Punched out of a giant coil of sheet metal weighing almost 6,000 pounds, the plain disk known as a “blank” makes numerous stops on the way to becoming a coin.  The United States Mint^® facilities in Philadelphia and Denver make circulating currency in six denominations:  the penny, nickel, dime, quarter-dollar, half-dollar and dollar.

Blanking: The process of minting coins begins when the heavy coil – which is 1500 feet long when stretched out and the same thickness as the finished product – is hoisted onto a wheel that will unroll it bit by bit and feed it into a machine called a blanking press.  This press punches out the blanks with tremendous force.  Blanking a nickel requires the greatest amount of pressure, while blanking a thin dime takes the least.  The blank is the same weight as the final coin, but it is bigger to allow for construction of the rim.

Annealing:  The blanks are then softened in a furnace heated to over 700 degrees.  This process, called “annealing,” dulls the surface of the metal.  To make it shiny again, it must be cleaned; so the next stop is a dip in the “quench tank” to cool the blanks down.  After that, a ride in the “whirlaway” – a cylindrical mesh tube that tilts at a 45-degree angle – drains out excess liquid as it carries the disks to the washing machine.  Here they are soaked in various chemicals to remove residue from the annealing process.  Then they are put through a drying tube, and finally the time has come to make the blanks look like coins.

Rimming:  To begin this process, they are poured into an “upsetting mill.”  Upsetting is the process by which a rim is raised around the edge of the disk.  This edge is always higher than the highest part of the coin’s final design, so it can protect the surface and enable stacking.  Once it has a rim, the blank also has a new name.  It is now called a “planchet.”

Coining:  The newly made planchets travel, via a conveyor with small baskets resembling a Ferris wheel, to the stamping press to receive their designs.  This stage is called “coining.”  The planchet will be positioned between two steel die hubs that have the design of the two sides of the coin cut into their surfaces.  One die, known as the anvil, is held motionless while the other die, the hammer, strikes the planchet.  The hammer usually contains the design for the “heads” side, or obverse, of the coin, while the anvil stamps the “tails,” or “reverse”, design.  These presses can turn out 750 new coins a minute.

Inspecting:  The finished coins are dropped into a collection box called a “trap”, where they are spot-checked for flaws.  If any defects are found, the contents of that trap will be sent for recycling.  Those that pass inspection go on to a conveyor belt that sends them to the counting and bagging machine.  The filled bags of metal currency are weighed to make sure they contain the proper amount.  Then they are sealed, placed on pallets and moved by forklift to storage vaults until needed for circulation.  They will eventually travel to a branch of the Federal Reserve Bank.

When your local bank needs more coins, it will buy them from the nearest Federal Reserve branch.  They are delivered to the bank in an armored truck, and eventually find their way into your pocket! (For more on how currency gets into circulation, click here.)