1872.] Gold Coinage. 227 
pot it was poured; it is also marked with a letter which 
indicates the date of moulding. Bars for sovereigns are 2 feet 
long, I°375 inches broad, 3 inch thick, and have an average 
weight of 180 ozs. Troy. Bars for half-sovereigns are 2 feet 
long, 1°125 inches broad, 4 inch thick, and weigh 170 ozs. 
Troy. Assay pieces are cut from each bar, and so labled as 
to show from which bar they come. The assay piece is 
flattened out, and from a bar a piece is cut, which is sent 
to the Assayer of the Mint. 
The bars next have to be rolled. They are passed be- 
tween steel rollers about seven times, the distance between 
the two rollers being reduced each time, and the mechanical 
arrangements are such that this rolling greatly lengthens 
the bar and reduces it to a band, but does not materially 
increase its breadth. Owing to the wear of the moulds in 
which the casting is done, the bars are never of exactly the 
same size. After the process of rolling, the resulting bands 
are very hard. Their ends are sheared off, and then they 
are 20 inches long. 
The sheared bands, if for half-sovereigns, have next to be 
annealed. They are placed in copper tubes made without 
solder, and the ends of the tubes are luted on with clay. 
These tubes are then placed on an iron carriage, and run 
into the furnace, in which they are left for twenty minutes. 
Then the hot tubes are plunged into cold water as quickly 
as possible, with the bands inside. This rapid cooling pre- 
vents the oxidation of the copper; also, if they were cooled 
slowly, the gold would become so pasty and soft as to stick 
to the machinery. The bands are then rolled a little more, 
and passed through the last or ‘“‘ gauging” mill. Now 
and then the workman at this mill will punch a blank 
sovereign out of the fillet, and weigh it, to see that he is 
giving the fillets the right thickness, and he has the power 
of accurately adjusting small differences in distance between 
the rollers. 
The fillets after being weighed are taken to the ‘‘ drag” 
room, for they are not made of uniform thickness by simple 
rolling. The ends of the fillet are then passed to the extent 
of 2 inches through the rolls of a flatting mill. Then the 
fillet is passed to the draw-bench, where it is dragged be- 
tween two pieces of steel, soas to become of the exact gauge. 
The flattened end is first put between the pieces of steel ; an 
iron “dog” then bites hold of the end, and drags the rest 
of the fillet through the opening. ‘The rolling mills and the 
dragging machinery are, of course, all driven by a steam- 
engine. After the fillets have passed the draw-bench, they 
