The bank vault gave people the idea of keeping a safe of their own within the walls of their home. Many banks offered customers the option of keeping not only their cash in the vault, but also valuables, records and important documents as well. Early bank vaults protected their contents with armored walls and tightly fashioned doors that were closed with complex locks. As bank robbers came up with new ways to break into the vault, vault manufacturers came up with new ways to keep them out; it was an ongoing race for many years to keep up with one another.
Throughout Time, Secure Storage was a Necessity
Even thousands of years ago, people had a need for some type of secured storage to keep their valuables and belongings from being stolen. The earliest known locks were made by the Egyptians, protecting tombs, gold and other sacred and valuable possessions. From ancient Rome and Russia to India and China, the lock continued to grow in creativity and effectiveness. The Early United States soon found a need for secure storage after the gold rush of 1849. Prospectors would often break into a bank and carry the safe out with them; this is when the idea of a vault came well into play. A secure storage so large that it would be impossible for anyone to walk out the door with would assist in preventing so many break ins.
Vaults Today are Almost Impossible to Break Into
The manufacturing of vaults today has come a long way from four simple armored walls. A vault door today is molded out of special concrete used to make panels. Other vault doors are made from steel cladding molds that the concrete is poured directly into. The vault doors today are a lot heavier than their early counter parts and much more difficult if not impossible to punch through with any type of machinery. Not only are the vault doors much more efficient in keeping would be robbers out, but the lock itself is also a great deal more intricate, detailed and complicated. The lock for a modern bank vault is usually a dual control combination lock, which means that two people are required to open it. This type of lock is also connected to a time lock that can be set so the combination lock cannot be open until the preset number of hours has passed. This makes breaking into the vault much more complicated than in the days of the Wild West.
