The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1894-08-11
UNCLE SANS MINIS.
Some Curious Facts About Our
Coinage Shops
A Machine that Counts Coins by
the Shovelful

An employs OF the Philadelphia
mint in an interview with New
York Sun reporter says: II suppose
You know how to tell where any
American coin was made. The mint
ct Philadelphia was the first one in
this country, after others were estab-
iished il was for long time the head
establishment the mints at New
Orleans, San Francisco and Carson
City being branches but few years
ago each mint WAS made q separate
concern. When you see q small o
anywhere on coin, that tells you
that il was minted in New Orleans.
An shows that the coin was made in
San Francisco ;c. c. stands for Car
son City, but you will not find that
on any new coins, IA no coming IL
done in Carson City Mt present.
1.-The Mints neighbors in Philadel-
phia have become used to hearing n
fusillsde Of firearms in our courtyard
every month, as though we we're hav-
ing battle. The law requires US to
keep supply Of firearms and directs
how they shall be handled. In the
corridor close to the assay Office, are
two racks and large cabinet. The
racks contain twenty rifles, with bnyo-
nets attached, and the cabinet is filed
with revolvers. II is necessary to
have these things TO defend the gov
ernment's property with in case of at
tack by mob, for there is too much
money in this building to take any
chances. We have at present about
$50, 900, 900 worth Of gold and silver
deposited in the vaults, besides q great
number of relics in the museum that
could not be replaced. BY an act OF
Congress we are required to have the
firearms examined every day, and they
ell have to be fired and cleaned once
a month. When the twenty night
watchmen go on duty in the after
noon they take the revolvers from the
cabinet and lay them in convenient
places about the building.
''There are many other curious
things about Uncle Samuels mints. /
suppose you know that two men are
under heavy bonds for the safe-keep-
ing of the treasure in each mint. One
of these is the director Of the mint.
who has charge of all the establish
ments, and the other is the superinten-
dent of each mint. Every vault door
has two locks, and there 10 a man for
each key, 80 that the door cannot be
unlocked without the presence of both
men. One of the men represents the
superintendent
zone OF our curiosities in Philadel-
phia is small consignment OF gold
from Msdagasgar. II was mined and
smelted and done up for shipment by
natives, and is the brightest gold we
have. They took piece Of bamboo
about six inches long and two inches
in diameter, and polished the outside
till il is "a smooth as glass. Then
they puts wooden cork in one end and
poured in the melted gold, and corked
up the other end.
zone of the simplest and most use
ful contriyances we have is the count
ing board. Formerly all the coins
were counted by hand, and this took
longer than TO make them. for the
coming machines work very fast One
OF the old employees invented the
counting board which is now in use in
all the mints in this country. IL is n
smooth fat iron board about six feet
square, divided into longitudinal col
umns with thin metal strips, each
column being just wide enough to hold
the coins 10 be counted. The board
is laid over q big bin containing the
coins, and one man scoops up ashovel-
ful OF coins and scatters them over the
board. Another man gives the board
a shake, and sees that every space in
every column is filled. Then with n
tip OF the board the counted coins are
dumped into another bin. Fifty dol
lars worth Of five-cent pieces can thus
be counted in thirty seconds"