Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-08-09
MAKING MONEY FAST.
THE SAN FRANCISCO MINT IS THE
LARGEST IN THE WORLD.

| LARGEST IN THE WORLD.
| wherc Thousands Of DoliSrs Are Coined
! Every pay--How tho shining yellow
Metal Is Ch,aged Into Csrrcucy-Mels.
Ing and stamping silver Coins.
! There ar. four United States mints, To-
| -,,ssi respectively at Philadelphia, New Or
leans. Carson City and San Francisco On
| the corner of FItth and Missouri STREETS
\ stands large gray stone building. SUM
! GENTLY imposing rs to attract immediate
attention. and il curiosity leads the visitor
| M the long flight of broad stone steps
1 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
| 1855. and the present building WAS erected
| in 1s5g A polite, well informed and cour~
! teaus guide awaits to conduct the visitors
| through the work rooms, where can be seen
| the different processes through which bull
I ian 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 artesian well in the
I wards of the mint building.
/ The next room is the deposit room, or.
more properly speaking, the ingot room
1 Here old gold, silver or jewelry is received,
/ OF which any one can deposit to the value
| of not less than 500 and have IL melted
/ into bullion, assayed and the next day re-
( ceive in money of full value in gold COIN
| with 10 per cent of copper alloy and no
charges made for coming. On the day OF
| our visit $50 900 in silver coin was being
I he z,,,tI ar xSs.t
explain. Ii looked odd to see the appar-
entity perfectly good 5o-cent pieces shoveled
| into the small, redhot bowls, where the
! intense heat of the furnace soon reduced
/ the coins to u molten fire, which Is stirred
by small paddles held by immense iron
plnchers in the hands of skilled workmen,
| who pract cally earn their bread by the
sweat of the brow" The small paddles, us
we'll US the bowls in which the metal is re-
duced to liquid, are made Of clay and plum
| bagu. The iugots OF gold and silver are IL
| inches long, IL inches vide and y inch
thick The value of I'll gold is GOO
| and the value Of the silver iugot of the
same size is SSS
| The next process through which the met
al passes is that of rolling into long, thin
strips This is done by heavy rollers under
| "A pressure Of $50 tons Ii takes ID times to
| roll gold and II times to roll silver. The
| gold strips are now put into long copper
| tubes, which are then placed in furnace
| until they are redhot, thence thrown into II
| vat of water, which process tcnpers the
metal Each of these long copper tubes is
| handled by two workmen and will hold
so. 600 in gold or 8. 500 in silver, When the
gold strips are removed from the tubes, the
| gold is waxed, and the silver strips are
| creased This is done to prevent abrasion.
| The metal is now ready for cutting into
pieces, the size according to the denonlna-
| ton of the money To he made. The work
men shove the long gold strips in.9 She cut
| ting machine, which handles the precious
metal as it would pasteboard, and indeed
| il il quite soft. rs what is left of the strips
| is doubled up by the hands of the workman
| and thrown into box to he sent back to
| the ingot room. One dollar in silver and
| 80 in gold are cut out at the rate of Isl
| pieces per minute, the smaller at the rate
| OF 80 pieces pei.Winute. The round pPtps
| nf gold and silver are now passed To the
| cleaning room. where they are washed free
| from the wax and grease.
Peepiug into the door of the cleaning
| room, Which visitors are not allowed TO
| enter. could he seen a box of unstamped
| IN gold pieces The box contained 100000
| in gold. The unstamped coins, now bright
| and shiminering, are ta~en to the justng
room where the ladies work. They ARE
here adjusted to the exact weight of the
| coin to be made Shonld a coin prove to
| he too heavy il is filed of; If too light it
goes back to be melted over. The milling
process puts the metal in blank form for
Stamping Blu, first it must he freed from
| ,x.Ii,,h 10 Inn., hp x.bt
| The round COINS are now ready for the
| stamping which makes the metal MONEY.
There are five stamping machines, and the
| lies of these can be changed.
| One dollar in silver and so in gold ure
| struck of 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 if all the machines could be
| kept working in gold they could stamp
400 900 in one hour, or ~. 10000 In seven
| hours, or s9ii,h0o,o0 in 800 worhing days
70 look at the large engine of $50 horse
power that controls the machinery used in
the mint building one would scarce imagine
| it had been used for ~ years, rs it appears
* bright and glittering in its polished
| metal plates rs II if were new.
in this great building where $40, 900 600 Of
treasure is stored away. many seemingly
small economics are practiccd 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 nre removed and the floor
| swept The sweeppgs are then worked
over with acid, and the yield in gold and
silver amounts to 5000 per annum. Once
year every truck about the building is
III.