The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1878-04-04
MAKING SILVER DOLLARS.
TIC Processes oT MiptiHH Progress Of the
Work rrem the MrltiRE 10 thr stamp
Ina -Haw the silver L. AlloNcd.


Tbc Processes Of MiptlnH- Progress Of the
Work rrem the MrltinR 60 the rtRmp-
IuE -Haw the silver ls Allowed.
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. 2S, 1878.
| demands that between 1000, 600 and
1000, 600 Of the new dollars shall he
turned out every month. The officers
of the Mints think that 5000, 600 will
bc the maximum Of production for the
present. and 60 coin as many silver dol
lars ms that month will require brisk
work at the Miuts Most of the silver
received NJ the Philadelphia Mint passes
through the New York Assay office.
There are two coming Mints besides the
one ln Philadelphia, one IN San Francis
CO and the other IN Carson City, and
assaying and refining are done IN Helena,
Montana Boise City, Idaho; ; Denver,
Col, and few other points IN the Tar
West. The Philadelphia Mint Is capa-
BILE oi turning out about 81 5N,O 600 IN
coined money month the san fran-
cisco Mint 81. 0O0. 600. and the Carson
City Mint $500. 600. The Mmts cannot,
of course, be given over exclusively 10
the coinage of silver dollars. The sub
sidiarv Coius must be struck, and Ger
tain amount Of gold coinage goes On all
the time. Gold is needed by the gov
ernmeut 10 buy silver with, aside from
all other purposes IL Is coined mostly
IN the form Of double eagles. During
February month ~, no double eagles
were coined in Philadelphia. and twenty
eagles, twenty half-eagleS, twenty three
dollar pieces, twenty quarter eagles,
and twenty one-dollar pleoos we're coined
in the same time. The other coinage Of
the Philadelphia Mint comprised
20 trade dollars. $40. 600 half-dollars,
l, ,4til, $50 quArter-iollars, 2OO twenty
cent pieces, a64, 200 dimes, coo hye-
cent pieces, 600 three cent pieces, and
9l0, 500 cents.
Silver is sent from the assay Office to
the Philadelphia mint pure, or 800 fine,
which is about as pure as silver can be-
Ii is sent IN large bars, and, when re
oeivei at the mint, is melted and alloyed
with copper. Coin silver Is 900 fine.
After being melted aud alloyed, the
metal Is cast into lngots, which are sim
ply bars ot a convenient sZe Tor hand
ling The metal is then assayed, 10 de
termine whether il is exactly Of the
standard tinenesS. ASsayIng Is done by
what is known as the dry or humid pro
cess. Samples for assay are taken while
the silver is in fused condition, and
two ASSAYS are made of every specimen.
-
er. They are first rolled into strips,
and. as the rolling process is apt 10 make
the metal brittle, Il is annealed 10 soften
it. Silver is annealed simply by heating
in an open wood fire, and then being a.
lowed to cool gradually. The silver
dollar strips are passed through the rolls
nine or ten times before the first anneal-
ing and four or five times afterwArd.
Then the process Of annealng il repeat
ell. After the last annealing the strips
are run through cutters which divide
them into drafts Of the proper thickness
for the coins t: and these, IN their turn,
are run through steam punching ma
chine which cuts planchets the proper
size for the COIN. From 80 10 2iO are
cut in minute. As the metal gets
greasy during this process, the plauchets
are then dipped into bath Of diluted
sulphuric acid. which is too weak 10 act
upon the surface but effectively re
moves 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 T; such
pieces are called flights, and the
"heavies are the pieces which weigh
much and are filed of.
The adjusting is done by women. II
is process which requires much deli
cacy, and scales are used which are sen
sitive 10 one sixty-fourth Of 4 grain. Al
ter the adjusting is finished, the next
operation is the milling, which Is done
with a curious sort of machine. The
edges Of the coin are thrown up and
grooved by this process. After another
cleaning with sulphuric acid the coins
are ready for the die. The stamping Is
done on a screw press. and both sides of
the coin are stamped at the same time.
The dies are cylindrical blocks Of steel
upon which are carved the designs 10 be
transferred by pressure to the COINS.
Art Of high order as we'll as fine ne
chanisn is conspicuous in this part Of
the coming process. The designer, in
the case Of the new silver dollar, Mr..
Morgan, first draws his design on paper,
from which is made a model in wax, Of
which plaster cast is taken, and from
this cast an electrotype is taken, upon
which careful revision is made with the
graver. This electrotype. like the model
and cast which preceded 1t, is three or
four times larger than the impression
which appears on the dollar. The de-
sign is transferred to a steel die by us
ing Hills reducing machine, constructed
on the principle of the pantOgraph.
One arm Of this instrument, with a
blunt point, follows the lines on the
electrotype, while the other arm, to /
which is attached a strong and rapidly
revolving drill, reproduces the same /
lines on a smaller scale upon a steel /
block. BY means Of press this impress |
sion is transferred 10 another block in /
Itagho and thence upon another block, /
which is the parent die. After each |
transfer the lines are carefully improved /
with graver Steel of the same quality !
rs that Of which the parent die is made /.
is used for the coming dies. They are |
annealed, and trued on both ends. Two
or three blows in the screw press, which
is worked with large wheel, secures n /
perfect impression, and both the diverse
and reverse OF coin are struck NJ once
Machinery places the planchets between
the dies, and Afterward drops the com
pleted coin in a box. Two or three
pieces Of each coinage are reserved for
the annual government assay.
The processes Of melting, refining, and
gold and silver are carried on
in the ASSAY Office, in this city, on quite
as large a scale as at the Philadelphia
Mint Not only Government work is
done here, but large deposits are made
daily Of gold and silver bullion by pri-
vate individuals. Gold il always found
alloyed with silver, and il is never found
with any other alloy. To separate the
silver from the gold, the bullion is boiled
in sulphuric acid, which removes the
alloy; the gold is then reboiled and re-
duced 10 q coarse powder resembling
clay. It's purity then is 99S or 800. The
silver, mixed with copper. is run into
watts on a lower floor, and is purified and
when il resembles pipe-clay.
The granulated gold and silver are
pressed into large cheeses in hydraulic
press. A cheese Of gold, twelve inches
in diameter and three inches thick, ia
worth $40, 900: a silver cheese ot the
same size is worth $500. The sulphurc
acid, after it is used, produces a sedi- +
ment of blue vitriol, which is much
prettier than either the gold or the silver
seen in the Assay Office. The vitriol and