The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1878-08-23
PosrAGE STAMPS.

gives the following very
- 'e '' essfIption of the mannnel
Vi iiAN"iev -, ng postage stamps. Oul
readers wn saa It worthy of perusal:
a Visis " Me Establishment in which
lhe Pos'aee Stamps for the United States
are Li@uo e very interesting. There
are aoou' eissy Persons at work making
the stamps ws put on our letters; and il
is doubtful il there il - be fonnd anv,
wnere Dusiez set of workers or any who
make things hsat livelier rate. More
than nan g ne eighty are young
women lntsest men. say young
women, Tor fe appears to be no old or
mlddie-agee onss among them; and
thereby hAqss tale" i was assured
that for sEe manifold forms and
processes aanipulation, through
which thl zheetc Of postage
stamps nd q. ne has foundz-tisst
not only *. 10 fail to come to time in
the necessary decay of touch and ra-
pidity of work but even the women
employed mustbe young and smart.
Not even arc or fat woman WI do;
they are TOD earse and clumsy for the
marvellous dexrity and celerity of
touch and moynents required. After
looking at the, girls, and noting their
swift and siler work, could well be-
lieve it.
Nobody who,uys at the postoffice
sheet of stampeven imagines the num-
Der and varietpf processes it has under
gone in the stap manu- factory. Asone
part of the wrk, the sheet has been
counted no feWr than twenty-six times;
for every shee has to be counted (and
the counting iproved by others, begin
ming with itstatus as simple white
paper, and so through different hands
to thu printer the gummers, the per-
forators and vSous others, all of whom
must accountOr the exact number OF
sheets they hadle, 80 that there can be
no mistake o. loss. The girls are en-
coursged to eclare any mistake they
may make, sohat the error may be
found and corcted, instead of conceal
ing it. But hey seldom err; they are
msrvels of corctness.
After the peer is wet down." as the
printers say-every hundred sheets
being couniedand the number marked
by a projectin tag--it Is taken up to
the printers. Each sheet is of the
right size 70 making one hundred
stamps of the,rdinsry size. Curiously
enough, one othe gentlemen of whom
inquired seend to know what paper
mill made Ii paper, but it is made
especially for he purpose. The print
ing-room is ,owded with the hand
presses used f. printing the stamps, no
fewer than eileen presses being in active
operation. Eeh press has three per-
sons in atten,stce---one TO "tend press
one tosvj-<2thk. plate, and one--the
--prfnters s'---toorusD on 1--a- 49, 1
a wonderfully swift and dexterous wsy), (
rom the surface as soon as it has been /
put on. The reason OF this, which /
would otherwise be piece of self-stulti-
ication, is that the stamps are counter
sunk" or cut in, and the ink is not |
wanted above them on the plane surface, |
1t would cost too much and take too |
ong to prepare steel-engraved dies for
every stamp,so scast>hardened steel die is
made, down at the Continental Bank .
Note Compsny's, all carefully engraved
md cut away to perfection, and then 8
,teel plate sohened for the purpose is by !
rolled over the die, which
caves its impress every time, until the
entire plate is filed with them; then The
plate is hardened aud ready for use-one |
or every printing press in the room.
These are hand presses, and the cylinder
hat makes the impression is merely
.urned by single whirl of the wheel
by leverage afforded by the
spokes' or handles. 1t is all |
lone in surprisingly quick way, and
here is no ''lost motion" of wheel, cylin-
Ter or elbow.
The printers are paid by the hundred.
Precisely how much they earn I couldn't |
ind out, but it ought to be good wages,
ior they "work like beavers" There is
no idling or play in that room-nor any
where else in this busy establishment
The blank paper, all numbered, is charged
to the printers to whom it is delivered,
and charged to them. When not
in actual use the plates are kept
locked up in the safe-a little
room in itself.
Each of these eleven presses turns out
l 200 sheets day, or 7 200 week. Each
sheet contains 200, and they are deliv-
sred to postm:sters only in sheets of 100;
it follows thss each sheet must be cut
right though the middle. This is done
by hand. A gil with long pair OF
shears cut thensss accurately as a ruled
line, showing whit good eye and rapid
hand can do. There is no room in the
sheet OF any error, and the girls
make none. One girl, whom 1 watched
for a while, cut fifty sheets minute
O,OOO daily. Its silent cut, cut, cut,
from morning til night, working as if
her life depended upon it. She sits at
her work. The girls are all busy at
variety of process in the preparation of
the stsmps, all of which require deli
cacy of touch as well as swifJness, and
their wages average So week, or little
over.
From the printing room and the dry
ing-room (the latter an insuferabIy hot
place, where the sheets are placed in
frames on dryinglacks) they go to the
cumming g-room-which is also drying
room, but not hot, the drying being
aided by revolving fang fixed t. shafts,
which send their influence through
lofty piles OF the gummed sheets in
frames. The gum used is not gum>arabic
that would in drying cause the sheets
to curl and crack-but is simply kind
of potato starch. A girl swiftly adjust
the edges of heap of printed sheets, SO
as to slide them all into place, while she
deftly daubs them at single stroke with
the mucilaginous substance which she
anplies with single motion of wide
brush. This is the substance you slicl
to make it stick On the letter YOU dror