The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-04-04
Coming the New Silver Dollar.

silver uOIlif dC Uuc UHltcu oCdlcS MlllI
in this city is exceedingly interesting,
and is daily witnessed by large numbers
of visitors. An enormous amount of
silver is pouring in here, which will be
rapidly issued in the neat and compact
form of the new dollar and of the old
standard of il2! grains. The so-called
silver "bricks'' arc simply bars, twelve
inches long and six inches wide, and
are sent principally from Nevada.
After the silver ore is taken out of the
mine it is crushed in large mills and
shaped into these bricks by melting,
during which process most Of the i'm
puritics are removed. Upon the rccep-
ton of the "bricks' 1T the Philadel-
phia Mint they are carefully weighed
and the gross number of ounces credit
ed to the depositor. In the case of the
new dollar only the Government can
have bullion coined iii that shape; but
private individuals can have trade dol
lars, halves or quarters, coined by de-
posting the necessary amount OF crude
silver Gold is also coined for private
depositors in any required shape,
and an exact record is kept of the
amount received, the loss Gf amy in
melting, the fineness and weight. The
scales used are of various sizes, the
largest pair being capable of weighing
5000 ounces. At the present time about
three tons of silver are received and
melted at the mint each day. and this
amount of metal will make $4,000.
The new silver dollar will not be is
sued from the mint to any person ex-
cept the Treasurer and Assistant Treas
urers of the United States or to pay for
work performed for the Government.
In this respect it is unlike the smaller
CONS, which i,ruoL t" any person
in exchange for the equivalent.
From the weighing room the silver
bricks are removed to a large vault,
where they are stored previous to melt
ing. The truck upon which they are
moved holds ton of the precious metal,
and Notwithstanding this great weight it
is easily drawn by one man. The vault
contains number of interesting arti-
cles. including silver granulations,
which look like fantastic frost pictures,
and a gold siphon used for drawing
nitric acid. The latter implement re-
scmbles an old piece of copper or brass,
and much wonder is expressed by rural
visitors at the care with which it is
and is worth over $4,000 The action
of the acid renders the employment of
any other metal unsuitable.
The third stage is the melting of the
bricks, which are placed in stone cru
cibles on fire heated to 1900 degrees.
This extraordinary heat is produced
by charcoal fires without any artificial
blast, the draft of the hues being suffi-
cient. The stone crucible is placed in
side another of plumbago in order to
guard against breaking. Occasionally
both the crucibles succumb to the ter
rible heat. whereupon the fire is put
out, and the ashes are carefully gath
cred up and melted over again. After
being thoroughly melted the silver is
poured into iron molds and shaped into
narrow bars, called ingots. The in
gots are thoroughly washed to prevent
the grease of the molds from adhering
to them and are then removed to an
other room, where they are rolled into
narrow strips the thickness of the dol
lar. The ingots are passed between
enormous steel rollers. a man is con-
stantly feeding them to the machine on
one side and another man, standing on
the opposite side, receives them and
lays them in trays. The strips are
then placed in furnaces to be annealed
or softened, as the rolling makes them
very brittle.
The next process is punching out
"planchets," which are circular blank
piet es of the size of the dollar. This is
done very rapidly by means OF the per-
feet machinery used. They are then
taken to the coming room, where the
imperfect pieces are rejected and sent
back to be melted over. The planchets
are then entitled" or passed through
machine which raises the edge slight
ly on both sides. This is done to facil-
itate striking the die upon the coin
afterward, and also to improve its APP
pearance. If a comparison is made
between one of the new dollars and an
old Mexican dollar-the latter having
perfectly fiat edges-the advantage Of
milling will be seen at once. The
planchets or blanks, which are quite