The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-03-30
Making Silver Dollars.

States Will be fully tested during the |
coming year. The law of Feb. %, 1878, |
demands that between 1000, 900 and |
100000 of the new dollars shall be |
turned out every month. The officers
of the minis think that 5000, 900 will be
the maximum of production for the
present, and to coin as many silver dol
lars as that a month will require brisk
work at the minis. 1t has already been
announced that the dies for the new
dollars are to be made from the design
of Mr.. Morgan, an English draughts-
man. The coin will undoubtedly be
one of the handsomest that has ever
been circulated in this country. There
will be, as matter of course, no lack
of silver in the minis to work upon.
On the 18th of December last eleven
tons of silver were sent to Philadelphia
from the Assay Office in this city; seven
and half tons were sent on the thirty
first day of the same month, and at
least twelve tons more have been sent
during the last fortnight. Most of the
silver received at the Philadelphia Mint
passes through the New York Assay
Office There are two coming minis be-
sides the one in Philadelphia, one in
San Francisco and the other in Carson
City, and assaying and refining are done
in Helena, Mont, Boise City, Idaho,
Denver, Col, and at few other points
in the far West. The Philadelphia Mint
is capable of turning out about $780,
600 in coined money a month; the San
Francisco Mint 81, 900, 900, and the Car
son City Mint 100000. The minis
cannot, of course, be given over exclu-
sively to the coinage of silver dollars.
The subsidiary coins must be struck,
and 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. 1t is
coined mostly in the form of double
eagles. During last month 21,210
double eagles were coined in Philadel-
phia, and 20 eagles, 20 half-eagles, 20
three-dollar pieces, 20 quarter-eagles,
and 20 one-dollar pieces were coined in
the same time. The other coinage of
the Philadelphia Mint during February
comprised 200 trade dollars, $780,
half-dollars, 1,461 800 quarter-dollars,
200 twenty-cent pieces, 964, 200 dimes,
600 tive-cent pieces, 600 three-cent
pieces, and go, 300 cents.
Silver is sent from the Assay Office to
the Philadelphia mint pure, or 999 fine,
which is about as pure as silver can be.
1t is sent in large bars, and, when re-
ceived at the mint, is melted and al
loyed with copper. Coin silver is 900
fine. After being melted and alloyed,
the metal is cast into ingots, which are
simply bars of a convenient size for
handling. The metal is then assayed,
to determine whether it is exactly of
the standard fineness. Assaying is done
by what is known as the dry or humid
process. Samples for assay are taken
while the silver is in a fused condition,
and two assays are made of every speci-
men. The silver ingots then 90 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 soften it. Silver is annealed simply
by heating 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 be-
fore the first annealing and four or five
times afterward. Then the process 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
a steam punching machine which cuts
planchets the proper size for the coin.
From $50 to 240 are cut in a minute.
AS the metal gets greasy during this
! ho ,Nln nhatS tban a innaI
into bath of diluted sulphuric acid,
which is too weak to act upon the sur
face but effectively removes all foreign
matter. The planchets are then adj
justed; that is to say, they are carefully
weighed, and all that are lacking in
weight are cast aside; such pieces are
called lights" and the heavies'' are
the pieces which weigh too much, and
are filed off. The adjusting is done by
women. 1t is process which requires
much delicacy, and scales are used
which are sensitive to one-siXty-fourth
of grain. After the adjusting is fin
ished, the next operation is the milling,
which is done with 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 Il screw press,
and both sides of the coin are stamped
at the same time. The dies are cylin-
drical blocks of steel upon which are
carved the designs to be transferred by
pressure to the coins. Art of u high
order as well as fine mechanism is con-
spicuous in this part of the coming
process. The designer lin the case OF
the new silver dollar, Mr.. Morgan) first
draws his design on paper, from which
is made model in wax, of which a
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 it, is three or four
times larger than the impression which
appears on the dollar The design is
transferred to steel die by using Hill 5
reducing machine, constructed on the
principle of the photograph. One arm
of this instrument, with Il blunt point,
follows the lines on the electrotype,
while the other arm, to which is at
tached strong and rapidly-revolving
drill, reproduces the same lines on a
smaller scale upon steel block. BY