The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-07-06

eats away all particles of foreign matter.
Finally they are placed in another bath
of water. which gives them a white color.
Whether gold or silver, they are all nodded
to measure a foot in length, but vary up
to one and one-half inches in width and
thickness, according to the coin to be struck
from them.
Each finished ingot comes from the mold
with a blunt end or top" this being the
end of the mold in which the liquid metal
is poured. A row of topping machines
bite off this irregularity, and from these
the bars are passed TO men at benches who
file off the rough edges. The filings from
this process are caught in oilcloth lined
boxes and carefully saved. Next the prop
erly shaped ingots are sent TO a long table,
where they are placed side by side in a
row, where a man with a brand and ham
mer stamps upon each a number designat-
ing it's melt. The bars now pass to the as
sayer, who compares the few drops of
metal taken from the furnace at the time
the melt was made with the corresponding
ly numbered lot of the finished product.
If the latter fails to reach 800 fine it must
be remelted until it so assays.
II ROLLING DEPARTMENT.
Ingots which run the gauntlet of the as
sayer pass next into the rolling depart
ment, which, like the melting room, has
been equipped with brand new machinery.
Between pairs of massive rollers the in
gots are passed fifteen times, by which
process they nave reached just half the
thinness required. Before this process is
completed they are sent to the annealing,
-. o11~~ 49,. A.. -
heated cherry red and plunged into water.
Then they are put through another series
of rollers fifteen times before receiving
their proper thinness, which, Of course. de-
ponds upon the denomination of the fin
ished coin TO be made from them. Ingots
which before the rolling process resembled
sticks Of solder in point of size leave the
last rolling press in the form of strips vary
ing in dimension uo TO six feet il length,
four inches in width and about a sixteenth
Of an inch in thickness. In the old mint
these strips were made by a sort of COM
bined rolling and pulling process which has
now been abandoned.
THE CUTTING OF PLANCHETS.
The fiat strips of gold or silver are next
fed TO a series of cutting machines 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 bear
ing the round holes from which the metal
has been cut. Into a 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
about the size of a quarter are cut in a sin
sic row from each strip; others in rows Of
two. The refuse strips are folded into con-
venient 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 weighing machines.
Each of these is composed primarily of ten
upright brass tubes beneath which passes
a long sliding bar. Each movement Of the
bar pushes off the ten bottom planchets
into a 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 10 three boxes. Into one
box falls the light" into the second the
heavy and into the other the standard
pianchets.
The two light ~planchets are condemned
and melted over, so scrupulous is Uncle
sam in his endeavor TO give the people hon
est coin OF full weight. But his economy
equals his honesty. and all planchets which