The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1878-04-13
Making Silver Dollars.
New York Times.


The capacity of the various coming
minis and assay offices in the United
States will be fully tested during the
coming year, The law of February rs,
1878, demands that between 1000, 900
and 10000 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. There will be, as n
matter of course, no lack of silver in
the minis to work upon. There are two
coming minis besides the one in Phila-
delphia, one in San Francisco and the
other in Carson City, and assaying and
refining are done in Helena, Montana
Boise City, Idaho; Denver, Colorado
and few other points in the far West
The Philadelphia mint is capable of
turning out about 81 100000 in coined
money month; the San Francisco
mint 100000, and the Carson City
mint 100000, The minis cannot, of
course, be given over exclusively to the
coinage of silver dollars. The sub.
sidiary coins must be struck, and
a 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 81 ,2l0 double eagles
were coined in Philadelphia, and twenty
eagles, twenty half-eagles, twenty three
dollar pieces, twenty quarter-eagles and
twenty one-dollar pieces were coined at
the same time. The other coinage of
the Philadelphia mint during February
comprised 900 trade dollars, $4,000
half-dollars, 1,46l, 800 quarter-dollars,
200 twenty-cent pieces, 964, 200 dimes,
600 five-cent pieces, coo three-eent pieces
and 90, 500 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 alleged
with copper. Coin silver is 900 fine.
After being melted and alleged, the
metal is cast into ignots, which are sim
ply bars of convenient size for hand
ling. The metal is then assayed, to de-
termine whether it is exactly of the
standard fineness. 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.
The silver ignots 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 soften it.
Silver is annealed simply by heating in
an open wood fire, and then being al
lowed to cool gradually. The silver dol
lar strips are passed through the rolls
nine or ten times before the first an
healing and four or five times afterward.
Then the process of anneaing is re-
peated. After the last annealing the
strips are run through cutters which di-
vide them into drafts of the proper
thickness for the coins; and these, in
their turn, are run through steam
punching machine, which cuts planchets
the proper size of the coin. From $50
to $40 arc cut in minute. As the
metal gets greasy during this process,
the planchets are then dipped into
bath of diluted ulphuric acid, which is
too weak to act upon the surface, but eff
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 "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 a grain. After
the adjusting is finished, the next oper-
alton 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 su1phuric acid the coins are ready
for the die. The stamping is done on
screw press. The dies are cylindrical
blocks of steel, upon which are carved
the designs to be transferred by pressure
to the coins. Art of high order, as
well as fine mechanism, is conspicuous
in this part of the coinage process.
They are annealed and trued on both
ends. Two or three blows in the screw
press, which is worked with large
wheel, secures perfect impression, and
both the diverse and reverse of coin
are struck at once. Machinery places
the planchets between the dies, and af-
terward drops the completed coin in
box. Two or three pieces of each coin
age are reserved for the annual Govern
ment assay.
The processes of melting, refining and
assaying 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 is always found
alleged with silver, and it 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 to a coarse powder resembling
clay. Its purity then is 1913 or 999.
The silver, mixed with copper, is run
into watts on lower floor, and is puri-
fed and graduated, when it resembles
pipe clay. The graduated gold and
silver are pressed into large cheeses in a
hydraulic press. A cheese of gold
twelve inches in diameter and three
inches thick is worth 1000; a silver
cheese of the same size is worth 5000.
The sulphuric acid, after it is used, pro-
duces a sediment of blue vitriol, which
is much prettier than either the gold or
the silver seen in the assay Office. The
vitriol and the weak acid are both sold
for as much money as the original acid
costs. The substitution of sulphuric
acid for nitric has caused a saving to the
| New York Assay Office alone of 81 90 600