Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-02-08

HOW POSTAL CARDS ARE MADE.
An Interesting Description Of the Process Through
Which they are Evolved.

PC1NAAA wv As1toi1 PAolftl - Z
new one-story brick building, of very
unpretcnding appearances. In this re.
spect it is in harmony with the process
of preparing the cards, for the latter is
extremely simple and apparently mex,
pensivc, The cardboard is received
from the paper-mill in sheets twenty
one inches by thirty, a size just large
enough to be cut into forty postal-cards
The sheets are first printed on an ordi-
nary large cylinder 'job' printing
press, there being in the factory two
Hoe presses and one Taylor. The inn
preston is taken OF a plate containing
forty card faces with stamp. monogram
US, the scroll and words Postal Card
and the untruthful painted line Moth.
ing but the address can be placed on
this side" Thus when a sheet of card.
board 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 is
familiar. Any two of the presses are
sufficient to supply the demand without
being rushed.
From the presses the printed sheets
are taken to a cutting machine, where
they are rapidly cut into strips contain
ing ten cards each. They are fed between
rollers, on which there are four circular
blades. The cutting into strips is done
as fast as a tolerable active boy can
pass in the sheets. From the first cut
ting-machine the strips are taken to a
second cutter, where they are fed
through rollers with circular blades, set
as far apart as the width of Il postal
card. Thus ten cards are produced
ready for use from every strip that is
run through the cutter. They drop into
ten pockets made of tin and construct
ed on a shaft. The boy who feeds the
strips into the cutter passes twenty-five
Though and then calls out tally"
Three girls remove the cards from the
tin pockets, pack them in stacks of
twenty-five each, and wraps each pack
age about with the paper band with
which everybody is familiar who buys
his cards in quantities of twenty-five
and upwards. In addition to empty
ing the pockets and banding the cards,
one of the three girls has to turn the
pocket-shaft every time the feeder
calls italy" and another has to count
the cards in any n pocket, SO as to see
that the count of the boy who feeds
in the strips is correct. Every twenty
five strips produce $50 cards, delivered
equally in ten pockets. If any one OF
them contains twenty-five cards,
each of the other nine must con-
tain a like number. In order to equal
ize 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 there
fore required to empty and pack up the
contents of four pockets, with nothing
else to do.
The yellow paper band that is wrapped
about each package of twenty-five cards
is ready gummed, so that the three
pocket tenders are able to work with
alacrity, az it is evident they must do
in order to stack up all the postal-cards
used in the United States. The pack
ages of twenty-five each are placed in
piles of ten each, and two of these piles
are packed In a strawboard box, each
box thus containing 500 cards. The
strawboard boxes are made rapidly on
the spot by an ingenious machine. The
whole machinery for making postal
cards, after the cardboard is received
from the paper-mill, could be operated
in a room thirty feet square. This. of
course, would not be sufficient for stor-
ing material and stock.
The Government makes contracts for
postal-cards to continue in force four
years. The present contract was enter
ed in on July /, 1881 with Messrs.
Woolworth & Graham, of New York.
1t is understood that the Fort Orange
Paper Company now participates in the
contract. The Gov eminent agency is
in charge of MIR. Alfred Tanner, of
Kingston, who has seven clerks and as
ssstants to do the bookkeeping, ship
ping and supervision. They are en-
ployed by the Government under the
direction of the Third Assistant Post
master-General The contractors en-
ploy in the card factory proper about
twenty persons-men, boys, and girls.
Managers, employees, and all hands
board in the village, which is little more
than a mile from the works.
This force produces and packs on an
average OF about 1,250,000 postal cards
each working day. The total product
last year was 800, 1000, 900. and as the
cards are all made at Castleton factory
the product measures the number of
cards used in the country. If the de-
mand at the factory averages 1880, 900
a day, it follows that only an average
of n and a quarter card is used daily
by every fifty people in the country.
This shows a less general use of postal
cards than many might estimate with
out something like definite data. The
rate of increase in the use of cards
during the year ending June 80,
1879, over previous years was 1902
per cent. For the year Guiding June 80,
1880, the increase was % per cent. and
for the last fiscal year it was about the
same. The increase is believed to be
mostly in business quarters, where
they are used for advertising. For
private correspondence the cards do not
seem to be as popular as they were
when they were first authorized in this
country Chicaq0 Tribune,