Wichita eagle., 1889-04-13
MAKERS OF MONEY.
The Largest Mint lin the World at Biz
mingham, Eng.


mingham, Eng.
1t is by no means generally known that
an appreciate proportion of our bronze and
silver coins at present in circulation never
saw the dies of the Royal mint on Tower
hill, but are make ia Birmingham, says the
Pail Mall Gazette.
Have you never noticed little letter Ii
on some Of the pennies you have had from
time to time in your hands? This is the
superscription of Messrs. Ralph Heaton &
Sons, the proprietors OF the Birmingham
mint. The grandfather of the present
Ralph Heaton who invented the hot shotused
at the siege of Gibraltar was pointed out by
General Elliott as ''the man who saved
Gibraltar" Money has been made IN Biz
mingham for long time back. Matthew
Boulton issued large quantity Of the oic-
fashioned copper coinage, and IN 1870 the
Heatons bought the machinery of the Soho
works when it was sold. OF course, the
machinery which they use at present Is es-
sentially modern and of their own conStruc-
ton. So successful has 1T been that they
have supplied all the now used presses to
the royal mint, and have entirely fitted up
the brand-new imperial mint that the
Chinese Government has recently gone In
for, and as this establishment covers more
ihan six acres of ground, and Will contain
ninety presses, while our own Tower hill
mint can number only sixteen, the impor
lance of the work may be understood. The
new Chinese mint is, ind eed, the largest in
the world. But Messrs. Heaton have made
money for nearly every civilized and I'M
civilized country Every colony has had
money from Birmingham. Among foreign
orders may be mentioned between 1900 and
a 900 tons of p1,artpr-auuaS for India
As to the coming trade, it may be briefly
said that money making is very much like
button making You prepare your metal
and stamp it out and there you are in either
case The chef difference between the two
industries appears to be that, while there is
demand for buttons all the year round,
coming necessarily proceeds in series OF
''burstsn At the mint the visitor is first
shown the stores In the bronze depart
ment there were some twenty tons of cop
per ingots piled up and about as much
metal for alloy. and good deal of rolled
copper. The intrinsic value of coin varies
according to the country. Our coinage is
about the best. The bronze IS made from
ninety-ive per cent. of copper, four per
cent. of tin and one per cent OF zinc. The
silver contains 9.25 of silver to 1.15 OF cop
per. The copper and silver stores and
weighing out departments are kept sepa-
rate, one metal being of more value than
he other and il being necessary TO be more
exact in the case of the bronze than in that
Of the silver coins. The process through
which the metal goes from which bronze
coins are struck is simple. First, 1t is
melted up in crucibles; second, 1t is formed
into bars by means of the moulds into
which it is poured; third, it is rolled; fourth,
1t is heated TO soften it; fifth, it is thrown
into cold water, by which means 1t
Is prevented from cracking when, sixth,
il is again rolled; seventh, the copper
strips are dropped into diluted acid
baths in order TO be cleaned; eighth, they
are rolled again. The strips are then taken
TO the cuttlng-out machine, in which, the
metal being inserted, the blanks are rapid
" and automatically struck out. In the
room where this is done-a peculiar small
coin for the East was being cut out during
nv yisit-there are blanks all about the
floor Trampling over them, the visitor no.
tees little machine into which two girls
push blanks through tube as fast as they
can crush them in. This apparatus mills
the edges of the blanks, and, when they
have been milled, they are ready to be an
nealed. The annealng IS done by placing
the blanks in air-tight pots and putting the
pots into a furnace. On being empted out
of the pots the blanks are black ana scaly.
An acid bath and good rubbing in q re-
volviug barrel half full of sawdust soon
polishes them, however, and they are then
ready TO receive the impress Of the dies.
The metal which is made into silver COINS
practically goes through the same process.
In weighing the copper blanks toy the hun
dred) more tolerance is, of course, per-
United than could be allowed in the case Of
silver coins The annealing 10 which the
CONS are subjected Is done TO make them
less brittle, and, therefore, more likely TO
take the impress of the dies properly. To
ascertain when the rolled-out metal has
reached the requisite thinness, one blank IS
struck from the middle OF each silver strip
and weighed. The copper strips are judged
simply by gauge.
1t is much easier to coin silver and copper
than gold. A bit of copper or silver lost, or
few blanks unsccounted for, do not make
much difference, but the smallest loss OF
gold is a more or less serious matter. Even
when the commoner metals are being minted
the men have TO account for what is en-
trusted TO them, and they stand on gratings
that natal may rot stick TO their boots. and