Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Tom Maringer, post: 2706611, member: 7033&quot;]We here at Shire Post Mint are very proud to announce that we have finally gotten our newest acquisition into operation! It is a 1930s vintage 110 ton Ferracute coining press that began its life in the Denver Mint, where we think it was used to make silver quarters for at least two decades. If you have a silver D-mint quarter from the 1930s to the 1950s there is a chance it was made on this press! In the 1970s it entered the private sector, and the original &quot;train-wreck&quot; clutch was replaced with a heavier flywheel and pneumatic clutch with electronic controls. In the 1990s it was acquired by Gallery Mint Museum and partially restored by Joe Rust with the intent to use it as the centerpiece of a working coinmaking display. When Joe passed away untimely the project was shelved. In November 2016 we purchased the press from Ron Landis and we have been working diligently ever since on completing the restoration and understanding the mechanics of it. The flywheel was dismounted when we got it, and the wiring had been chewed upon by packrats. Complications arose, especially with respect to some of the bearings and the complex cam-driven feeding mechanism that Joe had been redesigning. Several parts had to be designed and hand-made from scratch with incomplete information, because there appear to be no service manuals for these things. But we now have it running at its full design-speed of about 90 coins/minute, or about 5000/hour (if you can keep the blank-feeding tube full!). This image shows the press shortly after we received it, with much work yet to do on it. We have video of it in full running form on our Shire Post Mint instagram page. [ATTACH=full]610187[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in