The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-05-17
For Young Readers.
now COINED MONEY Is MADE.

Harry and Nellie had come to visit
their grandfather who lived on Girard
avenue in Philadelphia, and like some
| other little folks that we know, they
kept asking how things were made.
Their Aunt Helen had already taken
them to see the old Liberty Bel and the
animals in the Geological Gardens
They had been On the marble roof of
Girard College, driven through the
glens of Paramount Park, and danced
with delight at the Water Works The
United States and private Navy Yards
had given unbounded delight and slim
ulated Harry's hands to attempt min
iature craft for Dwight's birthday, and
its launching babe fair to rival the
launch of the great iron-clad that they
saw glide so gracefully into the welcom-
ing tide.
And now the living questionis: GLOW
do they make money!" Wee Dwight
says: May ! 90, too?'
So here they stand on the marble
portico of the Mint. Nellie thinks the
building looks like one of the pictures
of q Greek Temple in her mothers
portfolio, while Dwight's first glimpse
of the great chimney with its foaming
volume of smoke calls forth: 81 see a
train"
Passing through the door they take
seats in the large circular entrance hall.
Very soon a gentleman comes and
offers to show them what they want to
see.
Passing the glass doors of the
Deposit Weighing-room, they see
''scales and scales and scales" with
men weighing old money and blocks,
which they are told to call "ingots"
of gold. silver, nickel, copper and zinc.
In the Melting, Refining and Assaying
Rooms the heat, as they look into the
| furnaces and see the pots of melting
gold and silver as they sit on the CRATE,
with glowing coal all about them,
makes them draw back quickly, while
the bright light and darling sparks
from the dazzling liquid which is being
poured into the molds to form ingots
makes Dwight draw back and want to
90 home"
In the Rolling-Room they see that the
ingots were made chisel-shaped at one
end, so that they would easily feed into
the rolling-mills. AS they are passing to
this room Harry spies the engine, which
their guide tells him runs the row of
stout, heavy rolling machines which
they see standing along the side of the
| room.
The ingot5 are about half foot long
and half an inch thick. Those from
which dimes are to be made are an inch
wide, while those destined to form
double eagles are two and one-half
inches wide. An old man who has run
his mill for more than forty years takes
two ingOts and measures them so that
Harry sees that they are OF the same
length. Then, after running one of them
through the mill, he measures them
again, when the rolled ingOt is seen to
be an inch longer. The next time the
strip is rolled it becomes considerable
longer, but Harry can not watch this
strip until it becomes as thin as is want
ed, because if it were put directly from
one machine into another it would break
To prevent this the strips have to be
sent away several times to the "anneal-
ing rooms" where the gold strips are
heated red-hot in air-tight boxes, and
the silver strips in the open furnace,
and then cooled in water to make them
| soft Every time strip is run through
u lOllllI2-llllIl IL DCCOlliCS IlCulCl anu
hardened, and the machines become so
hot after running awhile that we do not
want to touch even their heavy frames.
The silver strips become thin enough
when they are rolled eight times, but
the gold strips have to be rolled, or, as
they say, ''broken down ten times.
Then they are six feet long, and from
the gold strips fifty or sixty double
eagles can be cut While Nellieis look
ing at one of the machines she says:
"Aunty, did not think it was so late.
1t is half-past two o clock"
"No." says the man at the machine,
''thiS dial face does not tell the time.
1t shows when we have set the mill TO
roll the thickness that we want. If it
were at -four, or five o'clock, as you
would say, the strips would be thinner,
| and we can set each machine to run
| any thickness SO saying he sets the
mill and runs one of Aunt Helen
cards through it, 50 that it crumbles to
dust like flour.
Harry thinks that the rolled strips
| look very smooth and even, but the
guide tells him that there are spots
| thicker than others, that would make
the money made from them heavier
than it ought to be. So the silver strips
are again creased and the gold strips
waXed to make them run easily through
the rolling mills, and carried to the
drawing bench. AT one end of this
bench is contrivance for reducing the
thick parts of the strip. As the strip
passes between the cylinders it is
caught by a little carriage that draws
the whole strip through. 1t then drops
the strip, and a cord connecting the
carriage and a weight in the ceiling
draws the carriage back to take another
strip.
Now the strips are ready to be washed
in hot water to free them from the
grease or wax. When dry they are
carried to the cutting presses. Pieces
4 little larger than the coins are
punched from the strips at the rate of
two hundred and twenty or two hun
dred and fifty each minute. These
round plates are called "planchets,
and are assorted before being sent to the
Adjusting Room.
The silver planchets are tested as to
their weight by a machine, and those
too light or too heavy have to be melted
| II, . Al 4