The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-11-05

for its excellence of finish and clear mnuteness in
all it's details, as compared with the coin formerly
that few of the workmen who were engaged
in erecting the Soho machinery at the Royal mint,
in the year 1871 are still employed IN that esta6.
lishment az useful artifceis; We may aiso stase
has ever been effected. Many attempts have been
made 10 supersede this beautiful coatrivance, but
the results in all such cases have been nothing but
vacuum and there rests its great merit, and the
secret also Of producing that peculiar sharpness OF
impression which SO strikingly distinguishes the
British coinage. The coin OF any other country,
even when new exhibits a marked inferiority in
many respects 70 the English coin. Bouiton's prin.
cpe is persuasive force, whilst the presses Of other
nations generally lever ones, a:ted upon by t0g
sleoints or, in other words, two lines at an angle
brought into a straight line, or the action Of the
knee joint in ascending fight Of steps. Boultons
coini1g press, like the marvellous steam engine of
Watt, continues TO be monument OF the skill and
genius Of its inventor, and masterpiece IN practical
With these preliminaries, brief description of
the entire operations OF coming the money of the
realm viii not be out Of place.
When gold and silver bars areScas tin the melting
house and duly assayed to prove their standard qua
hty, they delivered into the coming house, ana
are rolled and drawn into fsts of proper thickness
which require to be most nicely adjusted 80 that
piece Of proper size punched ont OF any part Of the
hlet may have the exact size and weight Of the in
tended coin. The blank pieces Of gold or silver
then cut out of these llets, which are thus re
duced to state Of scrap Cor residue of the dllets
after the blanks are cut outs and remodeled, under
the precaution Of due checks, to be again cast into
bars. The blanks, amounting to about thirds,
and the scrap to enethrd, Of the weight OF the orr
ginal metal, are next passed into the sizing room,
where each separate blank is sized, checked, and
rung-that is, each piece is weighed, to ascertain
whether or not it is Of the standard weight. This
the name Of sizers, and followed up by another body
Of men, termed checkmen whose duty It is TO reject
such blanks as are either light or heavy and pass
the good blanks to the sizing boys, who sound them
iron anvls, and reject those that do not ring, az
hollow or dumb; which class, together with the
light, notckea and heavy come under the head OF
Imperfect" These are, of course, all remelted
with the scrap the blanks are then passed through
piece is made smooth and little raised, and then
Dlanching, drying and shaking, when they are
.senea oy fire. .tn IN d1 ,h sapIp
naturally accommodates on the surface Of the
ing. By these latter operations the surface De-.
comes partially oxdized and the blanching process
is adopted to remove an oxidation, leaving pure
nat or ormou surface The coin, when thus wash.
ed and dried, is in t state for being stamped or
coined.
The coming operation is performed, as already
intimated, by Boulton's presses, moved by steam
power, and consists in placing the blanks between
Two steel dies, upon one Of which Is engraved the
diverse, and upon the other the reverse, Of the
coin, SO to give an impression in relief; whilst
the spreading Of the coin in lateral direction is
prevented by the raising Of "the collar" already
mentioned, at the moment at which the
coin is struck. In this collar is engraved the
milling, which is thereby transferred 10 the
edge Of the piece at the same moment that the
impressions of the dies are taken upon its
two surfaces. The coming presses are attended by
The operation of laying the blanks upon the die and
again throwing them Off is entirely effected by the
machinery connected with the press, by which
means the risk Of crushing the fingers OF the work
men, in the old and dangerous mode, Is e1ectual
ly prevented. This movement is commonly termed
1.-THE tongs movement" which consists, IN fact, OF
pair of tongs that pass under the hopper containing
the blanks receives a single blank at time, closes
hone upon IL, and then conveys that blank between
the two dies. When the blow rs completed its office
is - push the perfectystruck coin out Of its place
and pass 1t back under the hopper to receive another
blank, and 30 in succession.
In the coming press room there are eight presses,
each adapted for every species Of coin. Each press
strikes, on the average, so pieces per minute, or
$500 per hour; 80 that, in days work OF ten hours
presses II all in work during the day, would be ca
pable Of striking of 2sS, 900 pieces.
The operation of what is termed pixing 10 the
ass 0 ssys
In bags, in portions which are called journey
weights, for delivery TO the Bank Of England, or
other importers Of the bulion-the gold In Is lbs.
the coin is, however, allowed 70 pass out Of the
mint, IL is inspected as TO It's workmanship, and IL
any piece be faulty In this respect, it Is cut and
returned for remelting and re-coinage. The weight
smiped and insured by the pixing process, which
consists of taking indiscriminately from each
journey-weight pound in tale, which Is delivered
by the wegher and teller to the assay.master,. who
carefully weighs IT, and declards aloud the pias
minus on each pound, II it be not standard. This
determines whether the money has been made
within the remedy Tor rc'se weight) allowed upon
the pound troy su. sns ns ly upon the pound
weighs several Of the pieces separately and II they
are not within the allowed limits, can, In conjunc-
ton with the othe -hef officer present on his deity,
return the coin, 10 be remelted and recoined From
the ZANE pound weight OF gold and silver the comp
troller also takes two pieces one OF which s handed
to the sssayer to prove that the metal has undergone
deterioration In any OF the processes OF its mans-
facture; the other is locked up In the px-box. un-
der the keys Of the chief officer, where II remains
until the trial Of the pix jury, which usually takes
place every three years In the Court Of Exche-
quer at Westminster.
No Englishman can view Boui.on's coming press
without feeling some degree Of national pride. The
late eccentric John Randolph. of Virginia, when
looking at Dyers admirable carding machine, on its
first exhibition in the United States exclaimed that
che was only waiting to hear 1t speak for IL certain
ly had a mind" A compliment equally worthy
might with Justice be applied to Boultons beautiful
invention, which, for years yet TO come. may rank In
greatness Win the mfBnty hcnlcVemeut Id mecndulCs
of his friend and partner, James Watt.
The subjoined statements, showing the amoont of
gold and silver coin issued during the six monarches
Immediately proceeding the Brunswick dynasty, and
during also the six sovereignties fncludng the reign
Of her Majesty Queen Victora), from The period OF
George H. are historically curious, and indicate how
largely the coinage has increased since her Majesty
came to the throne, the issue from the Min.
steadily keeping pace with the increase Of our
population, aud our rapidly advancing operations In
manufactures and commcrce:-1n the reign OF
James l, the gold and silver coinage amounted TO
f547s6e6; in that of Charles l. 10 els ,241 1872; In
the reign Of Charles ii. CT 500, 433; Of James H.
fl22s, 1853; Of William and Mary, f9,434 1853; Of
Anne, e. l02 743; George L. fs ,725 ,e2i; George H.
eli, e66,576; George I'LL. (who reigned sixtyonee
yeais) ESQ $50 20s George w., f3s 1886 sos; and
William W., Gig, 800 900. In the present reign the
amount Of gold and silver moneys coined at the
Royal Mint from 1887 TO ls4l, was f5,ss0,3l2 and
from 1912 TO ls47 f32 ,327, OIL. The annual issue o.
gold silver and copper moneys coined at the Roya'
Mint from the year ls4s 70 the year 1856 was a.
follows:-In the year 1913, f2A90, 100; In 1919,
in 1S6O. f1 .62l $50. in 1871 81 lgl 963