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

q small set OF scales anu a Alc. AAts
were industriously filing the edges Of the
''heavies' until all came down 10 the stand
ard lightness.
The next step was 10 run all planchets or
proper weight through the milling machines
which put on the fat rim or raised edge
which protects each coins face from abra-
sion. The milled blanks are then heated 10
a cherry red by passage through an auto
matte heating furnace. from which they
drop into a copper colander, are then lifted
by a crane into a bath of muriatic acid.
are revolved in this bath and are finally
dropped into a revolving screen filed with
sawdust. such as jewellers use, which
thoroughly cleanses and dries them ready
for coinage.
IN THE COMING ROOM.
Against the long wall Of the coinage room
1 was shown twenty-four great, heavy
presses, each with a vertical face OF poi
ished steel, cast in the shape of a giant let
ter 90" At a sort OF manger. filed with
glistening planchets, there sat feeding each
machine and in front thereof a young wom-
an with a canvas apron. into which she
now and then placed a handful of the new
disks. The mouth of each ravenous ma
chine is a small upright tube of the diam
eter of the coin 10 be stamped. and into this
the blanks were continually inserted in
high cylindrical stacks. From the upright
brass tube a pair of automatic fingers rap
idly took each bottom coin and placed il
upon the lowermost of two dies, rapidly
clashing together like hungry jaws. These
at one blow struck the top and bottom i'm
preston, and at the some time. by force of
expansion, the disk of metal frightened
within a huted collar which gave the fin
ished coin a reeded edge. Silver dollars
and gold coin were thus stamped at the
rate Of eighty-fve per minute; quarters and
half-dollars ninety a minute; nickeis, 10 a
minute; pennies, 40 a minute. You will
note that this is the first time 1 nave men
toned nickels and pennies. They are dis
tinctly Philadelphia coin. not being
stamped at other minis. But the stamping
is the first process which Uncle Sam sub
jects them to. Their planchets are supplied
by a New England firm.
From the coming room the finished
money goes to the proving department.,
where its accuracy is again tested. 1t is
now ready for the counting room. In this
department gold coins, silver dollars and
half-dollars are all counted by weight, be-
ing stacked up inside of steel frames and
swept off into the pan of a huge scale. The
quarters, dimes. nickels and pennies are
shufled over large fiat boards with par
allel strips of brass between which a row
of coins fits loosely. Being filed with the
money, it is tilted until the pieces flowing
over IL fill the spaces between strips.
Double rows having been allowed TO fall
off into a bin beneath, the board stands ex-
actly full. no more no less. In this way
81. 900 in dimes were being counted on a
single board every eighteen seconds and
thrown into an aperture at the front of the
counters table. Leaving the counters, The
new money was put into steel strong boxes
TO await shipment TO the various subtreas-
uries in money bags Enclosed in iron-hooped
cases sealed with wax.
WORKMEN'S CLOTHES MELTED UP.
will give you some surprising facts
about the hair-splitting economy which
Uncle Sam is e~xacting since he moved into
this new coin factory. The loss Of a grain
of gold or silver dust is prevented. if pos
sible, by making recoveries from the roof
TO the very wells of the cellar. The floors
of the melting room are of honeycombed
iron. Anything dropped thereupon will go
through. This honeycomb in the neigh
DOI IL lhC ho1O 10 NAACfC0 NNE-
The dust then swept from the bare floor
is, together with all broken crucibles,
crushed in a mill and put through a pro-
cess for separating the precious metal par
ticles. The clothing which the meters and
molders wear, also the aprons of the wo-
men coiners, must never leave the build
ing. Lockers and dressing rooms where
they change their clothes under guard are
~ @~I az
tens when worn out are burnt, and the
gold and silver extracted from them. These
recoveries from the melting department
are averaging s12. 400 a year, while the
total loss in the entire mint is falling be-
low $500 a year.
There has also been devised an improved
system of safeguards against dishonesty
among the 35 men and 175 women en-
ployed in the great factory. All gold, sill
yer, nickel or bronze is placed in strong
boxes every evening. Taken out in the
morning, it Is carefully weighed on giant
scales graduated to detect from 1-100 ounce
to 1900 ounces. Thence IL passes TO the
| appropriate departments. In the course of
its transit or manufacture it is throughout
the day brought back at intervals and re-
weighed. Thus there is a system OF trans
fers in operation all day long. At a daily
settlement the accounts of all departments
are balanced W by three checkers, re-
spectively representing the superintendent,
melter and coiner. If there be a shortage
in any department. its employees are held
until it is made good. The last shortage
was due to a small strip of gold adhering
inside a copper canister used in annealing.
All hands were held until ii was recovered.
Under the old system thefts were easier.
Two years ago a melter stole abrased B.
cent pieces worth $40 and received eigh-
teen months Imprisonment. Some years
before that a way clerk got away with
SIS. 5000. His property was conhscated and
he served seven and a half years.
JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS, JR.
THE HISTORY OF MECHANICS.