The Opelousas courier., 1892-04-02
MAKING THE BANK NOTES
VARIOUS PROCESSES OF TURNING
OUT PAPER MONEY.
a Number of Engravers Work On
Each BiiI-The Curious Geoinet-
ric Misunderstanding the Bills.

! EEacn Asiii-1he Curious Ge0flea
:. ric Misunderstanding the Bills.
| will enaeavor to describe very brief
Iy and clearly the process of making
bank note, says Homer Lee, President o
the Homer Lee Bark Note Company, il
the St. Louis Republic. First of all,
model is made, partly of lndia ink ant
partly by FASTING together impressions o
small pieces of leather work and cyclic
idal designs. This is almost an exact
representation of what the bank note j
to be; something after the fashion tina
an architect makes his plans for a build,
ing, only it is made on heavier paper ane
executed with the brusI. These design.
ers are so clever III their art that yot
might well mistake some OF the designs
for the engravings thenselveso
A bank bill is never engrag by ont
man, but by a number Of mel. Each
engraver Is skilled in his own particular
branch of the work, one man may be
expert in engraving portraits, another in
making the old English and other fancy
letters you always see on the bills,
another in the t'script," or writing style
Of letter phrases like: "Wiil pay the
bearer" or payable to the bearer on
demand"
The engravers all start on their re-
spectiye kinds of work so as to finish
about the same time, very much in the
same style as a railroad is built. Several
gangs of men, working simultaneously
on different sections of the road, com
plete the enterprise sooner than one gang
of laborers engaged on the whole route.
So each engrayer is given a small part Of
the bill to execute. He en9rayes it on il
piece of steel known as die steel, not
quite as large as a postal card. Each
piece is hardened and afterward taken
up on the periphery Of a soft steel eylih-
der, known as "A roll. This, in turn. Is
hardened like a razor AMI the completed
more is then made up from these rolls.
The rolls bygreat pressure, are impressed
on to large plate which, when finished,
becomes the bank note You are sccas-
toned to see.
A very curious machine used By en-
gravers in their work is called the geonet-
ric lathe. 1t is with the aid of this ma
chine that the peculiar aud intricate lace
work patterns so familiar on our paper
money are made. 1t looks very much
like a scroll saw, with a revolving bed
and numerous little eogs, pins aud
thumb-serews. Projecting over toe bed
is an arm carrying 4 inely tempered steel
graver. Still more curious is it that it is
impossible for the operator on this id
strument to reproduce exactly tle cutting
he has made, of which he has neglected
to keep the record or combination; if
one of the thumb-screRs is turned thS
hundredth part of an inch it changes the
entire design.
The pay of eugravers ranges from s25
to 500 a week, sometimes more. Quite
a large proportion receive $50, and the
man who receives 800 a week or more
must be a exceptionally clever person.
The best qualified workmen are those
who can execute portraits.
After the engravers have finished their
work upon the die it goes to the harden
Ing room. where, BY means of furnace
heat and certain chemicals, it is made SO
hard that even a file will not scratch it.
Then the die is put on the transfer press
and an exact impression is ma lie on the
circumference of a soft roll of steel. TINS
is hardened similar to the die, and trans
ferred to the printing plate. /
The first plate printing presses. aud
those in general use today, consisted of
two metal rollers, between which is a
lab of iron running on four guide wheels.
The press looks something like a four
armed windmill.
In using this press the printer first puts
his plate on d small gas-stoye, called q
is~jiggger,a rolls over the surface of the
plate with ink, removing most of the
with a piece Of mosquito netting
md the remainder with his hand. Then
nc polishes the plate By rubbing it over
with the soft part of his hand, covered
with whiting. He does this till it shines
ike q mirror, leaving the engraved lines
OF ink. History informes us that
1ank notes were first printed BY the
chinese, 1887 B. G., and, even in that
early day, plates were polished by the
palm of the hand in the manner just de. I
But now the Chinese are trying to
learn the art Of bank-note engraving
from Americans. Some time since /
in furnishing the japanese Gov
ernment with an outfit which, in time,
will enable them to become expert bank.
note engrayers. The Japanese, being
naturally artistic, will not make the
engravers in the world.
After the plate has been polished the
places it in the press, where it
receives a sheet of paper placed by a
assistant. Then he gives d hard
pull, and the impression is made.
Bank-note sheets after being printed
are taken to the drying-room, where the
steam-heated temperature is $50 degrees
above zero. They remain here one
night. IN the morning the sheets are
examined for mp~erfections. Imperfect
ind torn sheets are thrown aside. Per-
lect sheets are put up in packages Of
1000 with a slip OF paper to indicate
each hundred, and Their put between
nill-boards and pressed in a hydraulic
press. Then the bill are numbered by
he automatic numbering machine.
Postal notes go through d similar pro-
with the difference that they are
on a steam-plate printing
machine.