Popular Science Monthly 



Vol. 90 

 No. 3 



239 Fourth Avenue, New York City 



March, 1917 



$1.50 

 Annually 



Floating Safes for ^^ 



When the ship sinks, 

 the safes, containing 



EVERY ship that goes 

 down is to some ex- 

 tent a treasure ship. 

 Her purser is in charge of 

 much money, and her 

 passengers carry valu- 

 ables. Fortunes have 

 been lost in trying to 

 raise sunken treasure, 

 but not until Menotte 

 Nanni appeared on the 

 scene did any one think of 

 preventing the treasure 

 from sinking, whatever hap- 

 pened to the ship. Why 

 bother about ways to recover 

 sunken treasure when a non- 

 sinkable purser's safe would 

 prevent the sinking? When a 

 steamer passenger sees his 

 jewelry stored away in the 

 ship's safe he doesn't know 

 whether it is 

 going to a 

 salt water 

 grave or not. 

 Inspired 

 by the know- 

 ledge of the 

 lack of pre- 

 ventative 

 measures of 

 this kind, 

 M e n o t t i 

 Nanni has 

 devised a 

 non-sinkable 

 vault which 

 is not only 

 large enough 

 to hold the 

 purser's safe, 

 but which 

 also provides 



Ocean Liners 



mail and valuables, 

 rise to the surface 



The inventor in his floating 

 safe, on his way to the bottom 

 of Lake Michigan in a test 



Testing the fire resisting qualities of the safes. The boat was 

 set on fire, after which it sank. The vaults floated to safety 



323 



ample storage space for 

 registered mail, gold bul- 

 lion, and valuables owned 

 by the passengers. 



Nanni plans to install 

 several of his floating 

 safes in a large, vertical 

 cylindrical steel casing 

 placed in a well amid- 

 ships, the top of the well 

 being flush with the upper 

 deck and covered with a 

 loose-fitting, easily-re- 

 moved cap. The safes are 

 placed one on top of another, 

 the first, second and third 

 class passengers each having a 

 safe for their valuables. The 

 two lower safes serve as a 

 repository for registered mail 

 and for the most precious part 

 of the ship's cargo. 



Ready ac- 

 cess is gained 

 to the safes 

 through 

 doors pro- 

 vided in both 

 the outer 

 and inner 

 casings at 

 the various 

 decks. Thus 

 the first class 

 passengers, 

 for instance, 

 could place 

 their valua- 

 bles in the 

 safe at night 

 and remove 

 them in the 

 morning. Of 

 course there 



