RODRIGUEZ, David (83 avenue de Reims, Witry les Reims, F-51420, FR)
| CLAIMS 1. Safe arrangement, advantageously of generally parallelepiped shape, whereof the bottom wall (10) thereof is fastened by a fastening device (3) to a supporting and anchoring base (2), characterized in that the fastening device (3) includes means (31) which can be deformed under the effect of a force pulling the safe (1) off from its anchoring base (2), which allows pivoting of the safe relative to the anchoring base (2) in a tilted position making the pulling off force ineffective. 2. Arrangement the device (3) thereof for fastening to the anchoring base (2) comprises at least one bolt (13) which passes through the bottom wall (10) of the safe, is sealed by its portion (14) having passed through the bottom wall in the anchoring base (2) and exerts, via a member (19) secured to its portion situated inside the safe, a bearing force on the inner face (29) of the bottom wall (10), characterized in that the deformable means (31) include an axially deformable piece, which is associated with the bolt (13) and inserted between said member (19) and said inner surface of the bottom wall (10) . 3. Arrangement according to claim 2, characterized in that the deformable insertion piece (31) is a tubular piece the axis thereof is oriented perpendicularly to the axis of the bolt (16) and is arranged between the said member (19) secured to the bolt (13) and the bottom wall (10) so as to be able to be crushed in the direction of the axis of the bolt under the effect of a force pulling the safe (1) off its anchoring base (2) . 4. Arrangement according to claim 3, characterized in that the tubular piece (31) has an substantial rectangular cross section, advantageously rounded at its corners. 5. Arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the deformable means (31) are formed by the bottom wall (10) which has a configuration allowing the aforementioned pivoting of the safe, by deforming. 6. Arrangement according to claim 5, characterized in that the bottom wall is configured so as to bulge under the effect of a pulling out force of the safe (1) from its bottom wall (10) . 7. Arrangement according to claim 5, characterized in that the bottom wall (10) is made up of two elementary walls which are connected by means which are deformable under the effect of a force pulling the safe out from its anchoring base (2), such that the wall element in contact with the base stays attached thereto while the other wall element performs the aforementioned pivoting. |
The invention relates to a safe arrangement, advantageously having a general parallelepiped shape, whereof the bottom wall is fastened by a fastening device to a supporting and anchoring base.
It is known to fasten the bottom walls of safes to their anchoring bases by bolts which pass through said wall, are sealed in the anchoring base and bear, via their heads, on the inner face of the bottom wall.
However, it has been shown that these safes are not secured enough against attacks aiming to pull off the safe from its anchoring base to have access to the inside thereof. Indeed, attacks have been made with a hydraulic cylinder in the form of a jack, the lifting lug of which was introduced between the base and the bottom wall or engaged below the opening door of the safe with the aim of creating an opening through the pulling out, which can then be widened to access the inside of the safe.
The invention aims to eliminate this drawback.
In order to achieve this aim, the safe arrangement according to the invention is characterized in that the fastening device includes means which can be deformed under the effect of a pulling out force of the safe from its anchoring base, which allows pivoting of the safe, relative to the anchoring base, in a tilted position making the pulling out force ineffective.
The invention will be better understood, and other aims, features, details and advantages thereof will appear more clearly in the explanatory description which follows in reference to the appended diagrammatic drawings provided solely as examples illustrating one embodiment of the invention and in which: - figure 1 is a perspective view of a safe according to the invention, mounted on a supporting and anchoring base, the upper wall being removed;
- figure 2 is a cross-sectional view along line II-II of figure 1, the front portion of the safe being simplified;
- figure 3 shows, on a larger scale, the portion indicated in III in figure 2;
- figure 4 is a perspective view, similar to figure 1, but shows the safe in its position tilted under the effect of an attack by a safe lifting cylinder;
- figure 5 is a simplified cross-sectional view of the safe of figure 4, in its tilted position, along line V-V; and
- figure 6 is a larger scale view of the portion indicated in VI on figure 5.
The invention will be described below using as example the safe 1 which is illustrated on the figures. The safe is fastened to a supporting and anchoring base 2 by a fastening device 3.
The structure of the safe is known in itself and includes two envelopes in the form of essentially parallelepiped metal cases, 4 and 5, one of which is placed inside the other, allowing a space 7 to remain all around the inner case 4 between the latter and the case 5, said space 7 being filled with latticework.
The safe includes four side walls 9a to 9d, a bottom wall 10, a top wall which is removed on the figures to show the inside of the safe, as well as an access door 11 on the front wall 9d. Each wall thus includes two metal outer layers and one inner layer 7 of reinforced concrete.
The safe rests by its bottom wall 10 on the anchoring base 2. The fastening device 3 includes at least one bolt 13 which passes through the bottom wall and is sealed by its lower portion 14 in the anchoring base 2. The end portion 15 of the bolt situated inside the safe has a smaller diameter than that of the remaining portion 16 and forms a radial shoulder 17 therewith. The end 15 of smaller diameter is threaded and is designed to receive a nut 19. A washer 21 is provided to be inserted between the nut 19 and the shoulder 17.
In order to improve the anchoring and sealing effect of the bolt in the anchoring base 2, the bolt portion 14 which is sealed in the base passes through the latter and ends by a portion forming a head 23 which bears under the lower face 24 of the base. It is also be noted that, in order to ensure the space for passage of a bolt through the bottom wall 10, during the realization of the bottom wall, the latter includes a sleeve 26 which is provided at its upper end with a flange 27 whereby it bears on the inner face 29 of the wall 10.
According to one essential feature of the invention, the fastening device 3 comprises a piece 31 which is inserted between the washer 21 and the flange 27 and is deformable, i.e. compressible in the direction of the axis of the bolt under the effect of a force such as the force F attempting to raise the safe by releasing the bottom wall from the anchoring base 2.
For ensuring that this deformation occurs in a controlled manner, the deformable insertion piece 31 has a suitable shape. In the illustrated example, the piece 31 is in the shape of a section of a tube with an advantageously rectangular cross section. In its position inserted between the washer 21 and the flange 27, the axis of the tubular piece 31 extends perpendicularly to the axis of the bolt which passes through it. The washer 21 thus bears on the upper wall 33 of the piece 31 while the lower opposite wall 34 rests on the flange 27.
In the example of embodiment of the invention presented on the figures, the fastening device 3 includes a single bolt which is arranged at the center of the bottom wall 10. Of course, this example is not limited to the presence of a single bolt. The safe could comprise a larger number of bolts, for example four bolts arranged at the corners of the bottom wall and, if appropriate, the central bolt such as illustrated. Each bolt could be provided with a deformable piece 31. The number of bolts depends primarily on the quality of the base as anchoring base.
Of course, various modifications can be made to the invention as illustrated on the figures, without going beyond the scope of the invention, as will be specified later after the description of the operation of the invention as illustrated.
Figure 4 shows a situation in which the safe 1 is being attacked using a mechanical or hydraulic lifting cylinder 40, for example in the form of a jack, the mobile lifting lug 42 thereof is placed under the access door 11 of the safe. The cylinder is actuated so as to move the lug 42 vertically upwardly, i.e. perpendicularly to the bottom wall in its position fixed to the base illustrated on figure 1. The lug 42 therefore acts in the direction of the arrow F. Of course the lug could also be placed under the bottom wall 10, between the latter and the anchoring base 2.
Under the effect of this force F, oriented in the direction of the axis of the bolt 13, the tubular insertion piece 31 is deformed by being crushed in the direction of the axis of the bolt between the washer 21 and the flange 27 which bears on the bottom wall 10, in the manner illustrated on figures 5 and 6. The crushing of the piece 31 so as to present the general configuration of an 8 arranged horizontally is obtained due to the fact that the upper and lower walls 33 and 34 of the piece 31 fitted on the bolt are forced to move one toward the other in the axial direction of the bolt.
By undergoing the crushing in the axial direction of the bolt, the piece 31 allows a pivoting of the safe around the lower edge 45 of the lateral wall 9b opposite the access door 11 which the cylinder is about to lift.
The tilting occurs until the angle of inclination a reaches a value at which the effective force generated by the cylinder becomes insufficient to continue the pivoting and to be able to cause a break of the bottom wall 10. The lifting lug even looses its engagement under the door, since the resistance force that the safe opposes against the lug tends to push the latter back and causes it to slide backwardly.
As a result, no opening by pulling off occurs which could allow access to the inside of the safe, eventually, by enlarging the opening thus created by other means such as, for example, a blowtorch.
Of course, the principle of operation is independent of the number of bolts. But, with an equal bolt length, the use of a single bolt situated in the center of the bottom wall ensures a more significant pivot angle. One can content with a single central bolt if the bottom wall has sufficient anchoring properties.
It should be noted that the implementation of the invention as illustrated on the figures was only described as an example. Of course, the invention can be realized in any different manner, under the condition that it ensures pivoting of the safe to the critical angle after which the force produced by the attack device becomes ineffective and is no longer able to cause a pulling off effect out of or from the bottom wall, able to allow access to the inside of the safe.
Thus, it is possible to provide a bottom wall which, under the effect of the attack, deforms, for example bulges, thereby allowing the pivoting of the safe without a pulling out or off effect. One could also consider realizing a bottom wall which is formed by two elementary walls mounted so that during an attack, one wall element remains attached to the base while the other element, by separating itself, in a controlled manner, from the elementary wall remaining attached, stays intact. To obtain this effect, the elementary walls should be connected to each other by suitable deformable means.
Moreover, it is obvious that the insertion pieces could have any other form, under the condition that they become deformed by crushing in the direction of the axis of the bolts. Of course, the invention is not designed only to resist attacks by jack-form cylinders. The safe will behave in the same manner described above independently of the attack point of the pulling out force.
It results from the description of the invention just given that a safe according to the invention is able to upset attack attempts by pulling the bottom wall out from its anchoring base, using means which can be very simple and do not require modifying the conventional structure of the safe. The implementation of the invention as described and illustrated has the advantage that it can be applied to existing safes . To this end one need only use bolts configured accordingly, in particular longer, and add suitable deformable pieces.
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