Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1900-1903, 1903-02-23
BANK NOTE MAKING.
Extraordinary Precautions Taken
In the Process.
Interesting Description of the vari-
pus Parts of khe Work of Turn
ing Out Our Good Amert-
can Currency.

First in consideration in making
bank-note is to prevent others 1fom
making counterfeit of it. therefore,
all the notes of certain denomlna-
ton or value must be exact duplicates
of one another. If they were engfaVea
by hand this would not be the case.
Hand engraving is more easily counter
feited than the work done by the proc
ess actually used, according to the
New York Herald.
every note,' said an official in one
of the leading bank-note companies,
sis printed from a steel plate, in the
preparation of which many persons
take part. If you will look at five-dol-
lar greenback you will see picture IN
the center, small portrait, called
vignette, on the left, and in each OF
the upper corners a network or me
lines with dark ground, one contain
ing the letter v and the other the fig
ure 5.
.sTo make vignette it is first neces-
sary to make a large drawing on pa
per with great care, and daguerreo-
type is then given to the engraver,
who uses steel point to make on it
all the outlines of the picture. The
plate is linked and print is taken
from it.
while the ink is still damp the
print is, laid face down on steel plate,
which has been softened by heating
it red hot and letting it cool slowly.
Tt is then put in a press and an exact
copy Of the outline is thus made on
the steel plate. This the engraver fin-
ishes with his graver, a little tool with
a three-cornered point, which cuts a
clean line without leaving a rough
edge.
''Now, this plate is used for making
other plates-it is never used to print.
from. 1t must be made very hard,
and this is done by heating it and cool
ing it quickly. A little roller Of soft
ened steel is then rolled over it by
a powerful machine until its surface
has been forced into all the lines cut
| into the plate. The outlines Of the
v&nette are thus transferred to the
roller in raised lines, and after the
| roller is hardened it is used to roll over
plates of softened steel, and thus make
| In them sunken lines exactly like those
in the plate originally engraved.
1.-THE center picture is engraved and
| transferred to roller, like the Wig
| nette, but the network in the upper
corners, and also on the back of the
note, is made by the lathe. This ma
chine costs $1,000 price that puts it
beyond the reach of counterfeiters.
It's work is so perfect that it cannot
| be initiated by hand. The lathe en-
| graves the network on softened steel,
| and the figure in the middle of 1t is
then engraved by hand. It is now
! hardened and transferred to roller
like the others.
''The plates from which the notes are
to be printed are Of softened steel and
large enough to print four notes at
once. Four engravings Of the note
must, therefore, be made on it, and
this is done by rolling the hardened
steel rollers containing the raised pic
| lures over it in their appropriate
| places, until the pictures are pressed
4 into its surface.
"The fine lettering around the bor-
/ ders of the note is transferred in the
same way, but the other lettering is
/ put on by hand. This process saves a
/ STSaG uSdl Oh LllHS anu IL secures dDSO-
lutte uniformity In the four engrayings
on the plate.
"The back parts of the note are print
ed first, and when the ink is dry the
green. back is printed, to be followed
by the red stamps and numbers It
is then signed and issued For greater
security one part Of the note is en-
graved and printed at one place and
another part at another place, when
it is sent to Washington to be finished
and signed.
"But, needless to sgy, after all this
care and all these Safeguards, many
skilfuliy executed lcounterfeits have
been made and issued, some Of them
SO good as to deceive expert judges OF
money"