Another kind of USA Mint information we don't have
RogerB
Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
The form shown below is yet another type of information we no longer have about how the Mints operated. Original digitized by the Newman Numismatic Portal.
9
Comments
I can’t imagine working in that engine room with those temperatures
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/quarters/washington-quarters-major-sets/washington-quarters-date-set-circulation-strikes-1932-present/publishedset/209923
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/quarters/washington-quarters-major-sets/washington-quarters-date-set-circulation-strikes-1932-present/album/209923
Very interesting piece of mint history. Thanks for posting it. 88 to 102 degrees; wow!
Way too cool. "It's a Clinker!"
CC_
What is an “Artesian Humping Engine?”
I assume it is pumping ground/well water for the Mint’s use.
The Mint could not get enough water from the Philadelphia City system, so they had an artesian well dug in the basement. Hence the use of a pump.
[The other answer is -- the humping engine was used only on Wednesday afternoon for motivational purposes.]
Wow...interesting indeed.... and working conditions were definitely a bit more difficult in those days...Thanks Roger... Cheers, RickO
Any info on the "waxing machines"?
Coinage strips were waxed so they would pull through the drawbench dies without "chattering" (i.e., smoothly).
This is the only example I recall seeing. It's just another piece of what was "under the hood" that made the Mint factories work.
I really enjoy these sort of historical document posts, such insight into the past. Keep it up @RogerB great work.
The three main steam engines were connected to belt and pulley systems that transferred power to all of the machines in the mint building. Most machines also had flywheels that acted as power moderators to smooth energy transfer.
"Ditto" and "nearly all the time", by far my favorite technical terms.
Reading through the boxes of documents in the mint archives, at least for the years I seem to be in right now - mid-late 1800's, it's funny how many documents are not specifically related to actual minting of coins.
This % is by no means scientific, just off the top of my head as I try to equal 100%, the letters of this era are approximately:
20% - Ore deposits, assay results, and account balances
15% - Related to actual minting of coins, die preparations, patterns and approvals, planchets, die steel - actual "Coin Stuff"
10% - Coinage reports - Monthly/Quarterly/Yearly coinage struck, dies prepared, resources used or transferred
10% - Personnel matters - payroll, titles, duties, leaves of absence, firings, etc
10% - Items running the mint operations - Coal, jugs, wood, stationary, equipment repairs and maintenance
10% - Letters asking about Mexican Silver coins, exchanges of old coins for new, turning in mutilated coins, price quotes
10% - Letters requesting proof sets, coins of certain years, asking about unique coins in their possession, mintage figures, etc
10% - Medals and other mint projects and research and testing
5% - Letters saying your letter was received (basically today's e-mail read receipts)
I guess the point was - for being the "US Mint" at least back in these days - correspondence-wise, minting coins seemed like a part-time endeavor lol.
"You Suck Award" - February, 2015
Discoverer of 1919 Mercury Dime DDO - FS-101
There was a lot of administrative and managerial overhead. Plus the multitude of internal and external reports - many on a daily basis - must have consumed much time. And -- all of it on paper.
Here's the Cashier's Daily Statement for Dec 29, 1921, Philadelphia Mint. This for was completed every workday at the close of business. (This one shows deliver of 200,103 Peace dollars.
I understand "Wax on," but did they ever "Wax off" the strip when it was down to its finished thickness? THis could explain why Morgan dollars get such interesting toning.
Yes. the strips were cleaned. Blanks were also cleaned as were the planchets. All this took place in the "Whitening Room." A description of the various cleaners used is in From Mine to Mint.