The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1895-05-02
HOW PAPER MONEY IS MADE.
Uncle Sans Expert Engravers ana Tn
Wonderful Geometric Lathe.

Uncle Sans Expert EngraverS sno s"e
Wonderful Geometric Lathe.
If you will look at the pictures upon
dollar bill, you will see that the portrait OF
Martha Washington or of Stanton Is COM
posed altogether of curved or straight lines
the only kind of engraving that Is al
lowed to be done in the bureau, because
unless it is done in this manner, and I'M
less the lines are cut very deep, the en-
cravings cannot be used. Now, this por-
trait was engraved in piece OF steel oy
the use of very sharp little instrument
known as graver.
Every little scratch on the steel plate
will, in printing, show black line, SO you
will see how very careful the engraver mas
to be that he shall not make any false
scratches, and that the lines shall be just
SO long and just so broad.
Now, steel engraving is the direct OPP
posite of wood engraving. The scratches
and cuts made on a wooden block Will De
white in the print, and it IS only the IN
cut portions of the block that print black,
while on the steel the unscratched portion
leaves the paper white.
When design has been cut on steel
plate and it is ready to be printed, the
ink is put on the plate, or block, and all
the cuts and scratches become filled with
ink. Then the ink is carefully rubbed off
of the surface, SO that none remains ex-
cept what is in the lines. When piece or
dampened paper is placed on the plate and
subjected to very heavy pressure, 1t SINKS
into the lines, and when it is taken OFT 1t
draws the ink out with it, and thus the
picture is printed on the paper.
1t takes an engraver about six weeks or
two months to complete one portrait, and
man who engraves the portraits never
does any other kind of engraving. Each
engraver does only certain portion of the
work on a note. No one is permitted to
engrave an entire note. So that besides
the portrait engravers there are some who
do nothing but engrave the figures, the
seal, the lettering, the border, etc. In this
way it would be impossible for an en-
graver to make complete engraving for
his own use if he were dishonest enough
to want to do such thing.
Besides this manual work some of the
engraving is done by machinery, as, for
example, the background of the portrait
and of the borders and the shading of the
letters, this being done by what is known
as the ruling machine, which can rule sew
eral hundred perfectly straight lines with
in an inch The intricate scroll and lace
like work around the figures on the face
and the back of the note is done by won
derful machine known as the geometrlc
lathe. This machine consists of a large
number of wheels of all sizes and in all
sorts of arrangements, together with
complicated mechanism of eccentrics and
rods, all of which is incomprehensibl to
any one but an expert machinist.
By a proper adjustment OF its parts the
delicate diamond point that moves about
over the face of the steel is made to work out
a perfect and artistic pattern with great
er accuracy and much more speed than
could be done by hand, and hence this del
icate and intricate part of the engraving
is one of the greatest obstacles with which
the counterfeiter has to contend, for he
finds it next to impossible to initiate it
correctly.
Fortunately for Uncle Sam, the geomet-
ric lathe is a very complicated and very
expensive machine, and the counterfeiter
is generally a poor man, and even IL he
did manage to lay up enough money to
buy the lathe it is hardly likely he would
live long enough to learn how to use it
properly, for there are only four men in
the world who understand how to operate
it.
Indeed the man who now has charge of
the geometric lathe at the bureau of en-
craving and printing is the only one in
the United States at the present time who
knows how to manage it, and If anything
should happen to him it might tangle mat
tiers up for awhile in this important branch
of our Uncle Sans big governnent.-St.
Nicholas.