who boasted he could clean out any bank in four min- utes, the majority of hold-up men prefer the technique of rapid stn. prise. One of the Worralls' little gadget surprises is a drawer which greets its friends in silence but raises an alarm at the first sign of hostility. If valuables are removed in one particular way, all is well. If they are taken out in any other way, an alarm is immediately transmitted. Keeping Their Secrets But the Worralls seldom discuss their family secrets, If they make even a key for a customer they never keep a replica, nor even a record of the address for which it was ordered. Yet special books em- bodying most of their trade secrets have already been printed. With full working drawings of every kind of lock and safety device, intricate tables of figures cover every known combination, They would perhaps be worth a fortune to a modern raffles. At Scotland Yard, as well as the offices of the principal safemakers, the few copies in existence, are kept in safes—safes, that, setting aside the combinations, only the VJorrals san open, Took The Tip A temperance lecturer had warm - ad up to her subject. "Who has the most money to spend?" she thundered. "Who drives around in the finest car? The tavern keeper! Who has the finest fur coats? The tavern keeper's wife! And who pays for these pleasures? 'You do, my friendl" Several days later a pian and his wife who had been in the audience stopped the lecturer in the street and thanked her for her advice, "I am glad indeed," she said, "that you have ,give up drink.' "Olt, we haven't done that," said the men. "We've bought a tavern " xaCAMIMM101614 Helpful Mints For Busy WIC men 13sdly ahrunken sweaters make 'the'iu6st wonderful, warm, atuI at- xt'*ct1%'e mittens. Starting with the knitted ' band of the sweater as a cuff, I trace a pattern of the band with the fingers together and thumb spread apart. Machine -stitch on the outside and buttonhole the edge with bright yarn. • * �r A housewife, going about her daily dusting, can easily get at over- head cobwebs if she'll bind an ordin- ary paintbrush to the top of her broom handle. This gives her a very effective "t w * o•'vay" sweeping unit. To entertain small children in- doors an wintry days, make finger painting of cleaning powder and cake coloring. Let them pail t the porcelain table or the bathtub. They will love it, and you will, too, when you see how easily their art work wafihes off. * * * Work shavings and scraps from the workshop are nut to excellent use at our house. We save them in paper hags, tie the necks of the haps tightly, and use this packaged material as kindling in our stove and fireplace all winter long. * .To keep my galoshes from getting mixed with with others, I carry a snap clothespin with my name on it right in my handbag. 1Vhen I clip this onto my pair, it not only keeps them together, but helps me spot them in a minute, no matter how many nearby galoshes are exactly like them. * * * To patch boys' snowsuits, sweater elbows, or trouser knees, try cut- ting a round or oblong piece from an old„ leather purse or jacket. Sew it on by hand. You'll find you've in, creased the garment's wear—and even pepped it up—with the decora- tive patch. x: * Your rolling pin will be just where you want it—yet carefully out of the way—if you try this simple idea. Into the underside of a handy shelf, screw two large hooks spaced to support the rolling -pin handles. Set the pin on the hooks when it's out of use and it will be ready and waiting right there when next you need it. * * * Keep a "basting -thread' 'spool at your sewing machine. When you've used all but a yard or two from a spool of thread, wind it onto the special spool: You'll find that no matter what the color, it conies in ever so handy when you have bast- ing• to do. * * * Here's a trick I've found to keep the tot's wax crayons from break- ing easily while he colors. I wind the stem of every crayon with cellu- lose tape. Then as the point wears down, 1 simply peel the tape back a bit. THEFA1ZMFRONT "On the road ahead," reports a man who recently did a lot of driv- ing through the mid -west, "some- thing showed up like a dark blur— just a little thicker than the sur- rounding night. I stepped hard on the. brakes. * * * "Then my headlights caught the endgate of a farm wagon. No lan- tern. No reflector. Ahead, a tractor was 'pulling that wagon along to- ward the barnyard. * �: * "Nobody was hurt. But I was scared to death. And I have wonder- ed since how many accidents and near -accidents occur just because somebody forgets to pttt a lantern on the endgate." >: * * And that traveller may well won- der. It's so easy to relax proper precautions when one is on familiar roads, close to home. Which might be as good a time as any to 'remind everybody, young and old, of some- thing that a lbt of us know we should do, yet so many of us neglect, It's this; if walking along a high- way after dusk, BE SURE AND WEAR SOMETHING LIGHT; AND IF YOU HAVEN'T ANY LIGHT COLORED CLOTHING CARRY A WHITE HANDKER- CHIEF IN YOUR HAND, SO THAT IT WILL CATCH THE EYE OF AN ONCOMING MOTORIST, (Of course you al- ways walk on the left side of the road, towards oncoming traffic; at least I hope you do.) * • Now that I've started on the sub- ject of safety and accident, here's something along the same line that might be worth calling to your at- tention. It's about the best way to cut down the number of hunting fatalities which take up so much space in the papers during the fall and winter. Here's the way an Edi- torial writer in the Agricultural News tells about it. x: * ;= A hunter creeps stealthily through the forest. A twig snaps in a thicket ahead. He freezes in his tracks, his ears cocked. Dry leaves rustle. An other twig breaks. Something moves in the alders. A deer? It must be. Heart thumping wildly, he pulls up his rifle and lets fly at the moving shadow. * * * A human cry is heard almost simultaneously with the crack of the rifle. The hunter rushes forward. What he sees chills his blood. A fellow hunter is sprawled in the dry leaves ... dead, This scene, with variations, wast repeated many times in the woods this past fall. Hunters were acci- dently killed because they were'mis- taken for game. Hunters were kilted because fellow hunters tripped and • discharged their weapons. Hunters killed themselves while climbing over fences and their guns went off accidently. * * * Out of all the investigations into such tragic deaths, one fact came out with strak clarity. No trigger- happy hunter belonged to a national shooting organization. This is borne out by the National Rifle Associa- tion in the U.S, which claims that in the many years for which statis- tics were compiled none of its 200,- 000 00e000 members had accidentally shot anyone: A senior official of the Ca- nadian Small Bore Association (now the Canadian Civilian Association of Marksmen) maintains that for the 15 years he had been connected with it, not one of this group has been responsible for an accidental killing, * * $: This revelation is highly signifi- cant. It obviously indicates that safety rules drilled into one on the target ranges are observed in the bush. It gives the answer to bow accidents with firearms can be dras- tically reduced. That answer: join your local shooting club or organ- ize one if there isn't one already. Be- come an active member and practice safetly regulations until they be- come part of your instincts. If every would-be hunter did this, hunting would indeed become a safe sport. * s: Which should be about enuugh for just now—except topass along a very ancient tale, which I hadn't heard for many years until a friend revived it the other day. Probably you'll recall it—the one about the stingiest man in town, who was too mean to buy his kids any Christmas presents, but was worried about what kind of excuses to make to them when they awoke and found the hung-up stockings empty, * * * So a bright thought came to him. Very early Christmas morning, while it was still dark, he sneaked out of the house carrying his shot- gun. Right outside the bedroom window he fired a' shot. Then he rushed into the house shouting, "Oh, children, isn't it just too bad. Poor Santa Claus has just committed sui- cide—did you hear the shot?"' * * �, Not so hot? Well, I don't think so either. So I guess I'd better sign off, wishing to you and yours all the Compliments of the Season. Nov,, Santa Will Come --Soft coal miner .(ere Sloka and his wife, Naomi, help the r .. �a celebrate the fact that Santa isn't dead. Colin T.. Lewis' order permitting the miners to work three days a week greatly improves chances that the Sierras and thousands like then) will enjoy a merry Christmas. JYrrER wtrinr HAVING DRuss aaN AasAL 'ToNl nr, JiTTAFt, •ooru'tl 1,1+p1Vr '7HIsr',AWE IJp FRoo,v 13NTtt sOMEONI'.' CALLS mak.. You. By Arthur Pointer 1 MON ,JITTER, MAKE IT SNAPPY vaunt torics smars IN ONt: MIN'JrF 1'