The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1905-09-02
HOW UNCLE SAM
MAKES MONEY
AT PHILADELPHIA
INTERESTING MACHINE USED
A Counting Board Enables One
Man to Count a Million
Pennies Day
PENNIES COINED ONLY AT PHILADELPHIA

Portland--A million pennies
a day-that is the capacity of a
strange machine which Uncle Sam
uses i'm the Philadelphia mint to count
the coin of smallest value made by the
government. The machine, known as
the counting table, is exhibited by
the government building as q part OF
Uncle Sans $500, 900 display on the
Peninsula in Guild IS Lake at the Lew
is and Clark Exposition.
The counting board is about as large
as big kneading board such as house
wives use. The surface of it Is wide
enough to hold row Of forty pennies.
When the pennies are to be counted,
several thousand are heaped onto the
board, which is placed above a hopper.
Then an operator tips the board back
ward, forward, sideways, so the pen
nies slide about, and finally settle in
the groves made by the brass parti-
tion strips. When the board is full,
there are 1000 pennies on it. 1t is
then dumped into receptacles just
outside the hopper, and the pennies
which have slipped off the board into
the hopper are caught by a box un-
derneath. Pennies are coined only at
the Philadelphia Mint, and the gov
ernment finds the coming of them
sPFofitabae, because the value of the
xnekai ixasey contairiSo only about three
9uErttSnf a cent. THE upsetting ma
chine is another interesting mechanic
al contrivance. 1t is used for turn
ing the edges of coins. The coin
discs of the proper size and thickness.
but with their edges still rough, are
put into tubes made to fit them.
These tubes are placed upright beside
round-tOpped, revolving table. At
each revolution Of the table, one of
the discs drops into groove between
the table and an outer shell, and the
pressure on the edges Of the disc
makes them smooth.
Stamping the coins is the last pro-
cess. and this is done by means OF d
great machine which weighs ID tons
and costs SIS, 900. There are twenty
four such machines in the Philadel-
phia Mint. The discs which are to
be coins are placed in a tube, as in
the case Of the upSetting machine.
Two steel fingers take hold Of the bot
tom disc, and move it over to the die.
Then the die above presses down on
the disc, so that the impression is
made on both sides. At the same
time, the edges Of the disc are milled,
and when the upper die raises, the
stell fingers push the finished coin out
of the way and bring disc into posi-
tiOn.
The machine at the Portland Expo
Sition, which is used in stamping
twenty-dollar gold pieces, has Ca
pacity of 80 a minute. a pressure OF
$50 tons is necessary to stamp silver
dollar, but l30 tons pressure will
stamp a double eagle. Smaller coins
require less pressure.
In connection with the exhibit at
the Western Worlds Fair, coins OF
this years make in all denominations
except the silver dollar are displayed.
None Of the mintS are now coming sill
yer dollars. The Government has on
hand 600. 600, 000. which are being
held for the purpose of redeeming sill
yer certificates. There is also on eX-
hibition at Portland the first coming
press ever used by the United States
Government, crude machine which
was operated by hand. and was used
in 1893 for making copper pennies.