What could be surprising about a safe? You basically use it to store your cash, jewels or any precious items that you own, lock it with a key or a code and that’s that, right?
Actually, there is more to safes than you might think. Here are 10 things you may not know about safes.
- Safes are an English invention. In 1835 two English inventors, Charles Chubb and Jeremiah Chubb patented the very first burglar resistant safe in Wolverhampton.
- Before the modern safes we know today, strongboxes were used to protect valuables, these were initially made of wood before progressing to iron chests.
- The oldest example of a lockable box was found in the tomb of Pharaoh Rameses II, dating back to 13th Century BC. It had movable pins that fell into the holes and locked the device.
- The first safes used different materials to protect their contents from fire. These materials included stone, wood, cement, clay, sawdust and even water! Safes that are produced today use substances such as perlite, vermiculite or lumps of aloxite to withstand high temperature.
- Perlite is an amorphous volcanic glass, which is the product of rapidly cooling magma.
- A standard 3 key and forty digit spinning lock can have close to 60,000 combinations.
- The most expensive safe in the world was designed by the late Karl Lagerfeld. The Döttling Narcissus cost $336,000 and measures six feet tall and a foot deep.
- In 2015 up to £200 million worth of goods were stolen over Easter weekend at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company, it has been dubbed “The largest burglary in English legal history”.
- The Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) has been working with the security industry and government for more than 100 years to set the standards and give their accreditations needed to ensure that safes perform effectively.
- The Association of Insurance Surveyors (AiS) approved safes have gained insurance approval by UK Insurance Companies so they will pay out should a claim need to be made so long as the safe has been installed correctly. Only safes that have been fully tested and certified by independent testing house will gain an AiS certificate.
Securing your belongings with a safe from Insafe
Insafe is the UK’s leading and biggest independent safe company. We design, manufacture, supply and install all grades and sizes of safes which are engineered, built and finished to world class standards with the latest materials and technology.
All our safes are tested, certified and approved by independent testing houses to meet insurance standards and delivered and installed by our own Safe Crews and Engineers.
Need some advice on finding the best type of safe for you? Get in touch with our team, we’ll be glad to be of assistance!