Year: 1864

When Mr.. Clark was at the head of tn
Bureau of Construction, he had MAJ


made for military purposes, which it wa


necessary to repeat. 1t was photograph
ed, and an obscure road marked with


faint yellow line was discovered to b


black in the copies. He then photograph


ed specimen sheet of inks, or paints


and of all the colors, except black, yellow


was the only one which might not have


been altered with ease with touch of the


brush. 1t was as the black itself. Hence
any attempt to photograph this color vii
only lead to the discovery, aud as it is the
ground work of bonds and other securi
ties, and covered by the printing, it seems
another security against fraud.


THE SERIES NUMBERING


Is the last process before trimming. The
work is done by women, the machines
being worked with treadle. The fig
ures are placed in the edges Of six disks
placed side by side and fastened to an arm
worked by the treadle, something after
the style of Wheeler and Wilson, sewing
machine. The disks arc turned by a
rachel, and will number from | to $780,
999 For consecutive numbering, little
hook is attached to the ratchet, and the
machine shifts itself Otherwise the
disks are turned by the number.


THE TRIMMING AND CUTTING


Was formerly done by hand, and of course
very imperfectly and laboriously. There
were two things to be overcome in cut
ting by machinery-the inequality of the
registry and the shrinkage. 1t was desi-
rable that the edges should be trimmed,
so they would wear we'll If cut with a
straight knife, they would be beveled one
way. AS they are now cut, with circular
knives running pinchingly, they have an
edged beveled both ways. The sheets are
registered in the centre, and the shrink
age divided between the two edges.


The greenbacks are printed four on a
sheet. One machine trims the margins
and another separates them. This latter
is an ingenious contrivance 1t Sits them
very fast, and lays them with regularity
III IVA, CdSll SCIlCS VI SCPGii dlC-
ly. The notes are lettered a, B, G and
ID, and the numbers on each are the same;
therefore it is essential they should be
kept carefully apart. Each of the boxes
that receive them has movable bottom


When the cutting for the first day COM
mences this bottom is near the top of the
box, but as the cutting progresses and
the number of the bills increase, ratch-
ct lets the bottom drop the thickness of
a bill, SO the box is kept just so full all
the time, to make the bills slide in with
out doubling 1t is intended that the
cutting should be a criterion by which to
judge of the genuineness of the bills, for
every one must be the same width and
length If the end of a bill be placed on
the centre of another, there will be found
no difference in the width, an exactness
which cannot be given by the hand


The currency-cutting machine is more
complicated, as it cuts both ways, and
files them IN bundles of five dollars each
and am not sure but it binds and seals
them.


THE CHECKS AND SAFEGUARDS
upon every one employed in this depart
ment, from the chief down to the lowest
laborer, operate at every turn. Not even
a blank sheet, much l9ss printed paper,
is passed from one hand to another with
out being counted and receipted for, and
unless there is collusion from one to an-
other through every process through
which the paper has to pass before it is
through the entire range, there
be an over-issue The paper is
issued from one room, and is relssued
from that room sixteen or eighteen times
before it is put into circulation, being
counted, charged and receipted for each
time, and recounted, recharged and re-
receipted for through each process that it
passes after leaving this room.


Five hundred persons are employed ID
note bond and currency making. 1t would
seem as if this number ought in months s
time, turn out enough money to carry on
half a dozen such wars as we have on
hand But million of dollars in notes
of the required denominations to do the
current business of individuals, is an i'm
mensc pile of paper, and when it comes
to hundreds Of millions they grow into
small haystacks as to the size. BY the
presen process each pressman tabes about
five hundred impressions per day. by
the hydraulic presses it is expected that
from three to five hundred impressions
per hour will be taken.