The herald., 1893-10-09
GLIMPSES IN A MINT.
THE PROCESSES OF COMING THE
PRECIOUS METALS.

making Money Is Just Like Making
Cake" Says . Mint onacer = Mixed,
Rolled Out and Cut--The Work Women
DO In the Philadelphia Money Factory.
1t is rather difficult to attempt de-
scription Of how money is made. Even
encyclopedias, which are supposed to bo
equal to any and all emergencies, object
to that. In measure they are right.
To get the best idea Of the multiple and
minute processes Of minting one must
be an eyewitness. It adds charm to the
proceedings to stand by the dusty fur
naces, arranged in sentinellike rows, to
see them open their jaws and to look
right down into the fiery cavern, where
Unsuitable tongues of flame are licking
up the molten masses of silver and gold.
Aday or two ago Officer Brown, stand
ing beside visitor who had watched
with all the fascination of novice the
great iron mouths opening and closing,
betrayed himself into neat little ex-
PLANTATION of the process of minting
money Officer Brown has been many
years at the mint, so the visitor listened
with interest as to one who spoke with
authority. Here is the process in nut
she'll:
Making money" said he, with one of
those eloquent waves of the hands he
keeps by him to use on explanatory oc-
casions such as these, sis just like max
ing cake. You mix the dough; we mix
the metal. You roll out the dough into
shape; we roll out the metal into bars
You cut the dough into cakes; we cut
the metal into coins. Then we stamp
them. The metal left over is melted up
and used again, just as the cook gathers
up the left overs, rolls them again and
cuts more cakes"
In other words, an amount Of metal
say the equivalent of 100000 in gold,
which chemically is made up of 80 per
cent gold and 10 per cent copper, is put
into black lead crucible about the size
of peck measure. 1t is kept in the fur
mace hour and 10 minutes. The work
man watches his gold as sacredly as the
cook her cakes, and when the molten
liquid is brought to the proper consist
cncy he takes three cornered black
lead cup, about the size that would fit
monkeys head, and dips up s., 900 worth
of the metal at time, pouring it out
again with that marvellous dexterity,
which only comes from practice, into
molds holding 81 900 each. Nothing can
be more beautiful than the fiery stream
of young and pure gold as it glides into
| the locked arms of the iron mold, When
the liquid solidifies it forms bar, or, to
be technically correct, an ingot about 10
inches long and about half an inch thick.
These ingots are subjected to aprocess
| of rolling out which lengthens them
| without increasing the width. The bars
are then ready to be cut One machine
cuts the coin; another stamps them after
the process of milling has been per-
formed. Milling, in mint parlance, has
somewhat of different Specification
than in ordinary vernacular. 1t signi-
fies the rolling over of the edge of the
coin preparatory to stamping it with the
minute denticulations which are COM
monty known as the milling. The lat
ter is part of the process of stamping
and is done at the time that the signet
is put on the coin.
Speaking of stamping introduces the
large corps of women who form a con
siderable part of the working force of
the mint. About 100 of them are en-
ployed, and they attend entirely to the
adjusting and stamping. 1t may be said
in explanation of the process of the term
adjusting" that every coin before it is
shaped is carefully weighed. If too
heavy, the edge is delicately fled until
the coin is of lawful weight; if too light,
the piece is sent to be remelted. This
process of weighing and adjusting is an
employment to which women with their
delicacy Of touch, are well suited. They
are also in charge Of the stamping. In
cidentally it may be said that most tpresses
stamp from so to 10 coins every minute.
In one short hour $4,000 in $40 gold
pieces can be stamped around the edge
and on both Sides.
There is another part of the work
which comes under the charge OF the wo-
men employed at the mint. They do the
sewing. At first thought it seems trife
incongruous to associate sewing with
minting money, but all the bags used by
the mint are sewed in the building. The
bags are made of white duck and run up
by machine, being sewed twice for Sc
curity. The bagmaling is no small
thing when you come to consider the
number it takes to pack up the newly
coined wealth Of the country each year.
The cent pieces are packed in $50 bags
and the pennies in $40 bags, small silver
in 81 900 and the gold in $4,000 pouches
Roughly speaking, last year fully 1000
bags were made up for gold alone, 49,
600 for silver. 5000 for half dollars, be-
sides many thousands for the smaller
coins. Philadelphia Times.