The morning call., 1893-03-24
BANK OF ENGLAND NOTES.
The Process of Making the Paper for
$4,000 of Them Daily.


In picturesque Hampshire nook in the
valley OF the River Test stands busy mill,
from which is produced that paper whose
crispness is music TO the human ear all the
world over Since 17l9 this Leverstoke
mill has been busy in the manufacture of
the Bank OF England note-pa per and at the
present time about $4,000 OF tie coveted
crisp pieces OF paper are made there daily.
To careless observer there does not ap-
pear to be much differences between a Bank
OF England ote Of the present day and one
of those which were first issued toward the
end OF the seventeenth century, but when
looked into it will be found that the present
note Is, as regards the quality of the paper
and the excellence of the engraved writing,
much more remarkable prod
The fact is the Bank of England and
forgers Of false notes have been running u
race-the bank to turn out note which
deties the power OF the Iorger to initiate II,
and those MIN 6le-fn gered and keen witted
gentry to keep even" with the bank.
The notes now in use are most elaborately
manufactured "bits of paper" The paper
itself Is remarkable In many ways; none
other has that peculiar feel" of crispness
and toughDess. while the eye (when it has
satisfied itself with the ''amOunt') may
dwell with admiration on the papers
remarkable wbiteness. Its thlnHess and
transparency are guards against two once
popular modes OF forgery-the washing out
Of the printing by means of turpentine and
eTasure with the knife.
Ihe wire mark. or water mark, Is another
preeautl0n against counterfet!ng, and is
produced in the paper while it is III state
OF pulp. In the old manufacture of bank
notes this water mark was caused by an
immense number of wires (over 2OOO)
stitched and sewn together; now it is en-
eraved in a stee-faced die, which is after
ward hardened, and is then used as a punch
TO stamp the pattern out of plates of sheet
orass. The shading of the letters of this
water mark enormously increases the diff
Guilty OF imitation.
The paper IS made entirely from pieces of
new linen and cotton. and the toughness of
1t can be roughly guessed from the fact that
single bank note will, when unsized, sup
port weight of 80 pounds while when
sized you may lift So pounds with it.
Few people would imagine that q Bank
Oh England note was not OF the same thick
Gess all through. 1t is not, though. The
paper Is thicker in the left-hand corner to
enable it to take better and sharper i'm
preston Of the vignette there, and IL is also
considerably thicker In the dark shadows
OF the center letters ard under the figures
at the ends. Counterfeit notes are inYari-
ably OF only one thickness throughout.
The printing IS done from electrOtypes
the figure of Britannia being the design
OF MaclisP, the late royal academician.
Even the printing ink is of special make,
and is manufactured at the bank. Compar-
ing genuine with a forged note one OBJ
serves that the print on the latter is gem
orally blush or brown. On the real note ii
Is velyety black. The chief ingredients
used in making the Ink are linseed oil aud
the charTed husks and some other portions
OF Rhenish grapes.
The notes are printed at the rate of 5000
an hour at Napier's steam press and the
bank issues 5000, 000.000 of them a year,
representing about $500, 600, 600 in hard cash.