The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1900-12-25
lNDELiBLE INK.
Many Experiments Have Been Tried
But Results Not Satisfactory.

'''''I -NFSt 0SCu ITISO
But Results Not Satisfactory.
"A number of years ago, when |
was chemist in the post office depart
ment, said a prominent scientist the
other day, IAN effort was made 10
find some ink, for cancellation pur-
poses, which would prove absolutely
indelible. Tests were made of all
the so-called indelible inks, but with
out success, until through some IN
known means the report was circll-
lated that it would be worth about
S6,OOO,0O0 to any man who would sup
ply the department with an ink that
would stand all tests as to it's indeli.
bic qualities. You can imagine the re.
suit OF the circulation of such a re-
port. 1t was only the matter of q
day or SO before the department was
Hooded with inks, black, blue, purple
and every color imaginable. Some
few were products which showed that
the party submitting them really had
some knowledge of the chemistry of
and the properties of the various in
gradients of good stable ink But
for the most part the connections
were merely colored solutions made
up in any AMI all ways, without the
slightest knowledge of the character
of the resulting solution, in the hope
that by some chance an indelule
fluid might be obtained. Cranks nat
urally came to the front with their
products, and, gave more trouble than
all the chemists and legitimate ink
manufacturers combined. But all
samples had to be tested. Under the
rules of the department each compel
itor could submit two samples only,
giving him chance to correct any
possible errors made in his first sam
pie. In several instances, however,
this rule was set aside.
NATURALLY among SO many compel
itors some purely fraudulent schemes
were resorted to, although all were
detected sooner or later. Unquestion-
ably the most interesting Of these
was submitted by man who in years
previous had occupied seat in the
United States senate. His ink reSem-
bled hundreds of other samples, ex-
cept for a sediment that collected in
the bottle after standing while. On
analyZing this ink | found the sedi-
ment to be nothing more nor less
than pulverized glass. AS you may
recall, all inks were tested in the
Washington city post office, and this
man had gone to the canceling clerk
who used the sample inks and en-
deavored to bride him to give the
stamp a turn or twist each time a
cancellation was made, hoping there
by to have the fine particles of glass
ground into the paper, insuring an in
delible mark or nearly so. But the
clerk was not to be bribed, and lii
turn reported the case to the depart
ment Not at all daunteu at this dis
closure, this same ex-senator took a
sample of his own ink, and made 4
number of cancellations in the man.
ner he described To further insure
the staying qualities of these marks,
| he baked the several letters for two
hours, in the hope of setting the ink.
He then submitted those samples to
the department, claiming they full
filled all requirements. The remark
able part of it all, however, was that
after. all the grinding and all the
baking, his cancellations washed out,
leaving no trace of ink whatever.
We did not know for years that his
own samples had been baked, the
story having been given out by an
old friend in whom he had confided
at the time This just shows, how
ever, to what straits some people go
in the hope of defrauding Uncle Sam.
In spite of fraudulant means and
others, no absolutely indelible ink
has been found, and probably never
will be-