Franklin Peale Peale designed a new machine to cut planchets, or blanks, from metal strips. This machine remained in use, almost unmodified, until 1902. Another of the steam-powered machines Peale had installed on his return was a milling machine, which was used to "upset" the coin—to form a rim around it. A Contamin portrait lathe was imported from France and installed at the Philadelphia Mint in 1837. Prior to this time, all coin dies for American coins had to be made individually, by hand at Philadelphia. Once the lathe was installed, they could be reproduced mechanically by the pantograph-like device. The first
Kyle Blanks .150 in his first 40 at-bats, but finished with 10 homers with a .287 average. His season ended on August 28 with a case of plantar fasciitis. During the offseason, the Padres traded away third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff in order to move Chase Headley to the infield to open a position for Blanks in left field. Blanks began the 2010 season as the Padres cleanup hitter behind Adrian Gonzalez. Blanks' season ended in May with an elbow that required reconstructive surgery. He finished batting only .157 with three homers, 15 RBI and an alarming 46 strikeouts in 102 at-bats. After