Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-24
BANK NOTE MAKING.
First Consideration is to Balk Schemes
Of Counterfeiters.

Of Counterfeiters.
From the New York Herald.
First in consideration in making a bank
note is to prevent others from making a
counterfeit of it. Therefore, all the notes
of certain denomination or value must
be exact duplicates of one another. Il
they were engraved by hand this would
not be the case. Hand engraving is more
easily counterfeited than the work done
by the process actually used Every
note" said an official of one of the lead
ing bank note companies. lis printed from
a steel plate, in the preparation of which
many persons take part If you will look
at So greenbaek you will see a picture
in the center, small portrait called a
vignette, on the left, and in each of the
upper corners network of fine lines with
a dark ground, one containing the letter
and the other the figure 8. To make
vignette 1t Is first necessary to make a
large drawing paper with great care.
and a daguerreotype is then given to the
engraver who uses a steel point to make
on it all the outlines of the picture. The
plate is linked and print is taken from 1t.
while the ink is still damp the print
is laid down on steel plate, which has
been softened by heating it redhot and let
ting 1t cool slowly. 1t is then put in a
press and an exact copy of the outlines Is
thus made on the steel plate. This the
graver finishes with his graver, little tool
with three-cornered point, which cuts
clean line without leaving a rough edge.
Now, this plate Is used for making other
pla tes it is never used to print from. 1t
must be made very hard, and this is done
by heating and cooling it quickly. A little
roller of softened steel is then rolled over
it by a powerful machine until it's surface
has been forced into all the lines cut into
the plate. The outlines of the vignette
are thus transferred to the roller in raised
lines. and after the roller is hardened 1t
Is used to roll over plates of softened steel.
and thus makes in them sunken lines
exactly like those in the plate originally
engraved. The center picture is engraved
and transferred to a roller. like the Wig
nette, but the network in the upper cor
ners, and also on the back of the note,
is made by the lathe. This machine costs
So, 0OO-a price that puts 1t beyond the
reach of counterfeiters. Its work rs so
perfect that it cannot be initiated by hand.
The lathe engraves the network on sof-
tened steel, and the figure in the middle
Is then engraved by hand. 1t is now hard
ened and transferred to roller. like the
others.
1.-THE plates from which notes are to
be printed are of softened steel and largo
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 pictures over 1t in their appropriate
places until the pictures are pressed into
its surface. The fine lettering around the
borders of the note is transferred in the
same way but the other lettering Is put
on by hand This process saves a great
deal of time and it secures absolute uni
formity in the four engravings on the
plate. The back parts of the note are
printed first and when the ink Is dry the
green back is printed. to be followed by
the red stamps and numbers. 1t Is then
signed and issued. For greater security
one part Of the note is engraved and
nrfnted at one place and another part at
another place. when 1t is sent to Washing
ton to be finished and signed. But, need
less to say, after all this care and all these
safeguards, many skillfully executed coun-
terfeits have been made and issued, some
of them so good as to deceive expert Judges
of money"