The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1891-08-29
GOLD DUST.

PRECIOUS GOLD DUST.
Kept In ~ T,h!o Drawer ut tho Govern
lncnt Printing ONO.
Seven thousand dollars worth Of gold
lust in y table drawer! Poke your
fingers into the yellow stuff and notice
how soft ard agreeable to tho feeling it
attendant in charge watches you care
fully and secs that You do not get away
villa any OF it. 1t is smooth to the
tou";l, boca":o it is all composed Of
golu-bcaccr's film rubbed to almost i'm.
palpablc powder. For tho same rea
son. too, it is absolutely puro and virgin
metal, twonty-four carats fine.
Tho drawer is in charge of a pretty
young cir at tho Government printing
Office. Her work thcro is to stamp gold
lettering and ornamcntation upon book
covers. Tho precious substance
to her in tho shape Of littlo rectangular
shoots Of foil inoSpressibly thin, laid
between layers OF tissue paper made up
in book form, each book holding TWEEN
ty-four gold sheets. Handling them is
matter requiring great skill, though
you might not imagine it from casual
inspection. To begin with, say the
young oma places or the table before
her m ordinary leather book cover.
Sho takes from the little gold book q
shoot Of tho foil, not with hor fingers,
but by catching it up with a small pad
Of raw cotton. Laying down the sheet
Of puro yellow gold apon a little slab,
she cuts it into thrco pieces with a sharp
knife. She makes it smooth by blow
ing gently upon it with hor breath.
Ono OF tho pieces sho applies to tho
back OF tho cover whore the title is to
go; another sho also puts on tho back,
where tho name Of tho author Is to be,
while the third biggest piece is spread
ovor the middle of one flap OF the Owe
whcro an ornamental design is wanted.
Next, after smoothing tho piece of
gold film down firmly on tho leather,
tho pretty girl slides tho cover beneath
asmall press that stands or tho table.
In tho press, face downward, is a die en-
graved in relief with tho name of the
book that is to DO incascd in the cover,
the authors namo and tho ornamental
design referred to. Tho die Is kept
heated by gas. A movement Of a lover
worked by hand brings the die down
upon tho cover, and the raised lettering
and design burn the gold foil Wherever
there is contact, 80 that it is made to
adhere to tho leather in those spots.
The die is lifted, tho cover is withdrawn
from tho press, and tho gold is rubbed
of with a picco Of soft leather on the
end of a stick. Wherever tho die has
not touched it tho film comes of read
lily, leaving tho lettering and tho design
adhcring SO closely to tho leather that
thoy could not be removed, save by hard
scraping. Finally the young woman
rubs tho leather with a chunk of burnt
rubber, which takes off all undesirable
particles, so that tho ornamental pattern
and tho OF book and author shine
out with beautiful cloarnoss Of outline
in twenty-lour carat gold. Tho whole
process has taken y good many words to
describe, but it is actually performed
very quickly, tho cover boing spread
with gold, stamped with tho heated die,
and rubbed Off III rapid succession. Each
fresh sort of book-covcr has to have .
new die, OF course.
The operator is very careful in rub
bling off tho loose gold after each stamp
ing, so as to lose ono of it. As she uses
the leather-tippcd stick sho permits the
yellow stuff to fall through q crack in
the tablo top into tho drawer beneath
in tho shape Of dust. 1t is allowed to
accumulate there until tho drawer is full.
Tho drawer is quito big and deep, and
will hold $10,030 worth Of tho dust. You
would not imagine it to be any worry
precious substance il you found q guam
tity of it in some odd place; it looks as
much like powdered tinscl as any thing
else. However, it is worth $40 an ounce.
and when q drawer full is collected tho
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 eff of tho gold lettering, etc.,
is simply Jndia-rubbcr which has been
subjected to a peculiar fire process that
makes it very s%pongiose and absorbent.
So remarkable is its latter quality that
o chunk OF it as big as throc OF your I'm
gers will take up moro than SIS worth
of gold in its pores. Whom, after somo
months OF uso such a piece of burnt
rubber is loaded with al the gold it will
comfortably carry, it is scnt, with q lot of
others in tho same condition, to the mint
to DO assaycd.
Real gold is only used in this way for
particularly fine books. Designs and
lettering Of tho sort for ordinary vol.
umes arc done ut tho Government print:
ing Office in nearly tho same manner.
but with o yellow composition called
"Gcrman metal" which looks very
much lillo tho gold and is decidedly
cheaper. No trouble is taken to save
the wastagc, and each book-covcr, after
being stamped by tho hot die, is simply
put through a brushing machine.
Tho Electric I;1p-css Train.
DR.. Louis Boil says tho electric ex-
pross train in tho neal future will in
oil -~o1,~ys1SA. - l-s.