A Rockford preacher's steam-filled safe was said to survive 16 hours of fire

So simple, and yet truly philosophical is this invention, that it is a marve! it was left for a Western Preacher to originate.

Quote check Found word for word on the page.

What the AI says

This 1868 compendium describes Rufus S. Sanborn of Rockford, Illinois, and his "Steam Fire-Proof" safes and trunks, which use metal tubes of water-generated steam to keep the iron walls near the boiling point of water during a fire. The book reports a small trunk enduring sixteen hours in a private fire test and trials in Boston, Portland and Philadelphia. The text reads partly as promotion, so the performance claims are unverified, and it is unclear how widely the device was adopted.

How forgotten?

likely-forgotten · I have no specific knowledge of Sanborn's steam safe; the idea of water-cooled fireproofing exists, but this inventor and device appear obscure.

Web check

Documented today · A Ripon Press article describes Rufus S. Sanborn (1820-1877), a Universalist pastor who patented the Steam Fire-Proof Safe. It says he later lived near Rockford, Illinois. I didn't see the 16-hour fire claim in the part of the article I read. (10 sources seen)

Wikipedia

No matching article

Significance

6 / 10

Cost to find

$0.07 (reading the page $0.0004, checking $0.07)

Source

A history of American manufactures from 1608-1860 [microform] : exhibiting the origin and growth of the principal mechanic arts and manufactures, from the earliest colonial period to the adoption of the constitution, and comprising annals of industry of the United States in machinery, manufactures and useful arts, with a notice of important inventions, tariffs and the results of each decennial census, 1868

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