Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-11-23
ABOUT POSTAL-CARDS.
When They Were Originated and
 How They Are Printed.
reduced in Austria Twenty Years Ago and in America Four Years Later-A Walk Through the Factory Near
 CastletOn, N. Y.

 In 1865 the Prussian postal authori- ties announced their intention of issuing correspondence card, on which brief communications not under seal or in an inclosure could be sent through the mails at greatly reduced rates. For some reason never explained, the scheme hung fire and was, apparently, aban- doned. In 1869 Austria took up the idea, and commenced the manufacture and sale of Correspondence cards," as they are still called on the European continent. Prussia immediately fol- lowed suit, and, during the war with France, distributed the cards free to soldiers, and at a purely nominal price to soldiers relatives. American postal cards made their appearance in May, 1873, since which time the sale has grown so rapidly that over 1000, ,O0O, 900 have now to be manufactured every year.
 The machinery used in making the postal-cards, writes correspondent of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat from AL bany, N. Y., is the usual kind ,of paper making machinery, and there are kept constantly in motion three washing en- zines, four beaters and two sets of roll ers One set is used entirely for postal card work, and one for the finer grade of book-paper work for the Government Each day from four to seven tons of rags are used, besides large quantity of wood pulp. The postal-cards are made almost entirely from rags. The rags are carried from Castleton on the smallest. railroad in the United States. It is a. little single-track road connecting with the Hudson River railroad, and it runs around the hills to the mill. One loco motive, one passenger car and a postal-car constitute the equipment of the miniature road.
 This little train of cars carries away daily from the works two car loads of printed postal-cards, all of which are brought to this city and thence distributed, according to the des- tination marked upon them, all over the country, in every post-office over which Uncle Sam has jurisdiction. To load car requires between 2,OOO. 900 and 8, ,O0o,- 600 of the little cards, according to how they are packed. Three million cards make a large load, as box containing 5000 cards weighs 16a pounds. A thou sand cards weigh about 514 pounds, or. to be more exact, 1000, 900 cards weigh. 5,225 pounds. Climbing up the hill to the largest building one can easily fol- low the process by which postal-cards are made. In back room of the build ing can be seen dozen girls whose sole duty is to sort the rags that come in from the collectors. The girls cut off all buttons and buckles on discarded garments and sort the rags into piles according to quality. The sorted rags are put into huge chopping machines, which cut them into small pieces. It then whiffs them into dust machine, where they arc shaken and cleaned. From this point they pass through a. succession of baths in chloride of lime and various other bleaching and cleans ing chemicals, with occasional visits to vats and trips through rollers with sharp knives on them.
 After passing through the different processes the rags come out in fine white pulp as thin as flour paste. This | is shaken over wire to get the water out, | and is then put through a score or moro of rollers and a glue bath, after which it is rolled out into postal-card paper. At the end of the long rolls that have been squeezing the paper down | and putting the gloss on it are the knives used for cutting, and the long sheet passing through it is either cut | into sheets four postal-cards wide to be | put into the hugo automatic presses, or | into sheets 21x30ls inches. In the big l room of the poStal-card mill are about | a dozen men and two dozen women, four l large presses, four cutters and one extra | large cutter. The sheets are taken to | the press, where they are given the | feeders, who on the Campbell presses | feed forty-one sheets minute, or 1,760 | postal cards. The cards are printed | from steel plates so hard that file | Each one is printed from a separate | plate, and eighty plates are locked in | the bed of the press. All the plates arc | sent from Washington, and one set of | plates in continual use lasts about two years. The feeders are women of ex- perience, and they receive AK cents for 1 feeding 100, 900 cards, and can feed about 5O0, ,OOO a day.
 l Tho sheets arc next taken to the cut ters, from which they are turned out in single cards. Three girls take the cards of each feeder. One counts twenty-five in each package, and the other two put on the paper binders. After they leave this room they arc put up in packages. counted out in packages of twenty and put into the pasteboard boxes, which by contract must be muslin bound. Five girls put the muslin binding on the boxes, receiving for their work Is cents per 100 boxes. The boxes when filled arc put into cases ready for shipment | No order for less than 500 cards is filled. Orders for 10000 or more are packed in wooden cases, the largest single case holding 25,00O cards.
 A new machine has recently been put in to work on postal-cards that will in crease the rate of printing them and de crease the number of employees. Two of. the machines are now in operation. They print from continuous rolls at the rate of 800 per minute. set of knives cuts them off and they drop into little cells, set of steel fingers
 turn the package over. After each
 twenty-five cards have dropped into a