Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-03-27
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MAKING SILVER DOLLARS.
The Processes Of Ainting-P Progress
Of the Work from the Melting to the
Stamping--Rosc the Silver Is Auoy-
ed-The Capacity Of the Three

| INC TTOceSSeS y MaNtang-kTOgTeS
| Of the Work from the Melting to tn
Stamping--HoU the Sslver Is Alloy
ed-The Capacity Of the Thre'
Minis.
New YORK Times. March II.
The capacity of the various coming
mints and Assay Offices in the United
States will be fully tested during the
coming year. The law of Feb. 28
1878, demands that between 2,OOO, ,OO(
and 4,OOO, 900 of the new dollars shall
be turned out every month. The Off.
GERS Of the mints think that 5000, ,OOC
will be the maximum Of production
for the present, and to coin Is many
silver dollars 40 that month will re-
quire brisk work at the mints. Ithaa
already been announced in the Times
that the dies for the new dollar are to
be made from the design Of Mr.. Nor
gan, an English draughtsman. The
coin will undoubtedly be one of the
handsomest that has ever been circu-
lated In this country. There will be,
as . matter of course, no lack Of silver
in the mints to work upon. On the
11th Of December last eleven tons Of
silver were sent to Philadelphia from
the Assay Office in this city; seven
and q half tons were sent on the 31st
day of the same month, and at least
twelve tons more have been sent dur
ing the last fortnight. Most of the
silver received at the Philadelphia
Mint passes through the New York
Assay Office. There are two coming
mints besides the one in philadelphia,
one in San Francisco and the other in
Carson City ; and assaying and refin-
ing are done in Helena, Montana !;
Boise City, Idaho Denver, Col. and
at . few other points in the Far. West.
The Philadelphia Mint Is capable Of
turning out about 81, 500, 600 in coined
money . month, the San Francisco
Mint 81 900, 900, and the Carson City
Mint $5OO,OO0. The mints cannot, of
course, be given over exclusively to
the coinage Of silver dollars. The
coins must be struck, and
q certain amount Of gold coinage goes
on all the time. Gold is needed by
the Government to buy silver with,
aside from all other purposes. It is
coined mostly in the form of double
eagles. During last month q, ,2l0
eagles were coined in Phila-
delphia, and 20 eagles, 20 half-eagles,
20 three-dollar pieces, 20 quarter
eagles and 20 one-dollar pieces were
coined at the same time. The other
of the Philadelphia Mint dur
ing February comprised 200 trade
375, 900 half-dollars, 49,, 800
quarter dollars, 200 twenty-cent piec-
ces, 964, 200 dimes, 600 five-cent pieces,
600 three-cent pieces and 9lO,8OO|
cents.
Silver is sent from the Assay Office
to the Philadelphia Mint pure, or 99S
fine, which is about as pure as silver
can be. 1t is sent in large bars, and
when received at the Mint is melted
and alloyed with copper. Coin silver
is 900 fine. After being melted and
alloyed the metal is cast into ingots,
which are simply bars ofa convenient
size for handling. The metal is then
to determine whether it is
exactly of the standard fineness. As
saying is done by what is known as
the dry or humid process. Samples
for assay are taken while the silver is
in fused condition, and two assays
are made of every specimen. The sill
yer ingots then go to the coiner.-|
They are first rolled into strips, and
as the rolling process is apt to make
the metal brittle it is annealed to sof-
ten it. Silver is annealed simply by
in an open wood fire, and
then being allowed to cool gradually.
The silver dollar strips are passed
through the rolls nine or ten times
before the first annealing and four or
five times afterward. Then the pro-
cess of annealing is repeated. After
the last annealing the strips are run
through cutters, which divide them
into drafts of the proper thickness for
the coins and these, in their turn, are
run through steam punching ma
chine which cuts planchets the proper
size for the coin. From 16O to 240
are cut in a minute. As the metal
gets greasy during this process, the
planchets are then dipped into bath
Of diluted sulphuric acid, which is too
weak to act upon the surface, but ef-
fectively removes all foreign matter.
The planchets are then adjusted that
is to say, they are carefully weighed,
and all that are lacking in weight are
cast aside: such pieces are called