Los Angeles herald., 1910-07-03
LINCOLN PENNIES ARE
MADE WITH SPEED

When l heard that they We're going
to make pennies with Lineoins PIC
ture on them i was delighted.
Only I thought it should have been
x9e nieees instead of pennies. 1t seemed
to me that Honest Abe's" good, klnd
face was plenty good enough TO put on
the double eagle the most valuable
coin made in the mints of the Onlteo
States. . -
Afterward / thought better of IT. Ine
hovs and girls do not often see dou-
ble eagle. to say nothing of having one
for their own. But pennies are easy
money" Almost any grown up VIII
save his pennies for the children.
If Lincoln himself had had anything
to say about it L am sure he woud
rather have his picture on the coin the
struggling newsboys make change
with. the little chaps buy marbles with
or the little girls spend for candy,
than on the elegant gold double eagle
which the rich lady pays out for dia-
monds or the wealthy gentleman de-
posits in the bank.
So concluded that Uncle Sam knew
a thing or two" after all.
When the copper of which the pen
nies are made is brought into the mint
il is melted. rolled into bars and after
ward into long, narrow strips.
From these pennies are cut, very
much as your mother might cut little
cookies from a long, narrow strip OF
dough.
They are then taken to a machine
called a mill. A man slips them down
into a tube and they are carried by the
revolution of the machine around into
a groove, little smaller than they are.
The pressure of this groove as they are
carried along forces up little rim all
around the edge of each one, like
narrow frame on the edge of a small,
round picture. They fall down into
box and are carried into the whitening
room, where they are put through
process that changes their color from
a dark dingy to a bright yellow.
Then they are taken to the press,
great heavy piece of machinery, and
again slipped down into a long brass
tube. AS each piece reaches the bottom
of the tube it is grasped by the feeders
that look almost like thin, fiat hands
and carried forward between the dies.
These dies strike upon the piece with
a force OF over 100 tons and stamp
more than 100 pieces "a minute. On
these dies are the iT Inscriptions or pic
lures you see on the pennies.
On the upper side, called the OBJ
verse; is Lincoln's good. kind face.
Around the edge over his head it says
In God We Trust at the left Lib
Vice. tiny IS" underneath, to show that
it was made in the San Francisco
mint.
On the lower or reverse side are
the words lone Cent" and United
States of America" Around the edge
at the top are the Latin words, "E
Pluribus Unum," the motto of the
United States and meaning 'One made
up of many" AT each side of the
edge is a palm branch.
From under the dies the pennies drop,
down into big box and are carried
over to a table, where they are in
spected by women to see if they are
perfect The women spread them out
on small boards about a foot square
with a narrow rim around them. They
then look them over carefully, with a
magnifying glass if necessary, but usu-
ally without; then, laying on another
board like the first just as if ii was
a cover, turn it over like pancake
and examine the other side.
If speck of dirt or tiny chip of
wood or even drop of oil has fallen
on either of the dies the design will
not be perfect. There will be spot
on the face, perhaps, or Some of the
letters viii be gone. Such pennies are
condemned" and must be made all
over, so they are taken at once, put
in wise and bent out of shape by a
blow of a hammer Eleanor Brainerd