The Washington times., 1901-12-01
HOW OUR MONEY
is PRINTED.
American Bank Notes Are
Works Of Art.
THEY ARE PERFECTLY ENGRAVED
Intricacies of Processes by Which
Counterfeiters Are Foiled-His-
tory of the Various Steps by
Which the System Was Evolved.


1t is not, perhaps, generally known
that bank or Treasury note printing is
carried. to greater perfection in this
country than in any other Indeed. the
Industry originated in the United
States, whence it has spread to En-
gland and most other civilized coun-
tries.
Jacob Perkins, of Massachusetts.
struck the keynote of a series of great
advances in printing early in the nine
teenth century when he substituted
steel for copper plates, and devised "a
method of making transfers of the orig
hal engraving In soft steel, which. by
being afterwards hardened, could be
printed from. Through his exertions in
conjunction with other American bank
note printers, the bank notes OF this
country many years ago attained that
superiority in artistic and mechanical
execution over those of all other ma
tions. which they have always since
maintained; and the improvements
abroad are naInIy due to the fact that
MIR. Perkins went TO London in 1918 and
by his labors there, in conjunction with
an eminent London engrayer. Mr..
Heath. gradually disseminated knowl-
edge of what was, in its inception. an
American art, in Great Britain and on
the Continent of Europe
To Halle Counterfeiters.
Important improvements have been
effected in this country in the making
of the notes, notably, to use a mechani-
cal term, in the lathe work. by which
the portions of the note designa ting its
| denomination are usually executed. and
various new devices have been tried
from time to time to battle the eoun-
terfeiters. The latest and probably the
most effective is that now used by the
| Government, whereby notes, bonds, ETC..
| are printed exclusively on what is term
/ ed spider-legged paper. or paper which
has small fibres of silk of various coi-
! ors incorporated in its texture. The
American Bank Note Company, which
| is a consolidation of various bank note
establishments. and the Bureau of En-
craving and Printing, have. OF late
years, done nearly all the bank-note
| printing in the country. After the
! plates are prepared, extreme care is re-
/ quired in every process. The hest ink.
nicely ground and mixed. must 5e used.
and the paper wetted with exact regu-
| Iarity. The best workmen can hardly
| print more than six hundred impress
sions in a day. After printing. the
sheets are left 10 dry for several weeks.
and they are then subjected to heavy
| pressure in pressing machines. When
! a hiorh raCliG6 ie Z icf fa1
| by pressing the notes between the hot
metal plates, but this is said TO weaken
| the paper.
The Process in England.
The Bank of England, after using
steel plate notes for a time, adopted in
1858 an improved form of letter press
printing, which is thus described in an
English publication: Ar original is
first engraved in metal in relief This
is submitted to several processes re-
sulting in the obtaining of a perfect
fac-simile of the original engraved
plate, from which the bank notes are
| printed TIE c-1tal of which these
Plates are formed is extremely hard.
frequently yielding nearly one million
| Impressions without being worn out.
/ The original engraving is never used
for printing. but only for the produc-
| tion of matrices; consequently it al
ways remains unimpaired. and thus
| perfect identity is maintained in the ap-
] pearance of the notes.
The notes are printed on platen-ma-
chimes, possessing great advantages
over the ordinary printing machines,
more particularly in the distribution OF
the ink. y tell-tale. or register, is at
tached to each machine, which marks
the number of impressions. These reg
| isters are set by q clerk before the
printing commences and are checked by
him at the close of the day. when the
printer must, either in bank-notes or
spoils, hand over the number of i'm
pressions registered by the dial. The
notes are printed upon dry paper
Printing the Numbers.
The numbers on bills and bank notes
are printed by very ingenious mech
anism. which makes it impossible to
commit any fraud by printing two
notes of the same number. The appara-
tus consists of u series of brass discs.
of which the rim is divided by chan
nels into projecting compartments, each
containing a figure The numbers TO 3
having been printed in the course of
the revolution of the first disc, the sec
ond disc then presents the figure l.
which. combining with the of the
first disc. forms the number TO- The
second disc now remains stationary un-
til. In the course of the revolution of
the first disc, the numbers to 19 have
been printed, when it presents the fig
urc ., and does not again move until
another revolution of the first disc COM
pIetes the numbers 20 to 29. Thus the
two discs proceed until SO notes have
been numbered, when the third disc
comes into operation. and. with the first
two. reduces 100. Consequently. the
first disc performs one hundred revo-
Iutions to ten of the second and one Of
the third. The notes may be numbered
independently by this process. without
the possibility of error, the machine
meanwhile being its own check
TANNERIES IN AMERICA.