Coining and Printing Money

Striking Coins

Coins in the United States are struck at U. S. government mints in San Francisco, Denver, and Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Mint also has a branch in West Point, N. Y.

The first step in manufacturing coins consists of preparing a strip of metal 16 inches (406 cm) wide. This is run through a stamping press that cuts coin slugs, called blanks, of the proper size. After being softened in an annealing furnace, the blanks are run through a press where they are struck and the imprint is made, and they emerge as coins. Modern machines strike up to four coins at a time and are capable of turning out about 550 pennies, nickels, or dimes per minute. Quarters and half dollars are produced at the rate of about 250 per minute, and dollars at about 100 per minute.

The dime, quarter, half dollar, and dollar are "sandwich coins" with a core of copper and an outer layer of metal made of 75% copper and 25% nickel. Extensive use of silver in these coins was discontinued in the 1960's. From 1962 the penny was minted with 95% copper and 5% zinc. Because of the increasing price of copper, Congress in 1974 authorized an alloy of 97.6% zinc and 2.4% copper, although such pennies were not produced in quantity until 1983.

Printing Currency

Paper money (currency) in the United States is manufactured by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, an arm of the Treasury. About $20 billion worth of currency is printed every year, mostly to replace other currency. Money wears out rather quickly. The $1 bill, for example, has an average lite of only about 17 months. Over 99% of all paper money is in the form of Federal Reserve Notes, while the remainder is in the form of U. S. Notes.

The paper used in currency is manufactured according to government specifications by a private firm. The actual formula is a secret, out the paper consists of 25% linen and 75% cotton fiber. The paper has red and blue fibers running through it, which can be seen under a microscope. It is illegal for anyone else to manufacture paper with red and blue strands. The paper is made in sheets large enough to permit 32 bills to be printed on it — eight rows each containing four bills.

The ink is made by the Bureau of Engraving from a secret formula. The plates, also made by the Bureau of Engraving, are fashioned of relatively soft steel that is then hardened.

The actual printing is by means of the intaglio process, which gives the bills a unique texture. This consists of putting the ink on the plates and then forcing the paper against them under great pressure. A modern press machine can print 8.000 sheets, each containing 32 bills, per hour. The bills are printed on the front side (black) one day and on the back (green) the next day in order to give the ink time to dry. After the sheets are dry they go through what is called the currency overprinting and processing equipment (COPE). This machine applies the serial number, the Treasury seal, the appropriate Federal Reserve Bank seal, and the signatures of the secretary of the treasury and the treasurer of the United States.

When this final printing is completed the sheets are stacked in piles of 100 and cut into stacks of 100 individual bills, which are banded. The bills are assembled into what is called a brick, which contains 40 of the 100-bill packages. These bricks are stored or shipped to the various Federal Reserve banks for release to the public.

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