New-York tribune., 1903-02-08

weight il goes into a little company Oh 'he
condemned and ultimately is cast again 'i''o
the furnace. The assayers sit elsewhere "t
furnace and crucible testing samples OF every
smelling for quality. as carefully as the au
justers do for quantity and these are Only t"0
though the chief ones-of innumeraoie checKs
that insure correctness.
After the adjusters have passed upon thshi'
the "planchettes" come by truck loads into the
coming room, whence they are finally 10 eHei g
as money. This is huge hall. in which twenty
Ave porderous machines of planished steer. At
most as shining as the silver that comes to ther
n,avs stand i'm double rows When they are IN
oners stion-which is most of the time in the
working day the year around--a woman 1esder
sits in front OF each one. supplying 1T incessaht-
" with the blanks" which at the rate OF one vi
two TO the second it impresses Win tHs 9's'
manual so to speak. OF Uncle sam anu tne
insignia and device of their denomination WHi'h
entities them TO the confidence and respect or
ALI the world as United States standard coin.
These machines narvels OF power and perfec-
ton in action run with comparatively htte
-,mble and roar vet the smallest Of them puts
a pressure OF eighty tons on the most insisnin-
ant coin. and this is nearly doubled on the dol
la-, while on the gold pieces, each and every
one there is exerted the enormous power OF
one hundred and seventy-fve tons. And still
these-even the big double eagles-pour pleas
antly clinking from every press at the rate OF
eighty minute. while the lesser coins, IN Sill
yer and the base metals, are formed as fast as
one hundred and twenty minute
Both sides of the coin are struck at the same
instant; in fact, the whole work that converts
blank into piece of money-except the mill
ing" of the edge-is performed instantly in any
one OF these twenty-five machines
The dies of which there are two in each ma
chine for fashioning the diverse and reverse.
are made of steel in the engraving room Great
quantities are necessary for the full series oil
coins and for frequent replacing of those that
become worn by use or injured by accident
And when il is borne in mind that the whole
series must be destroyed at the end of the year
and new ones substituted bearing the date OF
the new year it becomes apparent that the Work
even in this subdivision OF department is ex-
tensive
In the coming are twenty-five or the
most efficient coming machines in the world
One gets a relative idea of the bigness OF the
Philadelphia Mint, compared with those at
New-Orjeans and San Francisco, by the state
n,ent that while in the first named there are
twenty-five of these machines. the best that can
be built there are in the other two mints, COM
bined only nine, and not all new.
The productive capacity of the new mint has
not vet been tested, and can only be roughly
computed. 1t is the only one of the govern
ment's money factories that makes the full
series Of current coins, major and minor More
gold is coined in the San Francisco Mint than in
Philadelphia partly for the reason that ii is
nearer the source of raw supply; but. on the
other hand, while the coinage of gold is large at
Philadelphia and that Of silver still heavier the
coinage Of bronze and nickel is confined exclu-
sive!y to the Philadelphia Mint
The final stage of coined money, so far as the
mint is concerned-prior to its passing to the
channels OF trade-is that of storage in the
great vaults that underlie the whole front OF
this huge building. These are. according to
good authority the largest in the world and
EN- body all of the latest improvements in the
safeguarding of money. No outsider passes tneir
pcrtaIs save with the permission OF the Secre-
tarv of the United States Treasury. They are
built of steel. and. though surrounded by SUD
terranean fortress of granite and concrete.
watchmen can walk entirely around them tacn
vault has three doors. and single one OF these
closed with four combination locks, weighs eight