The great Paul Di Filippo of Weird Universe mines the digital bowels of the US Patent Office for bizarre, wonderful, and wonderfully bizarre inventions that never quite made it to mass production. Today, he shares with us this unusual device granted a patent in 1942.
Inventor Benjamin L. Dorsey calls his device the "antiholdup cashier's cage." It appears to be a sealed chamber accessible through a locking revolving door. The cashier controls entry and exit. If a bank robber is able to persuade the cashier to part with money, s/he may not escape with it until the cashier unlocks the chamber.
What are the possible drawbacks? Well, a trapped robber might go all Rorschach on the cashier (NSFW).