The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1872-11-20
COINING MONEY.

III MuthSuhlb III du ulliClC Oh
coming money, says: The metal Eve
will call it gold) having been reduced,
or elevated to a perfect degree of puri-
ty, is cast into ingots, in crucibles of
plumbago, with the requisite quantity
Of alloy-say twenty-five parts Of gold
to two of copper When a thorough
amalgamation is produced, by great
heat, the liquid metal is poured into
from moulus, from which, when cool,
it is turned out in bars twenty-one
inches long, one inch thick and nearly
two inches wide. A small peice is cut
from the end of each bar, and this
fragment is assayed. A small piece
Of hair, about an inch in length, is put
into one Of two scales, protected from
the dust by glass case, and so finely
balanced this mcrsel of hair will turn
the scale. If the Mint assayst, thus
weighing the gold, discovers impurity
in it equal to that hair, he would reject
the bar. This assay of the gold is
vigorously performed several times be-
fore the coin is delivered for circula-
ton.
The bar of gold having been de-
clared to be "all right" aud of the
requisite fineness, is now ready for the
rolling-room. There the first thing
done is to clip off the ends with II
huge pair of scissors or shears-the
theory being that such ends are sub
ject to undue contraction in cooling,
and the fact being that coin produced
from these ends would be "dumb, :"
that is, not have the proper ring The
bars are then repeatedly passed be-
Sween successive pairs Of rollers Of
hardened steel surfaces, driven by
steam power. By this action the
length and breadth are extended, and
by gradually bringing the rollers
closer, the thickness is diminished
AS the bars become extended, they
are cut into several lengths; each Of
which, in turn, is passed through the
rollers, until it becomes q "fllet" Of
the thickness required for punching
out "blanks." Though the rolling is
not very rapidly performed, the work.
men are careful to touch the gold or
silver only with thickly gloved hands.
If you were to take up one of these
illets, you would instantly know the
reason why, for your fingers would be
as severely burned as if you had
drawn them across heated iron bars.
The heat generated in the opera
tlon Of rolling is very great. The
finishing rollers are so finely ad
justed that the lillets Cor lhinned bars)
do not vary in thickness in any part
more than the ten. thousandth part of
an inch. The iillels finally are put in
to the drawing bench" where they
are drawn between steel dies, as in
wire drawing, to the exact thickness
Of the coin required. In the process
Of rolling, the bars are aunealed, to
remove the hardness induced by the
pressure.
The fllets are handed, when they
finally leave the rollers, to a workman
called the "tryer" who punches a trial
blank out Of each, and weighs it in
lance; L i vary more than one.
eighth Of a grain in weight, that fiiiet
is rejected After this, if the trial be
satisfactory "a final rolling reduces it to
what may be called "cojn thickness. "
Next the fillet passes into the Cutting.
room" where the coins are punched
out of it by steam and pneumatic
pressure; the fillets being fed into the
the press rapidly, as each of the twelve
cuts out sixty blanks in each minute.
The scraps left after the punching arc
called "scissel, and are taken care of
TO be remelted. Each hlark, actually
an unstanIped coin, is weighed in the
automaton balance-which tests twen-
ty-three blanks per minute, and each
to the .0O1 Of Il grain. All mder
a certain weight are pushed into Il box
to be remalttd; all orer it are put
aside to he reduced by filing. The cor
rect blanks are separately ly rung on Il
soundng-iron, and those which do not
give clear ringing sound are rejected.
This ordeal passed, the blanks are
"milled' Oh the edge by machine
which raises or ribs the edge, and
makes them perfectly round. They
are then filed, to take off any wiry
rising which the process may have pro.
duced. After this they are anuealed,
to soften them before they are struck
with hardened steel dies, and also put
into a pot Of boiling diluted sulphuric
acid, to remove any oxide Of copper
from the surface. Next they are
washed with water, dried with great
care in hot sawdust, and finally put in
to an oven, at temperature slightly
above that of boiling water These
processes produce the beautiful bloom
which may be observed in new coin.
Now the blanks pass into the stamp
ing-room, to receive the impressions,
on both sides, which will convert them
into coin. In the Mint III London the
stamping presses make much noise,
and convey the idea, by the tremor
which their concus-ion creates, that
the building might probably fall down.
al. NJ 4