Hello there;
 I am looking for the layout of magnetic ink on American paper money.
This information is to help in designing a product that senses the
presence of magnetic material in a particular spot of a bill. I do not
know if all of the ink on a bill is magnetic-- if so, I need a
reference showing that is the case.  I need the layout (or rather some
reference {image, etc}  showing it..) for all bills that are in
typical circulation in the US.  In essence this product attempts to
determine what type of bill it is looking at based upon the layout of
the magnetic ink. It is not a device to determine if the bill is
counterfeit-- to I do not need a layout that is that precise. It is
assumes that the bill is valid legal US currency. To restate the
question: where can I find out what all the US bills look like from
the vantage point of their magnetic ink.

Hello Puravida77-ga:

As I am sure you can understand, for security reasons this information
isn't freely available on the Internet.

The U. S. Treasury does, however, work with different manufactures of
machinery and electronics handling cash, as evidenced by machines that
do recognize denominations of bills (such as self-help checkouts,
etc.), as well as manufacturers of electronic reproduction systems
(some of the newer printers can no longer copy paper currency, having
recognized it as such and refusing to work), and graphics programs on
the market which prohibit working on scanned images of currencies.

You can request this information from the U. S. Bureau of Engraving
and Pringing under the United States Freedom of Information Act.

"The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides any person the right
to request access to records maintained by the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing (BEP)

    * It must be in writing and signed by the person making the
request;
    * It must state that the request is being made pursuant to the
FOIA;
    * It must reasonably describe the records being requested;
    * It must state the category of the requestor for fee purposes
(i.e., commercial, media, educational, all others);
    * It must contain an agreement to pay all fees that might be
incurred.

WHERE TO SEND YOUR REQUEST:

Your request for BEP records should be addressed to:
Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Disclosure Office Rm. 646 PD
14th & C Streets S. W.
Washington, DC 20228
Or fax your request to:
(202) 927-3320"

See: http://www.moneyfactory.com/section.cfm/14

Good luck,
Serenata

---

Request for Answer Clarification by puravida77-ga on 04 Jun 2003 16:31 PDT

So does that mean that the layout of the ink is *NOT* the same as the
regular green ink seen on each bill? In other words....That the
magnetic ink is one and the same as the green you see that is used for
pretty much all of the artwork.

---

Clarification of Answer by serenata-ga on 04 Jun 2003 18:02 PDT

Hello again Puravida77.

I'm sorry, your question was "where can I find out what all the US
bills look like from the vantage point of their magnetic ink."

And I referred you to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), as
it is they who print US currency and control dissemination of that
information. Any private party who might have the answer is bound, for
security reasons, to an NDA and wouldn't be able to confirm or deny,
either.

You really must contact BEP with your request, explaining why you need
it, and they will respond with instructions from there.

Thank you again,
Serenata

fine answer

Carbon black ink is conductive so if there is any caron black in the
inks used on the notes it may be possible to detect this
(conductiverty or resistiverty at the low film thicknesses of the
printed notes is very doubtful) imagine technology is a better route