Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1884-01-10
How Hard Honey Is Made.

eve don't make money here, - said
Philip Van Wyck, the courteous Chief
Clerk of the Assay Office, to a Tribune
don't convert bullion into coin We
receive gold and silver from depositors,
melt and assay the bullion, form it into
bars and ship the bars to the Philadel-
phia Mint, and in the course of a few
days that institution sends US back the
CON-"
but does the depositor have to wait
for payment until the coin gets back
from Philadelphia? asked the reporter.
Not at ALL" said the Chief Clerk;
Government furnishes us with bullion
fund amounting to over thirty-tive
million dollars, out of which we pay
the depositor just rs soon as the fineness
of his metal is determined by assay, the
weight ascertained and the value calcu-
lated. In fact, all our deposits, except
in cases of re-melt and re-assay, are
made within two days.
''NOw, said he, picking up bright
new double eagle, you know how easy
it is to spend that coin, but unless you
are familiar with the work you can form
no idea of the time and labor it took to
make it, From the time the bullion
from which this double eagle was made
reached the mint until it was converted
into coin it had passed through no less
than ten distinct processes, such as
melting, alloying, forming the metal
into ingOts, rolling the ingotS into strips
the thickness of the coin, cutting from
the strips the 'planchets' or BLANKS
annealing, milling and adjusting the
blanks and coming or stamping the
pieces, besides sundry minor operations
incidental to minting. Now, examine
that coin closely under the glass, and see
how well the work is executed. The
Romans excelled in the art of engrav-
ing, and many of the coins were master
pieces. But we can not afford to throw
up our central designs in such bold re-
lief as the Romans did, for in the hurry
and hustle of our day and the rapid
handling and piling of coins we would
soon wear the face off of the goddess
and wings Off the eagle. So, while our
designs are in bold relief, yet we make
them low and protect them as much as
possible from abrasion and wear by
throwing up the edge of the blank,
technically called milling.
1.-THE manufacture of dies, or the art
of die sinking, has reached great per-
lection at the Philadelphia Mint" CON
tinued Mr.. Van Wyck, land all the
coinage dies for other minis are made
at that institution. The artist first
makes the design and then q model of it
in wax three OF four times larger than
the desired coin. From this model an
electrotype is taken, and then the de-
sign is transferred by means of a Hill
engraving machine, which works on
the principle of a pantograph, to a
block of steel the size of the coin. But
as only the principal design, such as the
head, eagle, or shield, can be thus trans
ferred, the artist fills in by hand the
stars, date, and all surrounding details.
Then, after removing the ground on the
face of the block, he strikes from the
block an impression into and upon a
second block. This second block is
hardened and an impression is trans
ferred to third similar block, which
we call the parent de- Or master hub
and from which the regular coinage
dies are made. The impression on the
master hub is in relief, or convex,
while that on the working or coinage
die is 'intaglio,' or concave.
''But let us see what they are doing in
here" said the Chief Clerk, as he
stepped into the Weigh Room where
truck loads of silverwere being weighed.
THAT scale you see there is a model of
accuracy, and will weigh from ten
thousand ounces down to the one-hun-
dredth part Of an ounce. This small
balance weighs from twenty ounces
down to the one-fve-thousandth part of
grain. In fact we must have accuracy
in this work, not only to check our OPP
erations, but to maintain the reputation
of this office, which is such that our
stamp of weight and fineness passes cur
rent in all the commercial centers of the
world. IN Y Tribune.