The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-10-11
How Postal Cards are Made.

printed comes in sheets about % inches
by 90 inches in size, and is packed In
boxes containing about 1000 sheets, and
weighing $50 pounds each. After the
boxes are unpacked the first thing in or
der is the printing. This is done by two
Hoe cylinder presses, each Of which prints
forty cards at single impression. The
printed sheets are then placed in racks
and allowed to dry for two days, in order
to prevent any blotting or DETACHMENT.
Now they are ready for the cutters, of
which there are three, at present. By
the first, which is rotary cutter, the
sheets are divided crosswise in ten strips,
containing four postal cards each. The
sheets pass through this machine rs rap
idly as one can follow another. The
strips are then collected in packages of
one hundred each, the edges are made ex-
actly even, and the packages are then
placed on the iron tables of the cutters,
which sever them in the opposite direc-
ton. Of these cutters there are two, both
known as the Cranston 'under-cut." Ten
packages of 100 sheets each, after leaving
the rotary cutter, are placed in the ''un
der-cut;" lever is pulled which sets the
machinery in motion, and up comes a
heavy knife with diagonal motion, and
there are 400 postal cards complete in a
twinkling. A bit of brass is removed,
allowing the uncut packages to be moved
up proper distance under the knife, and
the process is repeated. The cards are
then taken in punches convenient To be
handled, and the edges are carefully
brushed to remove all dust and Feather"
They then pass into the hands of eighteen
girls, 10y whom they are counted out into
packages containing twenty-five cards
each. Twenty packages are placed in
pasteboard boxes, which again are packed
in wooden boxes, containing from 1000
to $4,000 cards apiece.
The presses are now printing about L.
100000 cards day. The contract re-
quires that 10000 cards shall be made
in day if the demand is so great.
1t is not expected that many visitors
will enter the rooms in which the cards
are made, but precautions are taken to
prevent the loss or abstraction of cards.
Every sheet printed is registered by the
press, and the company is compelled to
give an account of every one. If a few
cards were lost it would cause Consider
able trouble, although the loss might be
trihing. Any cards that are spoiled in
the cutting or defaced in any way are re-
tanned and destroyed by the Government
Inspector.
The post-office officials in this city do
not regard postal cards with favor. Post
master James expressed the opinion the
other day that they we're emphatically
nuisance, and one of the subordinate
officials asserted that postal cards caused
iallihg-off in the sale of stamps of ST.
900 DAY. The daily sales of cards, he
said, would amount to $4,000 on an aver
age; on some days as many as 100000
had been sold. There was gradual in
crease in the sale of cards, ana this had
been the case since they were first intro
duced. Other causes beside the demand
for postal cards had affected the sale Of
stamps, the daily falling-Of in which
amounted to about $4,000. These causes
we're the hard times and the sale of stamps
by country postmasters, which had re-
Gently been exposed. Postal cards in
this country could not fail to be loss to
the Government, because they were car
ried so far at trifling cost. In England
they had met with more success on &C
count of the limited territory over which
they had to he distributed.-NeU York
Tribune.