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
Blanks 77 band after a six-month tenure to rejoin his band AFI. (Kresge would later go on to play in Tiger Army and HorrorPops.) He was replaced in Blanks 77 by Tim from the Broken Heroes, who began performing live with the band after a single rehearsal. The band recorded their first album, "Killer Blanks", which was released first in Germany on the Nasty Vinyl label in 1995, and in the U.S. a year later in 1996 on Radical Records with four extra tracks. In 1997 Blanks 77 released a second album, "Tanked and Pogoed". Chad left the band in late 1997