St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1893-12-23
GLITPSES IN A MINT.
The Process of Coming the Precious
Metals

Metals.
1t is rather difficult to attcrnpt de,
scription Of how money is made Even
encyclopedias, which are supposed f. DO
equal % any and all emergencies, oh it>t>et
to that In a measure they are right
To ret the best idea Of multiple and
minute processes of minting, one must
De an eve witness. 1t adds cIarm to the
proceeding, to stand by the dusty fur
nuces arranged in sentinel Ike rows, 10
see them open their jaws and to lock.
right down into the fiery cavern,
where in-alablc tongues of tiunse arc
licking up the molten masses OF sllve<
and gold
\ day or two AGO Officer Drown, stand
ing beside a visitor who had watched!
with all the fascination Of novice the
great iron mouths opening aud closing,
betrayed himself into IL neat little cX-
PLANTATION Of the process Of miutiny
money. Officer Brown has been maNv
years at the mint, 50 the visitor listened
with interest. as to one who spoke with
authority, Here is the process in q nut
she'll:
"Making money said he, with ono Of
those eloquent waves If the hands nc
keeps by him to use Oh explanatory &C
casious such as the,c lis iil~t Ijke max
inc cake You mix the Ipuni We MY
the metal. You roll olt the dough lnr4,
shame we roll ont tho m tai iu,u bars
Won emf the do,,,b jut, cakes we cut
the metal into coins, Then We ,tam,
them The metal left over is melted M
and used araiu. lust rs tIc cook gathers
NJ the left, overs. rolls them again and
cuts more cakcs. "
In other Words an amount of metal.
say the rn,1iv.l,,t of 500 q. @ in cold.
which chemically j, made ND Of 90 per
cent gold and 10 pcr cent. copper is
mt into y hIack-l,nd cylrib2c abou the
size Of peck measure. 1t is kept in tAr
furnace one hour and fifteen minutes,
The workman watches his roll a.,
sacredlv as the cook her cakes, and when.
the molten LIQUID is brought to the.
Dropcr consistency he takes a three -cor =
nercd black lead cup, about the size that
would fit q monkeys head. and dips
ND 81. 90 worth Of the metal at time
pouring it out again with that marvellous
deyterity which ONLY comes from prac-
tice into moulls holding II 600 each.
Nothing can be more beautiful than ttr;
fiery stream of young and pure gold us Ut
glides into the locked arms Of the iron
mould When the liquid solidities it
forms bar, or, to be Technically cor
rect, an ingot about twelve inches long
and about half an inch thick.
These ingots are subjected to /" pro
cess OF rolling out which Icngthcns chem
without increasing the width. The bars
are then ready to be Cut. One machine
cuts the coin, another stamps them aftT
the process of milling his been per-
formed. Milling, in mint parlauce, has
somewhat Of Il different sisnltiration
than in ordinary vcrnacular. 1t signifies
the rolling over OF the edge Of the coin
preparatory to stamping it with the.
minute lenticuIatFons. which are com
monty known as the milling. The latter
is part Of the process Of stamping, and
is done at the time that the signct is put
on the coin.
Speaking Of stamping introduces the
large CORPS of women who form con-
siderable pat of the working force OF
the mint Alb out one hundred of them
are cmpoyed, a. I'd they attend entirely to
The adjusting ana stamping. 1t may be
said in explanation OF the process of the
term "adiustire" til Ut every coin before
it is shaped is careful.v weighed. If too
heavy the edge is del. 'cately filed until
the coin is of lawful wei. rht; if too light
the piece is sent to be re melted. This
process of weighing and &C 'iusting is on
employment to which women, with their
delicaov of touch, are well sui. ed. They
are also in charge of the stamping.