Wichita eagle., 1888-02-14
A GREENBACK DOLLAR.
THE STORY OF ITS BIRTH IN THE
TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

The Various Stages Through Which it
Passes in the Bureau Of Engraving and
Printing-Checks Against Fraud-Care
Of the Plates.
81 will take you first, J" said the guide, ''to
the engraving division, for that is the foun-
dation and the starting point of all the work
that is performed in this building "
The engrs. ing division is large room on
the main fe1r ~ the northwest part of the
building. Along the south part of the room
runs a railing, and back of this are doors
opening into the vaults in which are stored
all the dies, rolls, plates, bed pieces and other
material used in the manufacture of the
plates from which the notes and bonds are
printed. Along the north side of the room
are desks at each window, behind which sit
men bending over with graver in one hand
and a magnifying glass in the other, care
fully tracing out the fine lines upon the pieces
of steel, and beneath their skillful fingers
grow the portraits, the letters and the orna-
mentation that go to make up the perfect
security Of bank notes.
Mr.. O'Neal, the chief of the engraving di-
vision, is practical engraver himself, and he
readily volunteered to furnish all the infor-
nation necessary to enable his visitor 20 I'M
derstand the process by which bank nota
plates were made. In the first place." said
he, 1--WE make a model of the note that is de-
sired, either by printed proofs of engravings
that We already have on hand or the model
is drawn by India ink. When this model is
made and approved, then the work of en-
craving commences. Engravers have their
Specialties just the same as artists in every
other calling. The man who is good por-
trait engraver is not a good letter engraver;
the man who is an expert in letters cannot do
portraits OF ornamental work; so the differ.
ent parts of the engraving are distributed to
the men who are the most competent to per-
form the work
REPRODUCTION OF PLATES.
"Take a dollar bill" he said, '.and will
explain to you what mean You see in the
left hand corner there is portrait of Martha
Washington. Now, that work is given to
portrait engraver. He takes first piece of
steel and engraves the picture upon that.
Each line is gradually cut up ard deepened
by the engraver until the perfect picture is
formed. The shading, Of course, depends
upon the depth and breadth of the lines cut.
After that picture is finished the die or piece
of steel upon which it is cut is put into the
fire and hardened. Then we take that hard
ened die and roll of soft steel and give it to
one Of these men over here" going as he spoke
to the transformers, land they place it in this
transfer press, and by the pressure that the
press is enabled to bring to bear. the
soft steel roll takes up, as we call
it, the impression from the hardened
die. Then the roll in its turn is put in the fire
and hardened, and all is ready for use in
transferring to what we call bed piece,
which is the same size as the completed note
All the other engraving upon this note is
done in the same manner by different people
upon different dies, which are then hardened
and Transferred to rolls, they in their turn
hardened, and then transferred to the bed
piece. There is one exception, and that is the
geometric lathe work. That is done by an in
.ricate machine, which l will show you, and
then the numerals or letters are cut upon it
by hand as the rest of the engraving is done.
When the bed piece is completed, then a roll
of the entire bed piece is taken up, and then
that is transferred to the plates. You will
see that there are four notes upon every plate.
After the plates are laid down they are hard
eneO ana ready Tor printing.
'sYou see," continued Mr. O'Neal, "that bv
this system of reproduction and duplication
every plate is exactly like every other plate,
and that is the greatest security against
counterfeiting No two men could do the
same piece Of work in exactly the same way,
No one engraver could duplicate his own en-
craving SO as to be exactly like the original,
By the transfer process the duplication IS
absolute. Every line is the same upon ono
plate as upon every other plate Of the same
duplication, because they are all made from
the same roll or set of rolls"
IN THE PRESS ROOM.
From the engraving division the g1ide
went to the press room, which is in the top
of the building. Here work 400 and over.
men and women, all busily engaged. Wo- :.
men were wetting paper and laying it on the
presses, which were quickly turned by skill
full printers, and as soon IS the impression
was made the plate was taken, placed upon a
gas stove, linked, wiped, polished and re- /.
placed upon the press to receive another
sheet of paper and to make another impress
sion. The twirling arms of the presses, the
rattle of the plates and quick motions of the
girls made q Kaleidoscope effect that was
bewildering at first
"To show you how careful it is necessary
For us to be-" said the guide, 81 will say that
each morning whom the printer receives his
paper from the wetting division it is counted
by both himself and his assistant, and then
1t the close Of the day he must show tho
same number of printed sheets as he received
n the morning. As an additional check
here is an automatic register upon each
press which records every impression made"
But don't the press sometimes move when
here is no impression nader
Sometimes, yes; but the printer knows
hat every time he pulls the press a record is
made upon the register, and if he pulls it
without making an impression upon the I
heet he is obliged to call the register clerk |
md notify him, and then that extra count is
AIKEN into consideration at the close of the
lays work"
From the printing division the next visit /
vas to the numbering division. Here the /
totes are numbered and separated, both be-
ng done by machinery. Here they are also
lacked for delivery to the United States
From the numbering division it
5 but step to what is called the examining
nd counting division. The notes come here
rst from the press room when they are
amp with the newly made impressions and
eceive what is known as a wet count They
re then placed between tissues and piled in
acks, put in the dry box and subjected for
ertain length of time to a stream of hot air.
IN coming from the dry box they are again
ounted then sent to receive the next i'm
ression from the press room, then returned
D the examining division, again counted
nd so through the same process of drying,
he same number Of counts until the stage of
when they are sent TO the num-
ering division. On this same floor also. is
ne large vault where all the completed and