The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1890-11-08
PRECIOUS COLI DUST.

PRECIOUS GOLD DUST.
Kept In q Table. Drawer At tho Govern
mont Printing Ofice.
Seven thousand dollars worth Of gold
lust in q table drawer! Poke your
fingers into tho yellow stuff and notice
how soft and agreeable to the feeling 1t
is, says the Washington Star, while the
attendant in charge watches you care
fully and sees that you do not get away
with any Of it. 1t is smooth to the
touch, because it is oil composed OF
gold-beater's film rubbed to almost i'm.
palpablo powder. For the same rea-
son, too, it is absolutely pure and virgin
metal, t%wenty-four carats fine.
The drawer is in charge of a pretty
young CIR at the Government printing
office. Her work thoro is to stamp gold
lettering and ornamentation upon book
covers. Tho precious substance comes
to her in tho shape Of little rectangular
sheets of foil inexpressibly thin, laid
between layers Of tissue paper made up
in book form, each book holding TWEEN.
ty-four gold sheets. Handling them is
a matter requiring great skill, though
you might not imagine it from casual
inspection. To begin with, say the
young woman places on the table before
her an ordinary leather book cover.
She takes from tho little gold book a
sheet Of the foil, not with her fingers,
but by catching it up with o small pad
of raw cotton. Laying down the sheet
of pure yellow gold upon a little slab,
she cuts it into three pieces with a sharp
knife. She makes it smooth by blow
ing gently upon it with her breath.
Ono Of the pieces she applies to the
back of the cover whore the title is to
90; another she also puts on the back,
where the name of tho author is to be-,
while the third biggest piece is spread
ovep the middle Of one flap of the cover,
where an ornamental design is wanted.
Next, after smoothing the piece of
gold film down firmly on the leather,
the pretty girl slidos the beneath
a small press that stands on the table.
In the press, face downward, is q die en-
gravod in relief with the name of the
book that is to be incased in tho cover,
the authors name and the ornamental
design referred to. The die is kept
heated by gas. A movement Of a lever
worked by hand brings the die down
upon tho cover, and the raised lettering
and design burn the gold foil wherever
there is contact, so that it is made to
adhere to the leather in those spots.
The die is lifted, tho cover is withdrawn
from the press, and the gold is rubbed
of with a piece of soft leather on the
end of q stick. Wherever the die has
not touched it the film comes of read
lily, leaving tho lettering and the design
adhering SO closely to the leather that
they could not be removed, a v by hard
scraping. Finally the young woman
rubs the leather with a chunk OF burnt
rubber, which takes off all undesirable
particles, so that the ornamental pattern
and the names of book and author shine
out with beautiful clearness of outline
in twenty-four carat gold. Tho whole
process has taken . good many words to
describe, but it is actually performed
very quickly, tho covers being spread
with gold, stamped with tho heated die,
and rubbed of in rapid succession. Each
fresh sort of book-cover has to have q
new die, Of course.
The operator is very careful in rub
bling of the loose gold after each stamp
ing, SO as to lose none Of it. As she uses
the leather-tipped stick she permits the
yellow stuff to fall through q crack in
the table top into the drawer beneath
In the shape of dust. 1t is allowed to
accumulate there until the drawer is full.
The drawer is quite big and deep, and
will hold $4,000 worth of the dust. You
would not imagine it to be any very
precious substance if you found a guam.
tity of it in some odd place; it looks as
. much like powdered tinsel al any thing
else. However, it is worth 800 an ounce,
and when a drawer full is collected the
gold is forwarded to the mint in Phila'
delphia, which subjects it to assay and
sends back q check for its value.
The burnt rubber used for the final
polishing off of the gold lettering, etc.
is simply India-rubber which has been
subjected to q peculiar fire process that
makes it very spongiose and absorbent
So remarkable is its latter quality thai
q chunk Of it as big as three Of your I'm
. gers will take up moro than $15 worth
Of gold in its pores. When, after some
months of use such q piece of burnt
rubber is loaded with all tho gold it will
comfortably carry, it is sent, with a lot Of
others in the same condition, to the mini
to be assayed.
Real gold is only used in this way TO,
particularly fine books. Designs and
lettering Of the sort for ordinary vol
umes are done at the Government print
ing Office in nearly tho same manner
but with o yellow composition called
"German metal" which looks very
much like tho gold and is decided,
cheaper. No trouble is taken to save
the wastage, and each %book-cover, ate,
being stamped by the hot die, is simpl.
put through a brushing machine.
The Electric Express Train.
DR.. Louis Bell says the electric ex
! press train in the near future will il
all probability contain one or more pow
erful motors on the axis Of its drivers
and aggregating perhaps 1000 horse
mower as. q normal output It will be