The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-25

to gold brick. The combined metals
are next thrown into vessel containing nj
| trio acid. This acid has peculiar affinity
for silver and for the baser metals. 1t has
no effect upon gold but it sucks all Of the
| other metals out of the mixture and COM
| bines with them, turning them into liquid
| which looks not unlike water. The pure
| gold drops to the bottom of the ves-
sci, while the silver and other metals
are left in the solution. The liquor is
now drawn off, and the melter and refiner
has n lot of pure gold, out of which he
make another brick or bar. This metal,
| however is too pure for coins. We find
/ 1t so soft that we can scratch ft
with our finger rails. and we are told
| that coins made of pure gold would not
| hold their own for a year and that q
wedding ring made of pure gold would
| hardly outlast the honeymoon 1t is there
fore necessary that the metal be one-tenth
| alloyed with silver and copper. The alloy
| hardens the coins and makes them wear.
| The melter and refiner knows Just how
| much is needed, and he puts this amount
| with our gold He takes more gold and
more copper in the same proportions and
weighs out enough for what IS known as
| a melt or the amount to be melted at one
| time.
We follow the mass of gold and alloy to
the melting room, and soon find ourselves
| in a vast factory-like place, which is walled
| with small furnaces. and in which dozens
| Of soot-covered men are busiiy working
Some are banking up Goals about clay pots
] like those we saw in the furnaces of the
| deposit melting room. Others are lifting
| out what seem TO be red hot dppers OF
! molten gold and pouring the flaming LIQUID
| into iron molds. a little more than foot
| long and two inches in thickness. Three Of
! these molds are fastened together. and
| three golden ingots are thus nodded at
| one time. We stop and watch the process.
| 1t makes us think of that of cooking waf-
fies. The molds are first laid open and
creased with lard. They are then locked
| together by iron bands, stood upon end.
and the yellow liquid poured into them.
The metal hardeas as it strikes the cold
| iron, and moment later the molds are
| opened and the ingots dropped out
| upon table to be seized with a pair OF
| pincers and plunged into cold water. They
come out steaming hot, but soon cool. and
later on we have chance to handle them.
We find that each one Of them looks like
chisel or wedge. 1t is twelve inches long,
half an inch thick, and about two inches
wide. The width is graduated according to
the size of the coin to be made from the
ingots. Those we see nodded for TWEEN
| ty-dollar gold pieces and each ingot is
worth, we are told, about 81 400.
| LITTLE CHANCE FOR THIEVES.
AS we watch the workman labelling out
| gold like SO much water we notice that
now and then a bit of the precious metal
| splashes out and falls to the floor, and We
wonder whether there is not some way by
which the employees might steal themselves
| rich. We ask the melter and refner
whether thefts of small amounts of gold
| ava aaf IIa
| theft would soon be detected, and shows
| us how every day this room is charged
with every bit of gold that comes into it,
and how it must give back as much as it
| gets. lie points to the floor, which is COW
| cred with an iron net work of a honeycomh
| pattern, the cells of which, an inch In
| diameter, are raised about halfs.aa inch
above the floor, SO that every bit OF gold
| which falls drops within them.
| Says he: mo one could pick up a grain
| of gold out of that network without being
| seen. Some years ago had only bare
| floors, and in one of the minis we found
| that we were losing gold. The leak could
| not be discovered, until at last the detec-
| tives noticed that one of the furnace men
| was spending more money than his wages
| warranted He was buying real estate and
was living at an extravagant rate. He was
| watched, and it was found that he was In
the habit of putting shoemaker's wax upon
| the soles of his boots. Whenever he saw
| a bit of gold or silver upon the floor he
| would carelessly step upon it. The Pre-
cious metal would sink into the wax and
| stick to his feet. That night he would
scrape it off, get the gold, and come back
the next day with a fresh coat OF wax
for more. With this floor such "a thing 10
not possible. The rooms swept every
day. and the sweepings OF this mint amount
| to about $4,000 a year. We save every biz
| of the ashes. Our old pots are broken UP
| and remelted, and every bit of gold got
out. We have, in fact, a record of almost
every atom of gold which comes into the
mint. from the time it enters the deposit
room until it goes out in coin or bullion
| MAKING GOLD EAGLES.
But let US follow the golden ingots we
have just seen drop from the molds. They
are Of the right standard of fneness for
gold double eagles, and 1t would seem that
the process of turning them into money
would be simple enough. We have the
idea, held by many, that our coins are made
by casting, the gold and silver being melted
and turned into molds just as in the max
ing of bullets, save that. when the molds
are opened, out drop gold dollars and sill
yer dollars instead of balls OF lead. There
was never a greater mistake. our coins are
not nodded. They are stamped out of cold
metal and an enormous pressure puts upon
their faces the beautiful images Of the God
dess of Liberty and the American eagle.
The gold ingots, gold chsels, wedges. or
whatever you choose to call them. are first
rolled between cylinders of steel, so gradu-
ated that the ingots grow smaller ana
smaller as they are pulled through them
until at last they reach the thickness OF .
twenty-dollar gold piece. They also grow
longer and longer, and they have now been
stretched from one foot to between three
and four feet in length AS they come from
the rolling machines they look like so many
strips of hoop iron, thai they are
yellow. They are next carried to what
might be called the puncher. You have
seen the punchers by which cookies, AMI
NAL crackers and gingerbread men are
| made out of dough. Well, it is on the same
| principle that the yellow disks, out OF
| which the coins are made. are cut out OF
the strips of metal rolled from the ingots,
save that the work here is done by ma
chinery and heavy press of steel does
the cutting. The strips are run under a
vertical steel punch, which cuts round
pieces of gold out of them at the rate of