The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1903-04-02
HIGH ART IN BANK NOTES
Designers Chief Concern ls to Balk
the Ingenious counferfeiter.

Designers Chief Concern le to baIk |
the Ingenious counterfeiter.
First in consideration in making a |
bank note is to prevent others from
making counterfeit of it. Therefore,
all the notes Of certain denomination
or value must be exact duplicates Of
one another. If they were engraved by
hand this would not be the case. Hand
engraving is more easily counterfeit
ed than the work done by the process
actually used.
Every note" said an official OF one
Of the leading bank note companies,
"is printed from steel plate, in the
preparation of which many persons
take part. II you will look. at 50
greenback you will see picture in the
center, a small portrait, called the Wig
nette, on the left and in each Of the
upper corners a network of fine lines
with a dark ground, one containing the
letter V and the other the figure 8.
ITO make a vignette 1t is first neces-
cary to make large drawing on pa
per with great care, and daguerreo-
TYPE is then given to the engraver,
who uses steel point to make on 1t
lall the outlines of the picture. The
plate is linked and a print is taken
from 1t.
while the Ink is still damp the print
Is laid face down on a steel plate,
which has been softened by heating 1t
red hot and letting 1t cool slowly. 1t
Is then put in press and an exact
copy of the outline is thus made on
the steel plate This the engraver tln'
lshes with his graver, little tool with
: three-cornered point, which cuts a
clean line without leaving rough
edge.
"Now, this plate is used for max
: Ing other plates--it Is never used tC
: print from. It must be made very
hard, and this is done by heating Il
and cooling 1t quickly. A little rollel
of softened steel is then rolled over i
by powerful machine until its sur
! face has been forced into all the llnei
cut into the plate. The outlines of thu
. vignette are thus transferred to th'
e roller in raised lines, and after tn,
2 roller is hardened 1t is used to rol
: over plates of softened steel and thu
make In them sunken lines exactly lik
those in the plate originally engraved
1.-THE center picture is engraved ant
!, transferred to a roller, like the Wig
= nette, but the network in the uppe
corners and also on the back Of TIL
= note is made by the lathe. This ma
= chine costs $1,000 price that put
, It beyond the reach of counterfeiterE
I, Its work is SO perfect that 1t eanno
y be initiated by hand. The lathe er
4 graves the network on softened stet
> and the figure In the middle Of 1t
: then engraved by hand. 1t is noN
le hardened and transferred to a role
ie like the others.
y "The plates from which the note
ie are to be printed are Of softened ste'
and large enough to print four notes
'g once. Four engravings of the moi
Must, therefore, be made on 1t, an
e. this is done by rolling the hardene
n steel rollers containing the raised pi
ly lures over 1t in their appropriat
places until the pictures are presst
into its surface.
"The fine lettering around the DO
ed ders Of the note is transferred in Il
same way, but the other lettering
n put on by hand. This process saw
ey great deal OF time and 1t secures a
solute uniformity in the four engra
d. lngs on the plate.
lie "The back parts of the note a
rs printed first and when the ink Is d
~ the green back is printed, to be II
i'd lowed by the red stamps and number
"a It is then signed and issued. i
greater security one part Of the no
Is engraved and printed at one pla
40. and another part at another pla'
no when 1t is sent to Washington to
m. finished and signed.
va "But, needless to say, after all Il
oil care and all these safeguards ma
or. skillfully executed counterfeits ha
been made and issued some of the
.ht so good as to deceive expert judges
"a money."-New York Herald.