The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1893-09-23
GLIMPSES IN A MINT.
Something About the Process Of Coin.
ing the Precious Metals.

Something About the Process Of Coin
| ing the Precious Metals.
1t is rather difficult to attempt a de-
scription of how money is made. Even
encyclopedias, which are supposed TO be
equal to any and all emergencies, object
10 that. In a measure they are right.
| To get the best idea Of the multiple and
minute processes Of minting one must be
an eyewitness. Ii adds charm to the
proceedings to stand by the dusty fur
naces, arranged in sentinel-like rows, to
see them open their jaws and look right
down into the fiery cavern, where insa-
table tongues Of flame are licking up the
molten masses of silver and gold.
A day or two ago Officer Brown,
standing beside q visitor who had
watched with all the fascination of q
novice the great iron mouths opening
and closing, betrayed himself into neat
little explanation Of the process Of mint
| ing 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 pro-
cess in a nutshell:
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, lis just like
making 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 5000 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
furnace one hour and fifteen minutes.
The workman watches his gold as sacred
| ly as the cook her cakes, and when the
molten liquid is brought to the proper
consistency he takes three -cornered
black-lead cup, about the size that
would tit a monkeys head, and dips up
| 80, 900 worth of the metal at time,
pouring it out again with that marvellous
dexterity which only comes from practice
into moulds holding 81, 900 each. Moth
ing can be more beautiful than the fiery
stream OF young and pure gold as it
| glides into the locked arms of the
!: ron mould. When the liquid solidifies
it forms bar, or, to be technicallss cor
rect, an ingot about twelve inches long
and about half an inch thick.
These ingots are subjected to process
of rolling out which lengthens them with
out 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 performed.
Milling, in mint parlance. has somewhat
of different Specification than in ordin-
airy vernacular. 1t signifies the rolling
over of the edge of the coin preparatory
to stamping it with the minute denticula-
tions, which are commonly known as the
milling. The latter is part of the pro-
cess 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 con-
siderable part of the working force of the
mint. About 100 of them are employed,
and they attend entirely to the adjusting
and stamping. 1t may be said in ex-
planation of the process of the term Sad
justing" that every coin before 1t is
shaped is carefully weighed. IL too
heavy the edge is delicately filed 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 wo-
men, with their delicacy of touch, are
well suited. They are also in charge Of
the stamping. Incidentally it may be
said that most presses stamp from SO to
! 10 coins every minute. In one short hour
S45, 600 in ten-dollar 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-
u.en employed at the mint. They do the
sewing. At first thought it seems trifle
| incongruous to associate sewing with
money minting, 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 bag making 10 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 five-cent pieces are packed in $50
bags and the pennies in $40 bags, and
the small silver in $1,000 and the gold
in 1000 pouches. Roughly speaking,
last year fully 1000 bags were made up
for gold alone, 10000 for silver, 5000
for half dollars, besides mnny thousands
for the smaller coins.-I Philadelphia
Times.