Comments on: U.S. Mint at San Francisco, Preparing Coin Blanks

By: thePhelps

thePhelps — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:00:36 +0000

Very interesting articles – I am still waiting for my invite! Is it like a day trip to the breweries of old – with all the free samples you can carry! (well I dream big).

By: Stan

Stan — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 02:52:16 +0000

Fascinating!!!

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 01:37:24 +0000

Much improved annealing furnace from the old one at the granite lady.

By: CoinNews.net

CoinNews.net — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:38:04 +0000

Jawnmoth, everyone in the production rooms wears eye protection, steel-tipped shoes and ear plugs. With newer technology in use, sounds levels at the SF Mint are below the legal threshold that requires ear protection. They are just used as an extra safety measure. Actually, there is a decent amount of human interaction between most coin production steps. Many bins of blanks and trays of coins a day are moved around by Mint employees, including blanks from the annealing furnace to the lines of upsetting mills. The steel pellets are high wear resistant but I’m sure at some point they are eventually replaced.

By: Griffin

Griffin — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:09:39 +0000

I have seen a video of all this on the History Channel. It’s fascinating to watch. I do wonder if employees of the mint get a discount on purchasing any coin products, like Proof Sets.

Needless to say, I am sure all employees go through an extensive background check when applying for employment there.

By: yawnmoth

yawnmoth — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 05:57:57 +0000

How noisy is it? How much human interaction is required? I guess they go from the annealing furnace to the upsetting mill automatically (without human intervention) and then automatically from that to the burnishing mill etc?

Are the stainless steel pellets in the burnishing mill reused?

You should have taken some videos!