The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-07-08
SPLITTING A BANK NOTE.



of Uncle sam.
1t is delicate operation TO split a
bank note edgewise, but there are
rogues who do it as easily as they could
slice cheese. 1t has been practiced in
France and South American states sew
eral years. and the men who do this
work in the United States are half
again as sl<illful as the foreigners from
whom they first learned the trick. OIL
GERS of the Bank of England had always
held that no one was sl<illful enough to
split one of their bank notes American
currency splitters can divide the British
bank note as easily and as equally as
they can lay open one of this country's
issue.
These clever rascals commonly use s.
and $50 bills, which are split edgcwise.
Then. they manipulate them in this
way: The front of the s. bill is deity
fastened to the back of the $50 and the
back of the note of the smaller denomi-
nation to the face of the larger one.
When that is accomplished the maker
has two $50 bills that will pass current
almost anywhere. In working off these
split notes the shower forces the $50 of
each note on the victim, who rarely
thinks it necessary to examine the
other side. He scans the side exposed
to him by the trickster and of course
accepts It as genuine. BY this device
the splitter clears a profit of cas- on
every two bank notes he works off.
The work of splitting is done with a
machine, which is manufactured in
England. 1t consists of a FURNISHED
solid steel roller, two inches in dia-
meter, hanging over a smooth plate of
the same metal The rollers ends rest
in slotted uprights, and Il may be
raised or lowered enthusiastically by
means of screws as fine as those of the
finest watch A main screw, as finely
threaded as the others, is turned
automatically by clocl<work, which
stands at the right end of the steel bar
rel Over, the plate, and with the edge
under the roller, is firmly fixed a knife.
Its ends are locked in grooves in
f1anges on either side of the steel bed.
The knives are imported from Shelf
field, England, because American
makers of surgical Instruments are un-
able TO turn out blades of the requisite
thinness and temper The blade is a
third of an inch wide, three inches long
in the clear and thinner than hairs
breadth. No lancet has half so keen an
edge. Before bank bill is put into the
Jaws of the machine it is made limp by
water and every faint of dirt is re-
moved. Then it is dried between pads
of lint, after which it is placed between
deep files of the finest calendered paper
and left pinned in a screw-press from
twenty four to thirty-six hours When
it comes out it looks as bright, clean
and fresh as new bank note, and, what
is of more Importance to the operator,
1t is almost as stiff as cardboard Then
it is ready for splitting. One of its ends
is inserted under the roller on the side
farthest from the knife.
Then the weights of the clock arc set
going and the bright metal roller turns
SO slowly that its motion is scarcely
perceptible. As the bank note is worked
through its end is met by the knife
edge. The knife is set so delicately
that IL passes exactly through the width
of the bill. One-half of the bank note
passes above the knife and the other
part moves under the blade. The blade
is so delicately set above the plate that
there is just space enough to let the
half of the bin pass through. The
neatness of the fit keeps the bank note
taut to the last. An hour is required to
run single bank note through the
splitter After being halved the sides
are given gentle steaming to raise the
fiber on the cut sides. in order that,
when forced together with 2,500-pound
pressure, the threads will knit into a
perfect facsimile of genuine bank
note. Then it is ready for the smoker
zette.