The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-04-18
UNCLE SAM'S NEW
 LAUNDRY MACHINE
It Washes SOiled Notes, Making Them as Clean and Crisp
 sS New Ones
WILL START IN A FEW DAYS
Bank in Berlin, Germany, Sent 77 ,O0O
 MarkS to Test the Process.

| soiled paper money. He is bent on l economiZing and figures that he can | save tidy sum each year by laun- dering the soiled bills instead of des- troying them as now and substituting new ones. Some of Uncle Sans em- ployees have invented a note 1aunder- l ing machine which is the only one of the kind in the world
 The machine is modelled along sim pie lines. The laundering consists of ! three processes-the cleaning, rinsing and ironing. The operator, standing | at one end Of the machine, places the | notes on a band of cotton cloth which | moving slowly over the rollers, car l ries the notes into the cleansing tube. The notes pass through the machine l and are held between two bands of cloth. The upper cloth moves slight l ly faster than the lower, thus giving l the notes a slight scrubbing.
 | The notes are then carried into a tank containing the cleansing liquid, fconsisting of hot water, pure castle chemical. This not only cleans the | bills but also destroys any germs. AS the note passes through the cleansing | tub the water is agitated by wooden l rollers. It is next carried by the | cotton bands into the rirsing solu- tion, after which it passes around a | warm revolving cylinder where it is | dried and ironed.
 A note dirty and wrinkled going in one end of the machine emerges in about one minute and half from the | other end clean, free from germs, smooth and crisp as a new bill. The | crispness< is restored by resinous sig | ing in the liquid. The notes when laundered cannot be distinguished, except by experts, from new bills. | I1o ohf xxvs1 -%>, regular schedule of operation within Il a few days. At present the redemp- 1 ti0n division of the Treasury destroys l all sofled notes it receives in return for new bills. The soiled ,bills when laundered can be put back into cir- ury believe that the laundering ma chine will not only gradually result in cleaner money but will also tend to reduce to certain extent the pecially noticeable at the holiday sea- son. The cleaner bills will, it is pre- dicted, have an important bearing on public health, as the laundered money will be free from germs
 We have been working on the bill years.'' said Director Ralph. Our first difficulty was in developing inks which were absolutely fixed. We | found that the inks then used in printing notes would not stand the washing process and we had to meet this obstacle before going any further | with the laundering machine. We consulted experts from all parts of the country and finally obtained an I ink which would undergo the washing process without fading of blurring
 "The bureau has done more than | opment of printing inks. Several for | eign Governments are much interest ed in the work of cleaning bills. The | Reiches Bank of Berlin several weeks ago sent a package of 47,O00 marks to | test the process We cleaned them in the presence of the fiscal representa- | tive of the bank in New York and | a secretary of the German Embassy here, who were invited to witness the test. While I was in Cuba recently the officials of the Cuban Govern ment expressed desire to obtain one of the machines to clean their notes.
 The people of the country are de- manding cleaner money" MT. Ralph continued. T do not know how many of these notes can be cleaned and re- ter of them might be. Of course if the paper fabric is injured the bills | cannot be cleaned, but if they are only dirty and soft from age and con stant use we can clean them, make them as crisp and as fresh as a new
 
 sible at present to tell how much the l Government will save by the use of the laundering machine
 How do you know that the laund- cred bills are absolutely free from gerns'' MT. Ralph was asked.
 "We submitted some of the cleaned notes to the Public Health and Ma l rine Hospital Service for a bacterio- logical examination replied MT. Ralph, "and one of their experts re- ported that they were free from germs because the dirt on which the germs thrive had been removed. The notes will remain germproof until they again become saturated with milk beer or some other substance upon which germs will develop and live.
 Some banks give clean new notes l in making change and cashing checks MT. Ralph continued. 'The proprietor of depar tment store in Boston has become interested in the | laundering machine. He is anxious | to set up one in his establishment so | he can give clean money to his GUS, toners. If one of the machines is placed in every sub-treasury the notes can be cleaned without the expense of sending them to Washington for | laundering here. We are now arrang- ing a system of handling the money by which the Government will be pro- tected from loss. It takes a minute and a half for a note to go through the laundering process. The num- Der cleaned in a day will depend l largely upon the skill of the person on ra ued in feeding inc notes into tho