The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-09-22

from 81 to Sc day in earning capacity.
Where the steam presses are used
four steel plates, each one printing
400 stamps, work upon an endless
chain passing in front of the pressman.
In this operation his duties are con-
fined to cleaning the plates with his
hands, es described above, the ma
chinery doing the mixing and press
ing. He can press about seven sheets
every sixty seconds, and has two young
women to assist him, one to feed the
press and the other to remove the
sheets.
The sheets of stamps are now ready
to be gummed, perforated and divided.
After the ink has been dried and the
sheets pressed fiat they are sent to
another room, where another gang
handle them. The cumming machine
is simple apparatus which distributes
an even flow of mucilage upon the re-
verse side of the stamp. 1t is done
automatically, so that there is no
waste and no surplus ofmucilage upon
any part of the sheet. The mucilage
is composed of glucose and dexterine,
mixed in stipulated quantities and alb
solutely harmless.
When the sheets are coated with
mucilage they pass upon an endless
chain through q steam chest about
sixty feet long, where they are sub
jected to temperature of about 135
degrees, coming out after several min
utes thoroughly dried. Then they go
to hydraulic press to be pressed fiat,
having become warped in the steam
chest. The sheets are are laid between
stiff cardboards and stack of them
put into tho machine, where they are
subjected to a pressure of 5000 pounds
to the square inch. There are no
wrinkles left when they emerge from
this gentle squeezing.
Their next journey is to the perfora-
ting machines, operated by skillful
young women. This is apparently a
simple piece of work, but it requires
close attention to feed the machine, so
that the perforating wheels run
straight down the spaces between the
stamps. Even with the utmost care
slips occur, and a row of stamps is
perforated down the middle. Every
spoiled sheet is preserved, however, to
be accounted for, and if so much as q
corner of stamp is torn off it must be
70 nrof n
whole sheet to the next checker
One of the most interesting places
in the building is the room where the
stamps are examin ed and counted. This
is an immense apartment, filled with
long tables, at which several scores of
young women are working. Piled
upon the tables in front of them are
stacks of ten dollar, fifty dollar or one
hundred dollar bills, government
bonds and sheets of stamps. A rus
tling sound like the whisper of the
wind through a thousand trees fills the
room, as the counters rapidly turn the
bills and sheets, keeping a mental tab
upon the number, while their eyes,
trained to the utmost vigilance, seek
out imperfections in the printing.
L saw one young woman at work
counting and examining the stamps
whose record was from ten thousand
to twelve thousand sheets day. Her
fingers seemed to fairly fly as she
lifted the sheets, and although it was
but fraction of q second during
which the stamps passed under he1
gaze, her quick eye would detect the
least imperfection, passing over two
hundred stamps in that time. For this
skillful and exacting work these young