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Show II How Uncle Sam 9 Sends Our I Paper MONEY . To the --v:. LAUNDRY. HI " I XT was the Inventor of a cashing machine, designed I I to cleanse ordinary household linen, who accident- 1 ally discovered that onr paper currency could be II trashed "without injury to any of its delicate florea. 9J This Inventor was bo teen in ihe art o advertising m the merit of his wonderful washing machine that he 9 used to take money from his pocket, -when oshibit- I fog his machine before a crowd at a county fair, and. I carelessly peeling off $50 or bo in lives and tens, toss them, nonchalantly into the tub of water along with the 'soiled linen. Then ho would put the machine I through its revolutions and take out the linen perfect- ly clean, also the money, clean and quite uninjured. His whole object in doing this was to convince I the prospective purchasers that Ids washing machine I would not injure the finest fabric. He knew that IT A County Fair Incident That Led the Government to WASH Its PAPER OURRENGI foni ne could convince them he was willing to risk SCO and prove that his machine wouldn't ovon tear or wear out paper, he had succeeded in a clever demonstration. demon-stration. It was not until quite a while after he had been doing this that it suddenly occurred to him that his paper money was coming out of the machine quito as clean as the linen. Then he remembered the stories of dirty bills, germ-Infected bills, and such things all being redeemed by the Government and macoratcd to make sure they would not be used over again as legal tender. "Why go to all tho expense and bother of redeeming redeem-ing paper money, macerating it and making new when the bills can bo washed, diuinfectod and left clean and criBp as new with a fraction of tte cost, labor and timeT" This inventor, F. B. Churchill, of Shelbyvllle, Ind., wrote to the Treasury Department and inforraod the officials that he had solved the problem of cloanJng soiled currency. The department aHkod him to give a demonstration of the operation of his machine. This was later done before a committee of Treasury olTi-cials olTi-cials and tho result was so satisfactory that one of tho machines was purchased for Government use and installed in the Treasury Department. It was not until after this test was made that Mr. Churchill realized the full magnitude of his discovery, and decided de-cided to apply for a patent on it. The latter has recently been granted. Tho washer consists of an oscillating vessel with air chambers and brackets to support a loosely woven basket, which is securely fastened fas-tened inside, although it is adjustable. The dirty billsare placed in the basket and securely "By demonstrating nt county fair that his washing machine would not injure even paper money, the inventor inven-tor discovered lh value of this method to the Government." locked thoroin by three separate locks, the reason for which Is obvious. The basket is then placed within with-in tho body of the washer, which contains a solution of hot soapsuds and the machine is put in operation. The compressed air forces the suds and hot water through the meshes of the money basket with such force that the bills are cleaned thoroughly. Tho basket bas-ket is then removed and placed in another washer which contains a solntion of sizing or starch, and horn the money la subjected to a thorough bath of stiffening, which gives it the crisp appearance of new bills. After a few minutes of immersion the basket Is taken from tho sizing mRchlno and tho water la drawn from the bills by centrifugal action. During the operation of tho drier a strong high-pressure high-pressure current of air is turned Into the rapidly revolving basket from the atr'Storago tank, and while tho bills are being dried by tho rapid motion imparted to the money basket the force of air is continually straightening out the foldp from the bills. Then tho basket is removed from the dried and unlocked, and the bills are passed through a hoavy sot of pressure rollers between layers of heavy cardboard, after which they emerge clean, crisp and resembling vvr money. The process of cleansing the dirty bills seemingly puts new life into the paper, and the bills are pliable, having a soft, velvety foeling. The renovation of currency will bo a stop that all banks and handlers of large amounts of money will appreciate. The time is not far distant when every bank can bo supplied with a fully equipped currency washer and drier. Thus the expense of reissuing new money will be reduced with great saving to tho Government,! as woll as to tho individual banker, who has to send! in his old bills 1o bo redeemed with now ones. The? ' ' expense of sending the bills to the United Slat?3 Treasury and Sub-Treasuries amounts to a heavy tax? on those hanks that are located at distant points. ;y7nJ.r t For this reason the people in the West are compelled $T c to handle more filthy, disease-breeding motipy thnnlli c those in the "Rant. A wock or two is al?n lost, before ' the money is returned. Tho saving of timp and money DCJ will lead the large banks to install laundries of theira rei n- , jait7 : Heretofore it has boon the policy or the fkvprnmp.ntlrw,a'lJ to destroy its dirly and mutilated ciirronv. but Uiajfti new discovery of Mr. Churchill will rovnlnt'onlso lhojLtd tl system. The Treasury figures for .1010 show that $l,18?..-ipi"ywj nno.OOfl In soiled hill?: werp rpdpemed bv new onca.jf th There were some 200,000.000 Individual bills In Waife11, amount. Eighty per cent of them, or lfiO.OOO.ooo.mighted have been washed. Mb? Tt costs 1.3 cmts eah to make these bills. They may'J3 be laundered for A of a cent. The saving will he .2t& oi cents on each bill, or $2.0SO,000 a year. With due allow-nnce allow-nnce for tho discrepancy between theory and practise, jSyea it is estimated that a million dollars a year may bepreC saved through the washing process. ?St Tt has boon determined that the life of a o- -dollar bill Is ono to two years, that of a ?2 bill one to fourkemcl years, and that of bills of larger denominations aboutffcfby1 three years. If by washing it tho life of a bill can bqKV lengthened, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing vrillaen have to manufacture but half as much money, and onefcw or of the expensive bureaus of the Government can bajSml oporated much more cheaply. tc. |