The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-08-29
MAKING MONEY FAST.
THE SAN FRANCISCO MINT IS THE
LARGEST IN THE WORLD.
Where Thousands Of Dollars Arc Coined
Every Day-How tho Shining Yellow
Metal Is Changed Into Currency-Melt-
ing and Stamping Silver Coins.

,Srhero 1hoHsuhdS oi boiihrs arc toineu
Every Day-How tho Shining Yellow
Metal Is Changed Into Currency-Melt-
ing ana Stamping Silver Coins.
There are four United States mints, To-
Gated respectively at Philadelphia, New Or
leans, Carson City and San Francisco On
the corner Of Fifth and Missouri streets
stands large gray stone building, sufll-
GENTLY imposing as to attract immediate
attention, and II curiosity leads the visitor
up the long flight of broad stone steps
and into the reception hall, he will find him.
self within the walls of the largest mint in
the world. This mint was Established in
1858, and the present building was erected
in 1859. A polite, well informed and eour-
teous guide awaits to conduct the visitors
through the workrooms, where can be seen
the different processes through which bull
ion must pass before it can be used as
United States money The furnace room
Is the first one to which the visitor Is con-
Quoted. The machinery is run by water
power, furnished by an nrtesan well in tho
yards Of the mint building.
The next room is the deposit room, or,
more properly speaking, the ingot room.
Here old gold, silver or jewelry is received,
of which any one can depUs1e to the value
of not less than si00 and have it melted
iGto bullion, assayed and the next day re-
ceive in money of full value in gold coin
with 10 per cent Of copper nlloy and no
charges made for coming. On.the day Of
our visit 100000 in silver coin was being
melted over. Whyp No one could or would
explain. 1t looked odd to see the appar-
emily perfectly good 50cent pieces shoveled
into the small, redhot bowls, where the
In haa ~ ha f,,, 4
the coins to molten fire, which is stirred
by small paddles held by immense iron
pinchers In the hands Of skilled workmen,
who practically earn their bread by the
sweat of the brow" The small paddles, as
well as the bowls in which the metal is re-
duced to liquid, are made Of clay and plum
baEo. The ingots of gold and silver are 10
inches long, ~ Inches wide and = inch
thick. The value OF theGoldingot is 81 900,
and the value Of the silver ingot of tho
saWe size Is SIS.
The next process through which the met
al passes is that of rolling into long, thin
strips. This is done by heavy rollers under
q pressure OF $50 tons. 1t takes 10 times to
roll gold and IL times to roll silver. Tho
gold strips are now put into long copper
tubes, which are then placed in a furnace
until they are redhot, thence thrown into
vat of water, which process tempers the
metal. Each Of these long copper tubes is
handled by two workmen and will hold
10000 in gold or S.. 800 in silver When the
gold strips are removed from the tubes. tho
gold Is waxed, and the silver strips are
creased This Is done to prevent abrasion.
SyThe metal is now ready for cutting into
pieces, the size according to the denomina-
ton Of the money to be made. The work.
men shove the long gold strips into the cut
ting machine, which handles the precious
metal as it would pasteboard, and indeed
it is quite soft, as what Is left Of the strips
is doubled up by the hands of the workman
and thrown into box to be sent back to
the ingot room. One dollar In silver and
eco in gold are cut out at the rate of lS5
pieces per minute, the smaller at the rate
of 2S5 pieces per minute. The round pieces
of gold and silver are now passed to the
cleaning room, where they are washed free
from the wax and grease.
7 Peeping into the door OF the cleaning
room, which visitors are not allowed to
enter, could be seen box of unstamped
go gold pieces. The box contained SlOo,O
III gold. The unstamped coins, now bright
and shimmering, are taken to the ad iusting
room where the ladies work. They are
here adjusted to the exact weight of the
coin to be made. Should q coin provo to
be too heavy it is filed of; II too light it
goes back to be melted over The milling
process puts the metal in blank form for
stamping. But first it must be freed from
oxidation, which is done by whitening
Tue round coins are now ready for the
stamping which makes the metal money
There are five stamping machines, and the
dies Of these can be changed.
One dollar in silver and SEQ in gold arc
struck off by the same machine at the rate
of 5000 per hour. The capacity Of the ma.
chimes is much larger than the supply of
gold. But II all the machines could be
kept working in gold they could stamp
$4,000 in one hour, or s., 10000 in seven
hours, or $945, 100000 in 800 working days.
To look at the large engine of l50 horse.
power that controls the machinery used in
the mint building one would scarce imagine
it had been used for 10 years, as it appears
as bright and glittering in its polished
metal plates as il 1t were new.
In this great building where SO, ,000. 900 of
treasure is stored away, many seemingly
small economies are practiced, yet the re-
suits are quite astonishing and more than
repay the labor. The floors of the work.
rooms are covered with perforated iron
flooring in small sections. Every night
these sections are removed and the floor
swept The sweepings arc then worked
over with acid, and the yield In gold and
silver amounts to So 900 per annum. Once
a year every truck about the building is
burned, irrespective of it's condition, and
also the clothing worn in some of the work
rooms, that not particle of the precious
metals may be lost Onco in four years the
carpets of the adjusting room are burned.
The last burning enriched the United
. g1 E1ran