Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-08-23

| side, In a row where n man with a
brand aud hammer stamps upon each
4 number designating us melt. The
bars now pass to the assayer, who com
pares the few drops Of metal taken
from the furnace, at the time the melt
was made, with the correspOndingly
numbered lot of the finished product
If the latter fails TO reach 800 fine, 1t
must be re-melted until IL so assays
lngots which run the gauntlet OF the
assayer pass next into the rolling de-
partment. Between pairs Of massive
rollers the lngots are passed 10 times
by which process they have reached
just half the thlnness required.
Before the process is completed they
are sent to the annealing or temper
ing furnace, where they are heated
cherry red and plunged into water.
Then they are put through another SER
les of rollers Is times before receiving
their proper thinness, which, of course,
depends upon the denomination Of the
finished coin to be made from them.
Ingots which, before the rolling pro-
cess resembled sticks Of solder I'm point
of size, leave the last rolling press in
the form Of strips varying In dimension
up to six feet in length, four inches in
thickness In the old mint these strips
were made by n sort Of combined roll
ing and pulling process, which has now
been abandoned.
The flat strips Of gold or silver are
next fed 10 series OF cutting ma
chimes, which move very rapidly, with
a vertical motion. a man on one side
feeds the carriage and one on the other
takes out the strips bearing the
round holes from which the metal has
been cut. Into tray beneath each cut
ter fall the neatly trimmed disks
known as blanks or planchets, upon
which the final designs are to be
stamped. Blanks above the size of n
quarter are cut in single row from
each strip; others in row Of two. The
refuse strips are folded into conyen-
lent lengths for carriage and returned
to the meters.
The blanks or planchets next pass to
the cleaning department and thence TO
a series of wonderful automatic weigh
Ing machines. Each Of these Is COM
posed primarily Of ten upright brass
tubes beneath which passes long slid
ing bar. Each movement Of the bar
pushes Off the ten bottom planchets in
to o small basket on one end of a small |
scale BEAM The blank coins are
weighed instantly and are passed |
through a series Of troughs leading to
three boxes. Into one box fall the |
light" into the second the heavy" |
and into the other the STANDARD"
planchets.
The too light planchets are conl |
demned and melted over. so scrupulous |
Is the government in its endeavor TO |
give the people honest coin Of full |
weight. But its economy equals its |
honesty and all planchets which are too |
heavy are taken into an adjusting |
room. Here saw 40 women each with |
n small set of scales and file, They were |
industriously fling the edges OF the !
"heavies' until all came down to the |
standard lightness,
The next step was TO run all plan !
chefs Of proper weight through the I
milling machines which put on the fiat
rim or raised edge which protects each
coins face from abrasion. The milled |
blanks are then heated to a cherry red
by passing through an automatic heat
ing furnace, from which they drop into
a copper colander, are then lifted by
crane into a bath OF muriatic acid, are
reyolved in this bath and are finally
dropped into revolving screen filled
with bass wood sawdust. such as Jew
elers use, which thoroughly cleanses
and dries them ready for coinage.
Against the long wall Of The coming
room | was shown "a great, heavy
presses, each with vertical face of
polished steel cast in the shape Of
giant letter 90" At sort of manger
filled with glistenlng planchets there
sat feeding each machine and in front
thereof young woman with a canvas
apron, into which she now and then
placed a handful OF the new disks. The