, 1885-11-14
A DOLLAR In THE MINT
HOW THE SILVER BULLION IS TRANS
FORMED INTO oLITTERlNG COIN.
Follow an In-got-Between the Jaws of
tho Roiiers-Tbe Milling Machine
The Steel Digits Of the
Coin Press.


Coin Press.
philadelphia Pressl
The visitor followed an ingot into the
coiners' department, The ingot has In its
name, with its suggestions Of treasure
g~alleons and buccaneers. about all the
omance there Is in the nomenclature OF
money. 1t has in itself $50 worth Of
silver prepared by the meltor for tho
coiner's use. the shape Of a bar twelve
inches long. two inches wide and half an
inch thick. 1t has a rapid. varied and
rather trying experience before it is on its
way into dollar shape, The first room IN
the coiners' department was full of ar
tisans rolling. drawing. cutting and mill
ing the ingots.
BOWS AN mos THROAT.
Through sheer force is the first of the
coiners art exercised on the ingot. That
which the visitors had followed was in
serted w the jaws of two huge roll
lers and slowly went through a process OF
deglutition down an iron throat Twelve
times it has to go through this ordeal. the
pressure being increased by the narrow
ing Of the space through which the ingot
passed by a sixteenth of an inch each
time. 1t is then twice Its former length
and so reduced in this press that when
split in the middle the two bars which are
produced are just the thickness Of q dol
lar The rolling process impart3 a heat
TO the metal which necessitales the use of
handling it aud II brittleness to overcome
which another trip to tho furnace is re-
quired
Some coincr of imperial Rome was
doubtless a long time at hammerlng out
Judas thirty pieces Of silver. The ma
chine which was working across the room
from the rollers cut out in the minute
which the visitors looked at 1t just eight
times as many pieces as Judas sold his
lord for-94O. all told-using up in the
process about ten bars of metal which
had been heated in a furnace and
Strengthened in a drawing machine before
they reached the cutter.
THE AiLLlNG MACutN
Its like "A girl cutting out cookies. "
said Col Maurice as he watched the big
machine clanking silver like u greedy
boy. Each bar Of cuttings was bent in
three folds by Il workman as the machine
finished with ii and slowed In a box for a
return to the meters. Then the milling
machine was set whirling. 1t is a thick
circular plate of steel, with grooved edges
revolving in Il circular hoop of steel with
its inside edges also grooved. A grist OF
the metal disks from the cutter wm
dropped into a tube, of which
the bottom was the space between
the whirling and the stationary
grooves Then the milling machine begaI
scattering the disks from a slit in its cir
cular side. The disks. when they came
out, had u raised edge on each side They
began TO look like dollars Very dull and
zinc-like looking dollars they were. how
ever. The visitors followed them into an
a adjoining room. where they were plunged
into an acid bath and then placed in a
revolving wire cradle with a quantity Of
hot sawdust There they were left, turn
ingbrighter aud more dollar like every
moment.
The a~diusting-room. where the tour
next led. looked not unlike a meeting Of
Il Dorcas society. for at least n score of
women -matrnnly-looking for the most
part, sat and stitched in knots of three and
four. talking meantime in low tones.
They are sewing coin bags, " said Col.
Maurice in explanation.
sIxrl-roN PRESS.
But of all the flying fingers in the busy
room the most %senlient and human
seemed the steel digits of the coin press
1t seemed a satire of humanity TO one
watching the workings of this machine
that 1t should do so much and the mortal
who ruled it should do so little. All the
share the quiet lady-like looking woman
who sat before the press had in its opera.
ton was in placing pile after pile Of
bright silver moons 1t its tube Then at
every three-quarters Of a second the two
steel fingers Of the machine would catch
the bottom moon OF the pile, pilot 1t on
its course 10 its place between the dies and
leave il there Then, with a pressure Of
sixty tons exerted, every three quarters of
a second the head Of Liberty above came
down on the eagle beneath and the silver
moons between received their impress.
The silver moons which drop from the
coin press are dollars now. Before they
reached the coin press the conscience Of
the treasury department had to decide
upon their claim to be dollars. The con
science of the treasury department is tho
weighing machine. The visitors saw the
thing draw int. its recesses a coin. They
saw 1t hold it there for seven seconds
while it weighed it and then slide it into
one of the two middle troughs OF a row Of
four. IL the conscience had found the
coin too light. 1t would have left it re.
bukingly in the trough at the left end Of
the row.. If it had found II too heavy
1t would have left it In the right
hand trough. The conscience with
its tin tubes does this 400 times u min
ute all day long. when it is running
full tilt. The conscience was made
III AuhlTlh mercy NOWuTus an lmpFOp
erly constituted dollar enters into its com.
POSITION TO the extent of Just one grain
and a half-the amount by which the law
allows a dollar to vary. More than this
1t is impossible to describe the conscience.
Piled on a table at the far end of the
room the visitors saw heaps of dollars
waiting TO be marshaled forth in weighty
columns to their tremendous work in the
world. -Four ordinary mortals-a man
and three women-stood there with me
chanical fingers busy among those dor.
mant forces.
they eau count the output Of 500 900
a day - said oil Maurice. No. It doesn't
require a special knacS. only experience :
Soeoannt te,lulo.r.
rhi,ar Time4f
Cocnanut cellulose Is a new substance.
and If il possesses the quality claimed for
IL nrlaud may 20 hack tn her wonlen