My four years at Bell Telephone Laboratories was an incredible experience. In many ways it wasn’t like having a job at all. It was more like playing with your hobby and getting paid for it. Leaving there for philosophical differences was probably the best for me. But I really did enjoy working there. I will cover some of the other fun times later in my blog.
Today I am remembering the change in US coinage. The price of silver had reached the melting point. That is the point where the silver in a coin is worth more than value of the coin. To the best of my memory, Texas Instrument was responsible for coming up with a solution to this problem. Our involvement had to do with assuring that the solution was compatible with the industries coin operating mechanisms. New coinage had to look like money; it had to feel like money and perform like money.
Performance in coin operated devices required that it be the same size and weigh the same. It also had to roll through an eddy current device exhibiting the same characteristics as coin silver. The solution from Texas Instruments were coins with a commercially pure copper center section and two outer layers of copper nickel similar to what a nickel coin was made.
We received dimes and quarters made of these materials. They had Martha Washington’s image on one side, and a date like 1759. We used these in extensive testing of our coin phone devices. When finished they were picked up by federal agents who did an exact counting of them.
We were told that they were all destroyed, but I wonder if that is really true. Just imagine what one of those coins would be worth.
