Safeguarding- the Nation's Money 



The Bureau of Engraving maintains a small arsenal, con- 

 stant vigilance and the finest signaling system in the world 



THE Bureau of Engraving and Print- 

 ing, at Washington, D. C., where all 

 paper money, postage and revenue 

 stamps and valuable documents are printed, 

 is one of the most carefully guarded build- 

 ings in the world. It is protected by some 

 of the most modern electrical burglar- 

 alarms, and sixty armed night watchmen 

 patrol the plant. 



Five different sig- 

 naling systems are 

 installed in the build- 

 ing, including the 

 watchman's time re- 

 corder, the electric 

 clock system, the di- 

 vision report system, 

 fire alarm system, and 

 the messenger call 

 system. 



Not only are watch- 

 men on duty at night, 

 but during every hour 

 of the day as \\^ell. 

 The vaults are said to 

 be among the finest in 

 the world. There are 

 four major vaults, all 

 built alike, and a num- 

 ber of smaller ones. 

 These vaults are 

 guarded by a special 

 force of men, headed 

 by the custodian of the 

 vault. No one is al- 

 lowed near the vaults 

 unless on official bus- 

 by special 



By an elaborate system of mirrors the in- 

 terior of the vaults as well as the surround- 

 ing passages are kept under constant watch 



mess or 



permission of the Director of the Bureau. 

 The vaults themselves, separated from 

 the building, are really vaults within vaults. 

 At night, when the doors are closed, two 

 watchmen go completely around them every 

 fifteen minutes. By an elaborate series of 

 mirrors, a watchman can, in walking over 

 the grating, see entirely under as well as on 

 top of each vault; and if he stands at a 

 certain given point he can see all around the 

 vault as well. The vaults themselves are 

 forty by eighty feet, and some twenty feet 

 high. They are built of concrete, about 

 four feet thick, and are reinforced with steel 

 railroad-ties. The concrete is intermeshed 



with burglar wires, so that a knife blade 

 cannot penetrate at any place in the entire 

 structure without sounding an automatic 

 alarm in the office of the captain of the 

 watch. The door itself weighs twenty-five 

 tons, yet it is so perfectly balanced that 

 it can be easily closed with one finger. 

 Because of the great size of this building 

 and the nature of the 

 work carried on, it is 

 imperative that a 

 most complete system 

 be ihstalled to allow 

 the captain of the 

 watch , who is in charge 

 of all the watchmen, 

 to know at all times 

 j ust where each watch- 

 man is and also to be 

 able to communicate 

 with him in case of 

 emergency. In the 

 regular operation of 

 the system the watch- 

 man turns in a sig- 

 nal from each station 

 every five minutes 

 during the night. This 

 signal is received in 

 the office of the cap- 

 tain of the watch in 

 three ways: by the 

 ringing of a bell, by 

 the falling of an an- 

 nunciator drop and by 

 the perforation of a 

 watch-clock dial. 

 Should the watchman 

 fail to ring in on schedule time from any 

 station, the captain of the watch can im- 

 mediately start an investigation. 



The system is so laid out that it is 

 impossible for a watchman to ring in on 

 any but the right station at the right time 

 without being detected. Each station is so 

 arranged, that, should the watchman wish 

 to communicate with the captain he can 

 telephone in. On the other hand, when the 

 captain wants one of the watchmen, he 

 shifts a lever, whereupon a horn blows, each 

 man having a certain signal. By means of 

 code signaling this system gives the general 

 alarm to all the watchmen at night. 



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