lifts the bar F again by acting on the pin G′ so that the bar F does
not touch the stirrups at H and the beam and hangers are free to
move. The coin is balanced by the brass counterpoise J on the left-hand
hanger and by little weights made of wire attached to the
right-hand hanger at K. If the coin is heavier than the lowest
legal weight (that is, the standard weight less the remedy) the right-hand
side of the beam begins to fall and the left-hand one is raised.
This movement proceeds until the stirrup L below the left-hand
hanger is raised far enough to touch the rod M, which is equal in
weight to twice the remedy. The movement is then stopped
provided that the weight of the coin is not greater than the standard
weight plus the remedy.
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| Fig. 11. | Fig. 12. |
If it is heavier than this, it raises the weight M, and the movement of the beam and its hangers proceeds farther in the same direction. After about a second from the time of the final release of the beam, the forceps E again close and the hanger D is held firmly in its new position. The rod N is then lowered and allows the indicating finger O, which is, pivoted at P, to fall until it rests on the stirrup R, which is part of the hanger D. The extension of O holds down the right-hand end of the rod S which is also pivoted at P, and enables its end to fit into one of the three inverted steps on the bottom of the shoot Q. The position of the shoot is thus determined. It stops over one of three orifices in the bottom plate of the balance. If the coin is light the rod S fits into the uppermost step and the shoot stops over the right-hand slot. If the coin is heavy, S fits into the lowest step and the shoot stops over the left-hand slot. The middle step and slot are for coins within the remedy. The movement of the slide now pushes another coin forward, and the weighed coin is displaced by it and falls down the shoot, through one of the slots. Each slot leads into a separate compartment and the coins are consequently sorted into three classes, light, correct weight and heavy. The balance turns to 0·01 grain. The driving power is applied by shafting through a number of cams. In the Royal Mint both light and heavy coins are returned to the melting pot. The proportion of rejected gold coin varies with the quality of the bullion, and frequently exceeds 10%. The percentage of rejected silver is often no more than 1%. In most foreign mints the blanks are weighed by the automatic balances before being struck, and those which are too heavy are reduced by filing or planing. A workman sitting at a balance files the edges of the piece and weighs it until it is within the remedy. The blank is then again passed through the automatic balance and is sent forward to the coining press if the correctness of the weight is confirmed. Since 1870 no adjusting of the weight of coins has been attempted at the Royal Mint. Heavy blanks have also been reduced chemically by making them part of the anode in a cyanide bath through which a current of electricity is passed. Some metal from the surface of each blank then passes into solution, and the blanks are reduced in weight with remarkable uniformity. This system was introduced into the Indian mints in 1873.
Telling.—The coin is counted and packed into bags for despatch from the Mint. The counting or telling is now carried out in the case of bronze and silver coins by ingenious machines introduced in 1891. The coins are spread on an inclined table by hand. They slide down the table and enter a narrow passage where only one can pass at a time, jamming being prevented by the joggling action of an eccentric rotating disk at the entrance to the passage. The coins are then gripped by a pair of india-rubber driving wheels, which force them past the rim of a thin disk with notches in its edge to fit the coins. As the disk is thus made to revolve, the coins are pushed forward, and falling down a shoot are received in a bag. The machine can be set to deliver a certain number of coins, after which the counting wheel stops automatically.
Trial of the Pyx.—Periodical examinations of the coins issued by the Mint have been made from very early times in England by persons appointed by the Crown. Specimens are selected from the finished coin and are put into a box or “pyx.” At intervals these coins are weighed and assayed by a jury of skilled persons and the results reported to the Crown. A trial of the pyx is mentioned in the Lansdowne MSS. as having taken place in the reign of Henry II., but the practice had probably originated much earlier. The trial is now held annually by a jury consisting of freemen of the Company of Goldsmiths. Coins from the London and Australian mints are examined. The Company has been entrusted with the duty since the time of James I. Coins of foreign mints are generally submitted to examination by a committee of eminent chemists and metallurgists whose report is published in the official journals.
A full account of the work of the Mint, with valuable tables giving the amount of the coinage of gold and silver and bronze in the United Kingdom and the colonies in detail, and a résumé of the coinages of foreign countries, will be found in the Annual Reports of the Deputy Master and Comptroller of the Mint, which have been published since 1870. (T. K. R.)
MINTO, EARLS OF. The Scottish border family of Elliot which has held the earldom of Minto since 1813 has had many distinguished members. Sir Gilbert Elliot, bart. (1651–1718), and his son and successor, another Sir Gilbert Elliot (1693–1766), were both celebrated Scottish judges and both took the official title of Lord Minto. The elder Sir Gilbert was sentenced to death for his share in the rising of the earl of Argyll in 1685, but was afterwards pardoned; the younger Sir Gilbert was a scholar and an agriculturist. Among the children of the latter were John Elliot (d. 1808), a naval officer, who served as governor of Newfoundland and was made an admiral; Andrew Elliot, the last English governor of New York; and the poetess Jean, or Jane, Elliot (c. 1727–1805), who wrote the popular ballad “Flowers of the Forest.” The eldest son, Sir Gilbert Elliot (1722–1777), who became the third baronet in April 1766, was a member of parliament from 1753 to 1777, and a friend and follower of the earl of Bute. He filled several public offices, and Horace Walpole said he was “one of the ablest members of the House of Commons.” His second son was the diplomatist, Hugh Elliot (1782–1830), who represented his country at Munich, at Berlin, at Copenhagen and at Naples. He was governor of Madras from 1814 to 1820, and he died on the 10th of December 1830.
See the Memoirs of the Right Hon. Hugh Elliot, by the countess of Minto (Edinburgh, 1868).
The third baronet’s eldest son was Gilbert Elliot, 1st earl of Minto (1751–1814). About 1763 Gilbert and his brother Hugh were sent to Paris, where their studies were supervised by David Hume and where they became intimate with Mirabeau. Having passed the winters of 1766 and 1767 at Edinburgh University, Gilbert entered Christ Church, Oxford, and on quitting the university he was called to the bar. In 1776 he entered parliament as an independent Whig. He became very friendly with Burke, whom he helped in the attack on Warren Hastings and Sir Elijah Impey, and on two occasions was an unsuccessful candidate for the office of speaker. In 1794 Elliot was appointed to govern Corsica, and in 1797 he assumed the additional names of Murray-Kynynmond and was created Baron Minto. From 1799 to 1801 he was envoy-extraordinary to Vienna, and having been for a few months president of the board of control he was appointed governor-general of India at the end of 1806. He governed with great success until 1813. He was then created Viscount Melgund and earl of Minto. He died at Stevenage on the 21st of June 1814 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
The earl’s second son was Admiral Sir George Elliot (1784–1863), who as a youth was present at the battles of Cape St Vincent and the Nile, and who was secretary to the admiralty from 1830 to 1834. A nephew of the earl was Sir Charles Elliot (1801–1875) also an admiral, who took a prominent part in the war with China in 1840. Afterwards he was governor of Bermuda, of Trinidad and of St Helena.
Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmond, 2nd earl of Minto (1782–1859), eldest son of the 1st earl, was ambassador to Berlin from 1832 to 1834, first lord of the admiralty from 1835 to 1841 and lord privy, seal from 1846 to 1852. His influence in the Whig party was partly due to the fact that his daughter, Frances, was the wife of Lord John Russell.
