C O I 



7 26 



C O K 



, . n-nr 



up by iti ipriogt M, and inclose the blank. Lastly, the 

 upper die come* down, and strikes the coin with a twist- 

 ing Motion; the recoil and the concealed mechanism im- 

 mediately causes it* return ; but the upper die does not 

 partake of the twist of the screw, till the money is re- 

 lieved. The tongs seize one of the blanks from the tube 

 Q , and then carry it forwards, at the same time the small 

 lever* i, i depress the tteel ring K, and leave the coin loose 

 upon the die; then the end of the tongs, approaching 

 with another blank, throw it forward into a box behind 

 the pres*. The next stroke instantly succeeds, repeat- 

 ing the operation at the rate of (>0 and ~0 per minute, 

 and that with very few interruptions for the whole day. 

 The press room contains eight machines, all supported 

 on the same stone base ; and the iron beams EF between 

 the columns, serve equally for the presses on each side : 

 The whole has a very grand effect. The eight presses will 

 strike more than 19,000 coins in an hour with only a 

 child to supply each. The grand improvement in these 

 presses consists, 1st, in the precision with which it ope- 

 rates to strike every coin with equal force, which could 

 not be insured by the old press, worked by manual labour. 

 d, The rising collar or steel ring in which they arc 

 struck, keeps them all of one size, and makes a fair 

 edge, which the old coins never had, being rounded and 

 defaced by the expansion of the metal under the blow. 

 3d, The twisting motion of the upper die is thought to 

 produce a better surface to the flat parts of the coin, 

 but of this there may be some doubt. 4th, The feeding 

 mechanism is very complete, ami allows the machine to 

 work much quicker than in the old press, where the 

 workman being in constant danger of having his fingers 

 caught, was obliged to proceed cautiously, as well as to 

 place the coin true on the die, which was however seldom 

 done perfectly. 



The want of feeding apparatus has been long felt as a 

 great defect in the old coining press. In 1731, M. Du 

 JJuisson presented to the Royal Academy of Paris, a 

 project for an apparatus to place the blanks upon the 

 dies without depending upon the care of the workmen. 

 It consisted of two sliders, one applied upon the other. 

 The upper one had a hole in it for the reception of the 

 money, the other was only a flat plate, to keep it from 

 falling through. These sliders having taken a blank 

 from a tube where they were deposited, were both ad- 

 vanced together by the movement of the press towards 

 the die, and displacing the piece already struck from the 

 lower die, laid the blank upon it, the lower slider pro- 

 ceeding no farther than the edge of the die. The whole 

 contrivance was imperfect and awkward, but deserves to 

 be recorded as perhaps the first attempt. See Machine* 

 Approuvees par L' Academic, 1731, vol. v. p. 155. 



The feeding mechanism of MrBoulton's press is also a 

 French invention, as appears from a pamphlet entitled, 

 Rapport fait a la datxe, des Sciences Mathcmatiques et 

 Physiques, de L'Instilut National ; fur diverges Inven- 

 tion* fie Jean Pierre Droz, relatives a L'Art du M an- 

 noy age. In this report a coining press, with the feed- 

 ing apparatus like tbat which we have described, is mi- 

 nutely detailed, and also several other inventions which 

 display much ingenuity ; but they are not so complete 

 a* Mr Boulton's contrivances for the same purposes, 

 who, by the application of his steam engine to put them 

 in motion, as well as by several improvements in the ma- 

 king of the dies, has carried the art of coining to a de- 

 gree of perfection hitherto unknown, (j. r.) 



COIX, a genus of plant* of the class Monuccia, and 

 order Tnandria. See BOTANY, p. 320. 



COKE, SIR EDWARD, Lord Chief Justice of Eng. 



land, and one of the most distinguished lawyers whom 

 his country has produced, was born of a good family, at ' 

 his father's seat at Mileham in the county of Norfolk, in 

 the year I'i'iO. 



A liberal course of education, according to the forme 

 of discipline established at that period, contributed to 

 bring to maturity those great talents, which were after- 

 wards exerted, with so much benefit to his country, in 

 the affairs of public life. At the age of ten, he was 

 placed at the free-school at Norwich, whence he repaired 

 to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he remained about 

 four years. He then removed to Clifford's Inn, and, in 

 the following year, was entered a student of the Inner 

 Temple. 



\Vhile in this situation, he already began to exhibit 

 extraordinary proofs of his proficiency in the study of 

 legal science, and of those acute powers of mind, for 

 which, at a more mature age, he became so highly dis- 

 tinguished. These proofs of application and ability did 

 not pass without observation and reward ; for at six years 

 standing, he was called to the bar ; which was reckoned 

 unusually early in those strict times. The Grot cause in 

 which he appeared, in the court of Queen's Bench, was a 

 remarkable action upon the statute de scandttlis tnagnatum, 

 in Trinity term 1578, which seems to have excited con- 

 siderable interest, and of which he himself has given a 

 judicious report. (See Rep. P. iv. fol. 12. b. It-, b.) 

 About the same period, he was appointed Reader of 

 Ly OM'S Inn ; which situation he continued to fill during 

 three years ; and, by means of his lectures, which were 

 much resorted to, he increased his reputation and his 

 practice. 



From this period he rose very rapidly in his profes- 

 sion ; was chosen recorder of the cities of Coventry and 

 Norwich ; appeared in all the great causes which were 

 tried in Westminster Hall ; and was elected knight of 

 the shire by the freeholders of Norfolk. He filled, sue. 

 cessively, the offices of solicitor and attorney- general to 

 the queen ; and in the parliament held in the ;; jih year 

 of Elizabeth, he had the honour of being chosen speaker. 

 Towards the latter end of the reign of that princess, 

 such was the degree of eminence to which he had attain- 

 ed, that he was constantly consulted by her majesty's 

 ministers upon every matter of difficulty ; and such was 

 the estimation in which his talents and integrity were ge- 

 nerally held, that, with his sanction, many measures, 

 which might otherwise have appeared unusual and arbi- 

 trary, were rendered agreeable to the feelings of the 

 people. 



As attorney-general, he took a very active part in the 

 conduct of the various and important state trials, which 

 occurred in that and the succeeding reign. In the pro- 

 ceedings against the Earl of Essex, Sir Walter Raleigh, 

 and the gun-powder traitors, he displayed uncommon vi- 

 gilance, sagacity, legal knowledge, and oratorical powers ; 

 although in some of these, particularly during the trial 

 of the unfortunate Raleigh, the lustre of his great ta- 

 lents was, in some measure, obscured by his intemperate 

 behaviour and insulting language towards the accused, for 

 which it were difficult to find an apology. In conducting 

 the prosecutions instituted against the gun-powder con- 

 spirators, he exhibited an extraordinary degree of indus- 

 try and acuteness ; and witli great ingenuity developed 

 the origin, progress, and objects of that singular and 

 nearly successful plot. His address to the jury in the 

 trial of Garnet, one of the conspirators, was much ad- 

 mired at the time, and is still by many esteemed the 

 masterpiece of this celebrated lawyer. 



Although he enjoyed the highest reputation for 



Cokr 



