The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1883-01-27
MAKING P0STAL.CARDS.
The Factory at CastletOn-A Retired
Nook ON the Production and
DfstributI0n-A Business That Has No
Competition.

INOVa W. viz uOAOn-k,fOuuCIl0nH anu
Dtstributi0n-A Business That Has No
Competition.
The village of Castleton on the east
bank of the Hudson River is about eight
miles below Albany. quarters of
a mile north of the village deep land
cave sets back into the range of hills.
From the depot at Castleton a railroad
track lies between the regular tracks of
the Hudson River Road and the high
way till it comes to this cave, and there
it curves sharply inland and follows the
bank of crooked stream to cluster of
buildings situated close in the mouth of
the ravine. In these buildings all the
postal-cards of the United States Govern
ment are manufactured
The most conspicuous feature of the
factory, as viewed from the river or rail-
road trains is an exceedingly tall, sym
metrcal brick chimney that rises high
against the background of Sc :ond- growth
pines. This has been built in connec-
ton with the new steam power for
the p..per-mill, the cref1 not being suf-
ficiently constant to drive the works and
at the same time furnish the water re-
CURED in the manufacture of the paper.
The plant of the paper mill has long ex-
listed here, but the postal card factory
was established at this point less than
three years ago, having been removed
from Holyoke, Mass. The paper-mill is
owned by the Fort Orange Paper Com
pany, of which William II. Sheffield,
Saugerties. is Vice President and Man
ager. 1t is not confined to the manu-
facture Of cardboard for postal-cards,
nor will the latter, when improvements
that are now in progress are completed,
constitute the largest article of produc-
ton. The only obligation that mill
owners are under to the Government is
TO supply the postal-card factory with
board as fast as it is needed, and of the
quality called for by contract. The Gov
eminent has no monopoly in the prod
uct of :he mill The same quality of
cardboard that the Government demands
is open to the market The color of the
postal-cards is specified in the contract,
but even this the paper-mill is at liberty
to furnish to any one who may want
that particular shade of cardboard.
Postal cardboard is made of the best
quality OF linen and cotton rags, which
are treated in all respects, from the rag
bale to the calender roll, as they are for
the manufacture of any other cardboard
of like quality. A certain quantity of
chemical or wood pulp is mixed with the
rag, and this is of a quality almost as
expensive as rag pulp.
The postal-card factory proper is new
one-story brick building, of very unpre-
tending appearance. In this respect it is
in harmony with the process of prepar-
ing the cards, for the latter is extremely
simple and apparently inexpensive. The
cardboard is received from the paper
mill in sheets twenty-one inches by
thirty. size just large enough to be cut
into forty postal-cards. The sheets are
first printed on an ordinary large cylin-
der Job printing press, there being in
the factory two Hoe presses and one Tay-
Tor. The impression is taken on plate
containing forty card faces with stamp,
the monogram US, the scroll and words
I" Postal Card" and the untruthful print
ed line Nothing but the address can be
placed on this side" Thus, when a
sheet of cardboard is run through the
press it comes out with forty postal
cards completely printed, ready to be cut
up into the One-cent missives with which
the public are familiar Any two of the
presses are sufficient to supply the de-
mand without being rushed.
From the presses the printed sheets are
taken to cutting machine, where they
are rapidly cut into strips, containing
ten cards each. They are fed between
rollers, on which there are four circular
blades. The cutting into strips is done
as fast as tolerably active boy can pass
IN oh Ia
machine the strips are taken to second
cutter, where they are fed through rollers
with circular blades, set as far apart as
the width of a postal-card. Thus the
cards are produced ready for use from
every strip that is run through the
cutter. They drop into ten pockets
made of tin, and constructed on a
shaft. The boy who feeds the strips
into the cutter passes twenty-five
through and then calls out "tally."
Three girls remove the cards from the
tin pockets, pack them in stacks of
twenty-five each, and wrap each pack
age about with the paper band with
which every body is familiar who buys
his cards in quantities of twenty-five and
upward In addition to employing the
pockets and banding the cards, one of
the three girls has to turn the pocket
shaft every time the feeder calls tally"
and another has to count the cards in
any one pocket, so as to see that the
count of the boy who feeds in the strips
is correct Every twenty-five strips pro-
duces $50 cards, delivered equally in ten
pockets. If any one Of them contains
twenty-five cards, each of the other nine
must contain like number. In order
to equalize the labor among the three
girls, the one who turns the pocket-shaft
and the one who counts the contents of
one of the pockets empty and pack up
each three pockets. The third girl is
therefore required to empty and pack up
the contents of four pockets, with nothing