Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1905-08-25
MAKING MONEY.
Machine Counts one Million PEN
mics Day.

A million pennies day-that
is the capacity of a strange ma
chine which Uncle Sam used in
the Philadelphia mint to count
the coin of the smallest value
made by the government. The
machine, known as counting
table, is exhibited in the Govern
ment building as a part Of Uncle
Sans $500, 900 display on the
Peninsula in Guilds Lake at the
Lewis and Clark Exposition.
The counting board is about as
large as a big kneading board
such as housewives use. The
surface of it is wide enough to
hold a 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 and forward and sideways,
SO that the pennies slide about,
and finally settle in the grooves
made by the brass partition
strips. When the board is full.
there are 1000 pennies on it. It
is then dumped into receptacle
just outside the hopper, and the
pennies which have slipped off
the board into the hopper are
caught by a box underneath.
Pennies are coined only at the
Philadelphia mint, and the Gov
ernment finds the coming o1
them profitable, because the value
of the metal they contain is only
about three-fourths of a cent.
The upsetting machine is
another interesting mechanical
contrivance. It is used for tnrn
ing the edges of coins. The coin
discs, of the proper size and thick
ness, but with their edges still
rough, are put into tubes to Fl
them. These tubes are placed
upright beside a round-topped
revolving table. At each revolu
ton of the table, one of the disc.
drops into a groove between the
table and an outer shell, and ths
pressure on the edges OF the dis
makes them smooth.
Stamping the coins is the las
process, and this is done By
means Of great machine which
! weighs IS tons and costs SIS, 900
There are twenty-four such ma
) chimes in the Philadelphia mint
The discs which are to be coin
are placed in a tube, as is tn
: case of the upsetting machine
The steel fingers take hold of th
bottom disc, and move it over t
the die. Then the die abov
presses down on the disc, so tha
: the impression is made on bot
! sides. At the same time, th
edges of the disc are milled, an
= when the upper die raises, Il
= steel fingers push the 6nishe
5 cein out of the way and brin
). a disc into position.
: The machine at the Portlar
. = Exposition, which is used i
stamping twenty-dollar go
= pieces, has a capacity of 90
minute. A pressure of $50 tol
is necessary to stamp a silver dc
- lar, but 13o tons pressure wi
:, stamp double eagle. Small
: coins require less pressure.
!, In connection with the exhit
at the Western Worlds Fai
!, coins of this years make in q
\ denominations except the sllv
= dollar are Displayed. None
!, the mlnts are now coming &c
- lars, because the Governme
$ has on hand 600. 900, 900 whi'
4, are being held Tor the purpc
"a of redeeming silver certificate
:. There is also on exhibition
- Portland the first coming pre
- ever used by the United Stat
~ Government, crude mschi
which was operated by han
: and was used in 1898 for MAXI
- copper pennies.