The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1883-09-29
EN SOUTH.
kR' uoi, Y ut tn. New Orleans Mint

the city, you will find guard in the
tun.ia to receive visitors. The James
Brothers might have penetrated that
far easy enough, but they could not
have gone further. The barred gates
rising up between the visitors and
trclc Sans store of silver dollars have
Il State prison look. and one is put on
his good behavior at once.
When Your credentials are pronounc-
cd nj. right and the gates unlocked to
YOU, YOU are uShered into the receiving
and weighing room. Silver bullion is
corded up on all sides, and is being
handled With rs much contempt rs the
brick-carrier loads his hod. a bar OF
bullion looks exactly like bar of
plumbers solder. and when you are
about TO pick up and walk oil with one
of the bars YOU suddenly change your
mind.
THE BIG SCALES.
In this room are the most perfect
pair of large scales in America. They
weigh up to 10000 ounces, Troy weight,
and are so delicate that crumb weigh
ING the iive-hundredth part of an ounce
will drop the bar. All the silver re-
ceived is weighed upon these scales, and
they are looked upon by the general
visitor rs one of the sights of the insti-
tuition.
MAKING INGoTS.
All the bullion first goes TO the melt
ing department and is melted, alloyed
and run into ingots of standard fine
ness, which means 900 parts of silver
and 100 parts of copper The copper
is put in to harden it, and without this
alloy there would be great loss by
natural wear and tear" There is an
assay after melting, and this assay
must prove that the composition is eX-
act and correct The loss of even the
three-hundrcdth part of IN ounce be-
tween the weighing and the melting
rooms must be accounted for.
CUTTING TIE BLANKS.
After the assay the ingots are turned
over 10 the coincr, who rolls them into
strips by means of powerful machinery.
These strips are about three feet long,
and little wider than dollar. The
thickness is designed to be the same rs
\ dollar, but is sometimes too thick or
too thin. The strips are then passed to
the puncher, who feeds them under his
punch rs fast rs you can count, and
the smooth, greasy blank dollars fall
into the box below. To discover if the
blanks are of the standard weight, they
are wheeled into the adjusting room.
The demand is for App grains, but the
government permits II slight shortage.
If the blank is one grain short, it is east
out to be remeltcd. Ii it is one grain
over weight, Il file is used to secure ex-
act weight.
In the adjusting room are about two
dozen women, each with delicate pair
of scales before her, and the blanks are
handled with surprising deXterity.
Those found of standard weight are
sent on their way through the mint, and
the light ones will form parts of new
ingots.
CONCAVlNG AND CLEANING.
You think of silver dollar rs Il per-
fectly flat surface. Hold on to your
eye and you will see that it is concave
If the letters and ornaments were even
with the rim of the dollar they would
soon wear off, The concavc is to pro-
tcct them. From the adjusting room
blanks 90 to the machine to be conceived
and then to the bath. The silver is
greasy and blackencd, and the bath is
to remove this and restore the luStcr.
After being treated TO an acid bath. the
trays filled with blanks are placed in
rcd-hot oven and subsequently, placed in
Il revolving cylinder with sAw-dust.
When they emerge from this they shine
like stars.
WAXING the DOLLAR
Here are the smooth, round pieces.
and 20 make dollars Of them they are
sent 20 the stamp presses. These pow
erful machines feed themselves n, the
rate of 22j per minute, and if YOU pick
up one of the coins YOU will find one
side complete, AMI the other side still
blank. They are picked mp and fed TT
Il second machine. and now your dollar
is complete except on the edges. \
coin would wear away
faster than one with milled edge, ano
hence the larger denominations are
mll.cd. 1t Is no use to try to guess how
it is done. for forty-nine ont OF fifty per-
sons would miss ii. They are dropped
into cavity in II powerful machine
arranged to fit them. and the coins, ly-
ing flat upon one side, are squeezed the
same As if a tube shut up on all sides of
your finger At once. This mills the
edges. The pressure on each dollar in
stamping and punching is about eighty
tons.
WHERE TIE SILVER CONES FROM.
Unc'e sam contracts for his silver
bullion the same rs n private individual
does for his vegetables. He agrees to
take all the ore furnished by two large
Colorado mines, and any supply which
an individual may wish to dispose of
finds Il ready sale. The mines ship by
express ut their own expense, but in
sending away money the government
pays all charges.
IN GENERAL.
The New Orleans mint makes about |
800, 600 silver dollars per month. This |
IS about the only coin made there Of |
late years. The dollars are sacked up.
| 900 in n bag, and stored in the big |
L.