How Is Real Money Printed?
Printing money is the job of the U.S. Department of the Treasury Bureau of Printing and Engraving, which has been creating new currency since the first banknotes were authorized by the U.S. Congress. There are two printing facilities currently in use, one in Washington, D.C. and the other in Fort Worth, Texas.
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Paper
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U.S. currency is printed on a durable paper woven with cotton and linen fibers.The Bureau of Printing and Engraving prints 38 million notes a day, about half of which are $1 bills. Most new bills are used to replace damaged or worn currency.
Engraving
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A reverse image of the bill to be printed is engraved by hand into a steel die, also known as a master die. Each portion of the bill is created by hand using a series of lines, fragments, waves and tiny dots.The die is heated so an impression can be taken and various plastic images created and fitted into a printing plate using a process known as siderography.
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Printing
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The plates are cleaned, polished and carefully inspected for any defects. A final plate is created with a recessed image. These plates are fitted into a large frame to create a single sheet of 32 individual bills. Ink is spread on the plate, which is then pressed onto the paper using high-speed rotary presses that can print more than 10,000 sheets every hour. The paper is pressed onto the plates at high pressure so that the notes carry a slightly raised image on one side and a recessed image on the reverse.
Seals and Serial Numbers
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A bureau employee examines the bills for defects. Once the sheet has been passed, the seal of the Federal Reserve Bank is then printed in black ink, followed by the U.S. Treasury seal and serial numbers in green. The sheets of bills are cut into separate notes, in stacks of 100 notes that are then banded together, 40 at a time, into bricks of 4,000 notes. The notes are then stacked and collected for shipment to one of the 12 Federal Reserve branches which distributes the notes to local banks.
Security
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There are various security features printed into the notes to ensure that they can only be counterfeited at great trouble and expense. These features include tiny but precise microprinting that can only be seen with a magnifying glass, a watermark that can be seen when the bill is held up to the light, but which cannot be photocopied, a security thread that is placed inside the note and ink that shifts color when the note is held up and examined at different angles.
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References
- Photo Credit money money image by Valentin Mosichev from Fotolia.com
