1 Jul
2019
1 Jul
'19
10:54 p.m.
> USA paper currency used to be the size of
punchcards. So, if one were to
> have a LOT of it, you could use the same trays, and counting machines,
> etc. Do you suppose that Hollerith had a lot of paper currency?
On Mon, 1 Jul 2019, Rich Alderson via cctalk wrote:
Actually, Hollerith designed his card that size
precisely so that storage
drawers for bank notes could be used.
I deliberately inverted that, in a futile attempt at humor.
Pennies used
to be copper. Now, they are mostly zinc, due to copper
costing more than a penny. But, they managed to maintain the copper
color. During WW2, pennies were briefly made out of steel.
Technically, they were
bronze, a copper-tin alloy.
Sometime in the 1970s, IIRC, pennies became copper (or bronze) coated aluminum. Pennies will never stop being minted--the members of
Congress representing the
state of Illinois would not stand for it.
In spite of costing more to make them than they are worth.