World Bank - Bank Information CenterBank Vault
Bank Vault
Background
A bank vault is a secure space where money, valuables, records, and
documents can be stored. Vaults protect their contents with armored walls
and a tightly fashioned door closed with a complex lock. Vault technology
developed in a type of arms race with bank robbers. As burglars came up
with new ways to break into vaults, vault makers found innovative ways to
foil them. Modern vaults may be armed with a wide array of alarms and
anti-theft devices. Some nineteenth and early twentieth century vaults
were built so well that today they are almost impossible to destroy.
Buildings have been renovated around them. A restaurant in a restored bank
building even features a dining area inside the indestructible vault.
These older vaults were typically made with steel-reinforced concrete. The
walls were usually at least 1 ft (0.31 m) thick, and the door itself was
typically 3.5 ft (1.1 m) thick. Total weight ran into the hundreds of
tons. Today vaults are made with thinner, lighter materials that, while
still secure, are easier to dismantle than their earlier counterparts.
The need for secure storage stretches far back in time. The earliest known
locks were made by the Egyptians. Ancient Romans used a more sophisticated
locking system, called warded locks. Warded locks had special notches and
grooves that made picking them more difficult. Lock technology advanced
independently in ancient India, Russia, and China, where the combination
lock is thought to have originated. In the United States, most banks
relied on small iron safes fitted with a key lock up until the middle of
the nineteenth century. After the Gold Rush of 1849, unsuccessful
prospectors turned to robbing banks. The prospectors would often break
into the bank using a pickaxe and hammer. The safe was usually small
enough that the thief could get it out a window, and take it to a secluded
spot to break it open.
Banks demanded more protection and safe makers responded by designing
larger, heavier safes. Safes with a key lock were still vulnerable through
the key hole, and bank robbers soon learned to blast off the door by
pouring explosives in this opening. In 1861, inventor Linus Yale Jr.
introduced the modern combination lock. Bankers quickly adopted
Yale's lock for their safes, but bank robbers came up with several
ways to get past the new invention. It was possible to use force to punch
the combination lock through the door. Other experienced burglars learned
to drill holes into the lock case and use mirrors to view the slots in the
combination wheels inside the mechanism. A more direct approach was to
simply kidnap the bank manager and force him to reveal the combination.
After the inventions of the combination lock, James Sargent—an
employee of Yale—developed the "theftproof lock."
This was a combination lock that worked on a timer. The vault or safe door
could only be opened after a set number of hours had passed, thus a
kidnapped bank employee could not open the lock in the middle of the night
even under force. Time locks became widespread at banks in the 1870s. This
reduced the kidnappings, but set bank robbers to work again at prying or
blasting open vaults. Thieves developed tools for forcing
open a tiny crack between the vault door and frame. As the crack widened,
the thieves levered the door open or poured in gunpowder and blasted it
off. Vault makers responded with a series of stair-stepped grooves in the
door frame so the door could not be levered open. Unfortunately, these
grooves proved ideal for a new weapon: liquid nitroglycerin. Professional
bank robbers learned to boil dynamite in a kettle of water and skim the
nitroglycerin off the top. They could drip this volatile liquid into the
door grooves and destroy the door. Vault makers subsequently redesigned
their doors so they closed with a thick, smooth, tapered plug. The plug
fit so tightly that there was no room for the nitroglycerin.
By the 1920s, most banks avoided using safes and instead turned to
gigantic, heavy vaults with walls and doors several feet thick. These were
meant to withstand not only robbers but also angry mobs and natural
disasters. Despite the new security measures, these vaults were still
vulnerable to yet another new invention, the cutting torch. Burning oxygen
and acetylene gas at about 6,000°F (3,315°C), the torch could
easily cut through steel. It was in use as early as 1907, but became wide
spread with World War I. Robbers used cutting torches in over 200 bank
robberies in 1924 alone. Manufacturers learned to sandwich a copper alloy
into vault doors. If heated, the copper alloy melted and flowed. As soon
as the burglar removed the heat, the copper resolidified, sealing the
hole. After this design improvement, bank burglaries fell off and were far
less common at the end of the 1920s than at the beginning of the decade.
Technology continues in the race with bank robbers, coming up with new
devices such as heat sensors, motion detectors, and alarms. Bank robbers
have in turn developed even more technological tools to find ways around
these systems. Although the number of bank robberies has been cut
dramatically, they are still attempted.
A wanted poster of John Dillinger.
Born June 22, 1903 in Indianapolis, John Dillinger was raised by his
sister and stepmother. In 1924 he was arrested for attempted robbery and
sentenced to 10-20 years in prison. Confinement trained Dillinger as a
criminal and leaving prison in 1933, he carried a map of prospective
robbery sites. In three weeks Dillinger robbed 10 banks in five states.
Known as "Gentleman Johnnie," he was pleasant and often
flirtatious during robberies. The press played Dillinger up as a
brilliant, daring, likeable individual, beating the banks that
foreclosed on helpless debtors.
Other criminals joined Dillinger, forming the Dillinger Gang. Banks were
cased and robberies were timed. The heist was abandoned—no matter
what—after a certain amount of time had passed. Getaways were
also planned precisely: street lights were timed with back roads and
alternate routes noted in the plans. Often, the gangsters didn't
race out of town, they casually motored through back roads. FBI
director, J. Edgar Hoover increased the reward for Dillinger and issued
agents shoot to kill. The Dillinger pursuit was the largest manhunt in
the country's history.
In 1934, Dillinger's friend—Anna Sage—agreed to
betray Dillinger. On July 22, 1934, Sage, Dillinger, and
Dillinger's girlfriend Polly Hamilton attended a movie on
Chicago's North Side where Federal agents gunned Dillinger down.
Following his death, the FBI press announced Dillinger was shot after
resisting arrest and attempting to draw a pistol. Other members of
Dillinger's gang were incarcerated or killed in shootouts with
police. The reign of John Dillinger and his gang had come to an end.
However, Dillinger's exploits earned him a lasting place in
American crime history.
Materials used in vaults and vault doors have also changed as well. The
earlier vaults had steel doors, but because these could easily be cut by
torches, different materials were tried. Massive cast iron doors had more
resistance to acetylene torches than steel. The modern preferred vault
door material is actually the same concrete as used in the vault wall
panels. It is usually clad in steel for cosmetic reasons.
Raw Materials
Vault walls and doors are comprised mainly of concrete, steel rods for
reinforcement, and proprietary additives to give the concrete even more
Bank vaults are built as custom orders. The vault is usually the first
aspect of a new bank building to be designed and built. The manufacturing
process begins with the design if the vault, and the rest of the bank is
built around it. The vault manufacturer consults with the customer to
determine factors such as the total vault size, desired shape, and
location of the door. After the customer signs off on the design, the
manufacturer configures the equipment to make the vault panels and door.
The customer usually orders the vault to be delivered and installed. That
is, the vault manufacturer not only makes the vault parts, but brings the
parts to the construction site and puts them together.
Bank vaults are typically made with steel-reinforced concrete. This
material was not substantially different from that used in construction
work. It relied on its immense thickness for strength. An ordinary vault
from the middle of the century might have been 18 in (45.72 cm) thick and
was quite heavy and difficult to remove or remodel around. Modern bank
vaults are now typically made of modular concrete panels using a special
proprietary blend of concrete and additives for extreme strength. The
concrete has been engineered for maximum crush resistance. A panel of this
material, though only 3 in (7.62 cm) thick, may be up to 10 times as
strong as an 18 in-thick (45.72-cm) panel of regular formula cement.
The Manufacturing
The panels
1 The first step in the process is to mold the wall panels. Unlike
regular concrete used in construction, the concrete for bank vaults is
so thick that it cannot be poured. The consistency of concrete is
measured by its "slump." Vault concrete is said to have
zero slump. It also sets very quickly, drying in only six to 12 hours,
instead of the three to four days needed for most concrete. Workers dump
the concrete mix into the panel molds.
2 Next, a network of reinforcing steel rods are manually placed into the
3 Then the molds are vibrated for several hours. The vibration settles
the material and eliminates air pockets.
4 The edges are smoothed with a trowel, and the concrete is allowed to
5 Workers unmold the product and place the panels on a truck for
transport to the customer's construction site.
6 The vault door is also molded of special concrete used to make the
panels, but it can be made in several ways. The door mold differs from
the panel molds because there is a hole for the lock and the door will
be clad in stainless steel. Some manufacturers use the steel cladding as
the mold and pour the concrete directly into it. Other manufacturers use
a regular mold and screw the steel on after the panel is dry.
7 The lock for a modern bank vault is usually a dual-control combination
lock, meaning it takes two people to open it. This lock is connected to
a time lock that can be set so the combination lock will not open until
the pre-set number of hours has passed. This is still the
"theftproof" lock system that Sargent invented in the late
nineteenth century. Such locks are manufactured by only a few companies
worldwide. The locking system is supplied already assembled to the vault
manufacturer.
Installation
8 The finished vault panels, door, and lock assembly are trucked to the
bank construction site. The vault manufacturer's workers then
place the panels enclosed in steel at the designated spots and weld them
together. The vault manufacturer may also supply an alarm system, which
is installed at the same time. While older vaults were armed with
multiple weapons against burglars, such as blasts of steam or teargas,
this is rarely found in modern vaults. Instead the vault door and
interior might be wired with
A. The modular panels of the vault. B. The finished vault with safe
deposit boxes.
a listening device that picks up unusual or unusually frequent sounds.
The vault may also be surveyed with a camera and an alarm will be hooked
up to alert local police if the door or lock is tampered with.
Quality Control
Quality control for the vault industry is overseen by Underwriters
Laboratory, Inc. (UL), in Northbrook, Illinois. Until 1991, the United
States government also regulated the vault industry. The government set
minimum standards for the thickness of vault walls, but advances in
concrete technology made thickness an arbitrary measure of strength. Thin
panels of new materials were far stronger than the thicker, poured
concrete walls. Now the effectiveness of the vault is measured by how well
it performs against a mock break-in. Manufacturers strive to make products
that repel attacks for a certain number of minutes. A UL Class 1 vault is
guaranteed to withstand a break-in attempt for 30 minutes, a Class 2 for
60 minutes, and a Class 3 for 120 minutes. UL's workers attack
sample vault walls and doors with equipment that is likely a burglar could
carry into a bank and use. This usually includes torches and demolition
hammers. If the UL worker can make a hole of at least 6 × 16 in
(15.24 × 40.64 cm) in less than the set time, that particular part
has failed the test. Manufacturers also do their own testing designing a
new product to make sure it is likely to succeed in UL trials.
Byproducts/Waste
The manufacturing process itself has no unusual waste or byproducts, but
getting rid of old bank vaults can be a problem. Newer, modular bank
vaults can be moved if a bank closes or relocates. They can also be
enlarged if the bank's needs change. Older bank vaults are quite
difficult to demolish. If an old bank building is to be renovated for
another use, in most cases a specialty contractor has to be called in to
demolish the vault. A vault's demolition requires massive wrecking
equipment and may take months of work at a large expense. At least one
company in the United States refurbishes old vault doors that are then
The Future
Bank vault technology changed rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s with the
development of improved concrete material. Bank burglaries are also no
longer the substantial problem they were in the late nineteenth
century up through the 1930s, but vault makers continue to alter their
products to counter new break-in methods.
At issue in the twenty-first century is a powerful tool called a
"burning bar" or "thermic torch." Burning
liquid oxygen ignited by a oxyacetylene torch, this bar burns much hotter
than an acetylene torch, getting up to 6,602-8,006°F
(3,650-4,430°C). The torch makes a series of small holes that can
eventually be linked to form a gap. In the future, the vault manufacturing
industry will likely come up with a means to combat the burning bar. Then
perhaps criminals will find a more powerful tool, and the industry will
change its products again. Vault manufacturers work closely with the
banking industry and law enforcement in order to keep up with these
advances in burglary.
Where to Learn More
Steele, Sean P.
Heists: Swindles, Stickups, and Robberies that Shocked the World.
New York: Metrobooks, 1995.
Tchudi, Stephen.
Lock & Key.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1993.
Periodicals
Chiles, James R. "Age-Old Battle to Keep Safes Safe from
'Creepers, Soup Men and Yeggs.'"
Smithsonian
(July 1984): 35-44.
Merrick, Amy. "Immovable Objects, If They're Bank Vaults,
Make Nice Restaurants."
Wall Street Journal
(5 February 2001): Al.
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