Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-01-31
HOW A DIME is COINED.
An Interesting Process That the Publ,
Knows Little About.

An Interesting Process lHat inc fubitf
Knows Little About.
There are many things to be seen al
the United States mint On Fifth street.
II is not generally known that this is the
largest institution Of the kind in the
world; yet it is a fact, and in its facilities
for the rapid and perfect coinage OF
money the San Francisco mint is con-
ceded TO he much superior TO the Royal
mint of London, which is generally sup
posed to he the largest and most COM
plete mint on earth.
\ reporter called the other day, and
through the courtesy of Conner James NJ.
Gorham was permitted 10 witness the
manner in which dollars and dimes are
turned out by the bushel.
Just AT present there is a lively demand
all over the country for silver dimes, and
hundreds Of thousands Of dollars Of them
are being shipped TO New York, Chicago,
Cincinnati, II. Louis and other eastern
cities. Two Of the money presses are,
and have been for some time, running
exclusively on this coin. The demand is
so great that these machines are not even
stopped on Sundays, and will be run on
that day.
The process Of dime making is an in
teresting one. The silver bullion is first
melted and run into two-pound bars.
These in turn are run through immense
rollers and ilattened out to the thickness
Of the coin. These silver strips are then
passed through a machine which cuts
them into the proper size for the presses,
the strips first having been treated with
a kind of tallow to prevent their being
scratched in their passage through the
cutters. The silver pieces are then put
into the feeders of the printing presses,
and are fed to the die by AUTOMATIC ma
chinery ut the rate Of 100 per minute,
$ 5000 dimes being turned out in a reg
ular working day Of eight hours. As the
smooth pieces are passed between the
ponderous printing dies they receive the
.ettered and figured impression in a man.
ner similar to that Of a paper pressed
upon a form Of type; at the same time
the piece is expanded in a slight degree,
and the small corrugations are put into
its rim. The machine drops the com
pleted coin into a receiver, and 1t is
ready for the counters hands.
The instrument used by the counter is
not a complicated machine by any means,
as n might suppose. II is a simple
copper covered tray, having raised ridges
running across its surface nj a distance
apart the exact width of n dime. From
the receiver the money is dumped on TO
this hoarl or tray. and as it is shaken
rapidly by the counter the pieces settle
down into the spaces between the ridges.
All these spaces being filled, the surplus
coin is brushed back into the receiver.
and the counter has exactly 1850 silver
dimes, or Sl2j, on this tray. which num-
Der is required 10 fill the spaces. The
tray is then emptied into boxes, aud the
money is ready for shipment.
The dime does moi pass through the
weighcr's hands. as does the coin of a
larger denomination. One and one-half
grains Is allowed for variation or ''toler-
ance' in all silver coins from 81 down,
and the deviation from the standard in
the case OF tie ten cent pieces is 50 tri-
fling that the trouble and expense of
weighing COINS Of this denomination is
dispensed with.-San Francisco Chron-
icle.