Worker at Mint Rolling Out Strip Silver for Morgan's

[WoodenJefferson]

Circa 1878 (or after) I suspect this is a mint worker rolling out strip silver for Morgan blanks at the Phildelphia Mint in the late 1870's You can see the strip silver in the fore ground and he has a micrometer gauging thickness of the strip. This photo was tied to a story about George T. Morgan's design of the Morgan Dollar so it probably is accurat. It shows how primative, but state of the art at the time, machinery really was for the time period. Now you know why there were only at times, six digit mintage figures.

[James_OldeTowne]

VERY cool image!

 

I would have guessed it ca. 1921 though, based on the style of the clothes and hat that the mint worker is wearing.

[Zoins]

Great photo to add some history. Thanks for posting it!

[Oldtrader3]

We were still using flywheel punch presses at a company that I worked for in the late 1970's. They are still common and have not changed the design much in 70 years. I assume that this press is not driven by an overhead shaft and leather belt (according to the picture). This particular design of punch press (driven by an electric motor and reducer gearbox) was not even available until the 1920's. BTW with current strip feeder technology, this type of press can stamp between 600 to 1200 coins per minute, depending on tonnage and press manufacturer.

[WoodenJefferson]

Oldtrader3 & James

 

Accordingly to your referenced comments, perhaps these strips of silver that were being rolled out to specifications were destined for the later 1921 Morgans...sound better?

 

Note: a 17 year lapse from 1904 to 1921 can create lots of newer technology, but they (mints) would need many, many of these type machines in the photo available to crank out the 44 million blanks from strips at the Philly alone.

 

There seems to be opposing forces at work here.