The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-03-07
VALUABLE SECRET.
One Family Has Furnished Stamp
Cancelers for Sixty-fve Years.
CNeW York Tribune-)

(NeW York Tr1bune-)
Since 1885 all the machines by which
postage stamps are Cancelled and en-
velopes marked with the name of the
postoffiee, the date, etc, have been made
by one family. In the year named The
postmaster general entered into a con-
tract with Benjamin Chambers, citizen
of Washington. TO furnish a device by
which postage stamps might be Cancelled
so that they could not be used again, and
although theirs have been a multitude OF
competitors on several occasions, that
contract has been renewed year after
year for siSlty-five years with Mr.. Cham
Ders, his son and his grandson, who have
a secret process by which the dies are
made of maleable iron and carbOniZed
into steel at a cost OF from 50 cents TO
$40 each. 1t is certainly the only gov
eminent contract, and probably the only
contract in the United States, that has
been renewed so often and continued SO
long The department buys about SIS, coo
worth of new cancelers every year Bids
are advertised Tor annually, and every
now and then some ambitious manufac-
turer who thinks he has a good thing
offers a proposal but the Chambers fam
the device until il is now almost perfect.
The stamper IS a circular cast-steel
box with a crew handle), one end of
winch is closed and is provided on the
outside with a square shank to secure
it to the hardwood handle. The cover
OF the box IS a disk OF steel A portion
of its thickness enters the box by means
of a screw thread around its periphery
of almost twenty threads to the inch. This
permits of a space between the inner
race OF the die and the bottom of the box,
while the remaining thickness of the disk
forms a hange with the edge, which is
coarse miIled, so that the disk may be
turned with the hand or a wrench. On
the outer face of the disk are characters
Of the body of the cylindrical die. These
combine the marking and the cancelinB
devices, one being on one side of the disk,
inclOSing the name of the pOStoffice in a
circle. There are three slots for remOv-
able type, for months, date, hour and
half hour. Dramatically opposite the
circle is the canceling devise, the side of
which is parallel with the edge of the
disk. Any required number or letter is
cut in relief in the center, while three
grooves are cut intaghO. The removal
types are of steel, and have on the ends
opposite their faces projections from their
outer edges, SO that when inserted in the
slots the projections can be clamped and
held in place
Until 1880 Captain Chambers manufac-
ture6 the cancelers here in Washington,
and he is still required to maintain a. re-
pair shop in the neighborhoOd of the post
office department, but he moved mis- fac
tory to Northumberland county, Virginia,
a leg of land at the mouth OF the PO-
tOmac, where he has little village COM
posed exclusively of his employees and
their families No one can enter his
grounds without permission, and those
who have been there say 1t Is quite an
ideal little village, safe from the spies of
competitors who would like to get the
contract away from him.