The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-01-07
A GREENBACK DOLLAR.
THE STORY OF ITS BIRTH IN THE
TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

Printing-Chccks Against Fraud-C re
of the Plates.
Il will take you first, said the guide, ''to
the engraving division, for TINT is the ioun'
dation and the starting point of all the work
that is performed in thi, bnllng
The cngru "ng division Is a large room on
the main lGr ~ the northwest part of the
I building. Along the south part of the room
run, railing and back OF this are doors
opening into the vault, in which are stored
oil 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 a grayer in one hand
and "a maguitying glass in the other, care
fully tracing out the fine lines upon the pieces
of steel, and beneath their sklllful fingers
grow the portraits, the letters and the orna-
mentation that SO 20 make up the perfect
security of bank notes.
Mr. ONeal, the chief of the engraving di-
vision, is a practical enErayer himself, and he
readily volunteered to furnish all the infor-
nation necessary to enable his visitor to UNI
derstand the process by which bank note
plates were made in the first place said
he, eve 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
spccialtics just the same rs artists in every
other calling. The man who is a good por-
trait engraver is not a good letter engraver;
the man who is an expert in letters cannot do
portraits or 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 a portrait of Martha
Washington. Now, that work is given to a
portrait engraver He takes first a piece of
steel and engrayes the picture upon that.
Each line is gradually cut up and deepened
10y 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 u 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
! 4. .g.,.,. hat I,l
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
trcate machine, which | will show you, and
then the numerals or letters are cut upon it
by hand as the rest of the engraving is done
When t. 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
ened and ready for printing,
"You see,n continued Mr. O'Neal, "that by
| this system Of reproduction and duplication
every plate is exactly like every other plate,
and that is the greatest security against
counterfeting 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 one
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 guide
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 as the impression
was made the plate was taken, placed upon u
gas stove, linked, wiped, polished and re-
placed upon the press to receive another
sheet of paper and to make another impress
sion The twring arms OF the presses, the
rattle of the plates and quick motions of the
girls made Kaleidoscope effect that was
bewildering at first.
$40 show you how careful it is necessary
for us to be" said the guide, Il will say that
each morning when the printer receives his
paper from the wetting division it is counted
by both himself and his assistant, and then
at the close of the day he must show the
same number of printed sheets as he received
| in the morning. AS an additional check
there is an automatic register upon each
press which records every impression made. "
"But don't the press sometimes move when
there is no impression made!'
sometimes, yes; but the printer knows
that every time he pulls the press record is
made upon the register, and if he pulls it
without making an impression upon the
sheet he is obliged to call the register clerk
and notify him, and then that extra count is
taken into consideration at the close of the
days work"
From the printing division the next visit
was to the numbering division. Here the
notes are numbered and separated, both be-
ing done by machinery. Here they are also
packed for delivery to the United States
treasurer. From the numbering division it
is but step to what is called the examining
and counting division. The notes come here
| first from the press room when they are
damp with the newly made impressions and
receive what is known as a wet count They
are then placed between tissues and piled in
racks, put in the dry box and subjected for a