The morning news., 1894-07-30
THE NEW POSTAGE STAMPS.
Presses Are Turning Them
Out by the Ream.

t,y 70 Uncle Sam of SOC, 900 a Year.
,r,.5frgton Correspondence Philadelphia
Times
Uncle Sam is beginning to print his own
.,.,age stamps at the bureau of engraving
Sv5 printing. The wheels have started
a,d before many days the machines will
Il =. trrning out the parallelograms of red,
Nine and green paper at rate TO supply
che n0stOffice department with the re-
orired O,OOO OO0 sheets per aunum. Each
.beet. as furnished to the government,
vill consists of 100 stamps.
The printing is done on queer-looking
,resses. each Of which produces 800
it,mns minute, or about 100, 900 on hour.
r,cb press has an endless chain that car
:,s fs1r plates, on which the designs of
,e stamps are engraved. On each plate
mosamps are represented. The sheets
nrintad from these plates are intended to
b. cut into quarters eventually in which
sbane they will be sold by the postohice
Zach plate is carried by the endless
eh4iB-frst under an ink roller, from which
h receives a coating of ink of the proper
Il eolor Then il passes beneath a pad of
iHkn. Next it pauses for moment
mdsr the hands Of man who polishes
j rhep.ate Finally sheet of white paper
Is laid upon the plate, both pass under a
& ro3er. and the sheet comes out on the
otatr side 400 printed postage stamps.
= The plates revolve in circle, as it
q were. More accurately speaking, they
move around the four sides of a square
N A bori. ontal plane. While one is being
-. 81,
rsrvas. another is being polished and
fhe fourth is passing under the printing
roller The circuit takes about minute,
daring which fber sheets of ACE stamps
are printed.
The most important part of the work,
i raauirtng the greatest skill is the polish
4 ne It is done with the bare hands, no
ether method being equally efficient. The
sheet is to leave exactly enough ink for
Fl GOOD impression and no more. One girl
laws the white paper sheets upon the
n plates. while another young woman re-
moves them, as fast as they are printed
Il and sticks them up in pile. This pro
cess gives the results of hand-press work.
Half a dozen presses working together,
each turning out 100000 an hour, can pro-
duce good many millions in day.
4 Three hands are Required for each press
i : the printer, who does the polishing, and
two girls The printer must account for
every sheet of blank paper that be re-
ceiyes. The sheets are counted in the
wetting division before they are delivered
to him After they are printed they are
counted before they are sent 10 the exam
inihg division, where they are couuted
again.
Spoiled sheets are counted as carefully
as perfect ones, because they represent
money. If lost or stolen they could be
used. On each sheet appears the special
mark of the printer who turned it out.
An allowance of = per cent. is made for
spoilage If he exceeds that allowance
he must pay for the extra loss at the
actual cost Of the paper, ink and la Dor
represented. This rule does not apply
yet, for the presses are hardly adjusted,
and hundreds Of sheets have been spoiled
In experiments.
If Z sheet is lost, it must be traced
back to the last person who handled it,
and that individual will be required to
pay face value for the stamps repre-
sented. II the person responsible can not
be found, the division which last handled
the sheet must pay, No loophole is left
for the loss Of a single 1-cent stamp. At
ter being examined, the sheets are counted
again and are put between strawaboards
under hydraulic press to make them
lie fiat. Thus they are counted more
easily and can be made up into smaller
bundles
After undergoing this process they are
counted once more and are sent down
stairs TO be guTnmed and perforated.
For these purposes the bureau of engrav-
ing has purchased entirely new ma
chnery, and the means employed are
more than ordinarily interesting. The
4 method OF cumming in particular is a
4 p9yelty, being wholly different from that
4 .WilHed hitherto in such work. 1t is much
n more rapid and efficient, and before long
Will doubtless supercede the old plan,
which IS even now applied to the gum
ming of cigarette stamps for the internal
a revenue
The paste is applied to the cigarette
stamp by hand with brushes AS fast as
tney are gummed they are laid sheet by
saeet on Slated frames, which are piled
ihslacks The stacks are wheeled on
4 Trucks into room, where they are placed
IL 'front.' of electric fans, so that the cool
air may dry them. Hot air would accom-
4 plSh the purpose more quickly, but it
would be hard on the workwOmen. For
Lhs reason the slower process is adopted.
n Inc new method, to be applied to the
\ postage stamps, will be an immense i'm
p9yement in every way.
The machines for this purpose have
\ Just been set up. There are two of them,
4 exactly alike, and one will do for descrip-
u0n, Imagine wooden box nearly sixty
leet long, four feet high and three feet
4 VIDE From end to end runs what might
o. taken for the skeleton of a trough.
MS skeleton projects from the box for a
lew ieet at either extremity. The box is
I4Versed by two endless chains, running
4 slue by side two feet apart. Into one end
sle sheets of printed stamps are fed one
4 by one
4 As tits fed into the machine each sheet
passes under roller like the roller of a
printing press, TO which gum made OF
ee&tnne is slowly supplied. The sheet
SdkeS up a coat of this mucilage on its
o"er side and is carried on by the end
ess chaln through the long box. The
uoA Is hot-air box, being heated by
eean pipes. AT the other end of it the
sAeets are delivered at the rate of eigh-
'eeu a minute. Just one minute is re-
f-IIeu Tor sheet to pass through the
O'4, ana 1t is delivered perfectly dry.
Il 4he gummed sheets thus delivered are
d PISSED over 10 a long table where girls
# pgk them up in pairs, and placing the
flhhed sides together, put them between
AYERS Of straw boards Arranged in this
"-5 'Ae} are placed under a steam press
h " Hatteu them, the mucilage having
q ea-'rl them to curl somewhat On
.gl'ing ont Of the press they are counted
rs4.A and now they 60 10 the perforatinR
-lgAIhes that makes the pin-holes by
..I.n u is rendered easy to tear the
slamus apart
n -.. Ile perforating machine is an arrange