The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-23
BANK OF ENGLAND NOTES.
Where and How These Valuable Pa
pers Are Printed.

! In picturesque Hampshire nook in the
valley of the river Test stands a busy
mill, from which is produced that paper
| whose crispncss is music to the human
ear all the world over. Since 1919 this
| Leversroke mill has been busy in the
! manufacture of the Bank of England note
! paper, and at the present time about so.
| 900 Of the coveted crisp pieces ofpaper are
| made there daily.
To a careless observer there does not
| appear to be much difference between Il
Bank Of England note of the present day
and one of those which were first issued
toward the end of the seventeenth cen
fury, but when looked into it will be
found that the present note is, as regards
the engraved writing, much more re-
| markable production.
The factis, the Bank of England and
forgers Of false notes have been running
a race-the bank TO turn out note which
defes the power of the forger to initiate
it, and those nimble-tingered and keen
! witted gentry TO keep even with the
| bank
The notes now in use are. most ela.bo-
ratelN manufactured bits of paper The
paper itself is remarka bic in many WAYS
| none other has that peculiar feel of crisp
ness and toughness, while the eve, when
q
may dwell with admiration on the paper S
remarkable whitCness. Its thinnoss and
transparency are guides against two once
popular modes of forgery, the washing out
of the printing by means Of turpentine
and erasure with the knife.
The wire mark, or water mark, is an
other precaution against couuterfeiting
and is produced in the paper while 1t is
in a state of pulp In the old manufac-
ri &
caused by an immense number of wires
lover 1000 stitched and sewn together ;
now il is engraved in steel faced die
which is 8fterward hardened and then is
used rs punch to stamp the pattern out
OF plates of sheet brass. The shading of
the letters of this water mark enormous
ly increase the difficulty of imitation.
The paper is made entirely from pieces
Of new linen and cotton, and the tough
ness of it can be roughly guessed from
the fact that single bank note will,
when unsized, support weight of thirty
six pounds, while when sized YOU NAV
lift fifty-six pounds with it.
Few people would imagine that a Bank
Of England note was not of the same
thickness all through. 1t is not, though.
The paper is thickerin the left hand cor-
ner, to enable it 10 take a better and
sharper impression Of the vIgnette there,
and it is also considerably thicker in the
dark shadows of the center letters and
under the figures at the ends. Counter
felt notes arc invariably OF only one thick
ness throughout
The printing is done from electrotypes,
the figure of Britannia being the design
of Maclise, the late Royal Academician
Even the printing ink is of special
make, and is manufactured at the
bank. Comparing a genuine with a
forged note, one observes that the print
on the latter is generally blush or brown.
On the real note it is a velvety black.
The chief ingredients used in making the
ink arc linseed oil and the charred husks
ana 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 100000 900 of them wear,
representing 30000O,0O0 pounds in hard
cash