Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-07-27
ALL USE THIS GUM
Variety Most Familiar to the Great
American Tongue.
STICKY STUFF ON POSTAGE STAMPS
Precaution Taken in Placing 1t on
the Letter Takers.
DESCRIPTION OF PROCESS

Not one person in five hundred who ticks
a postage stamp ever dreams of the pre-
cautions taken by the bureau of engraV-
ing and printing to secure a uniform coat
ing of the best adhesive and purest gum
On the back of the stamps.
The process of cumming postage stamps
is as much an exact science as the build
irg of the large guns at the Washington
navy yard. This work, like that of practi-
cally all other similar kinds for the gov
eminent is done at the bureau of engrav-
ing and printing, and so accurate is the
process of cumming stamps that when the
work is finished the stamps are tested to
discover if the coating of mucilage on the
sheet varies as much as seven ten-thou-
sandthS of a pound
The room where the stamps are gummed
is airy and well lighted; is so by 30 feet and
contains al present eight cumming ma
chimes. The stamps, after being printed,
reach the cumming room from the eXamin
ing room in sheets 1872 by % inches, each
sheet containing 400 stamps. The sheets
to be gummed are fed by lady operatives
OF an endless chain belt, held by grippers.
This chain belt passes under a glass gum
ming roller, which is automatically coated
with the exact proportion of mucilage to
be received by the sheet. This mucilage
is fed to the roller from a small tank just
ried by the endless chain belt into a COW
cred drying box % feet long, which con-
tains coils of steam pipes, which produce
a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit
The sheets of stamps, after a slow journey
OF one minute, emerge from the other end
of the drying box with the mucilage per-
fectly dry.
The Touch That Tells
The machine automatically delivers the
Sheets on d table to a lady operative, who.
by passing her experienced hand over the
gummed surface, determines if the sheets
are properly gummed and if they are run
ming through the machines at just the right
degree of speed to insure their being prop
erly dried. The lady who receives the
gummed sheets can. if desired touch an
electric button which telegraphs to the
operative feeding the sheets to the machine
at the other end of the room telling her to
increase OF diminish the speed of the chain
belt, or she can signal by a prearranged
code in regard to any defect of the gummed
surface requiring immediate attention. In
this connection it might be interesting to
state that the automatic machines and
chain belt are operated by electric motors
running at varying degrees of speed to
suit the varying conditions of the atmoS-
phere. as the drying boxes will not dry
the gummed sheets of stamps as rapidly in
damp as in dry weather.
After being gummed the sheets are roll
ed TO take out the curl of the paper, and
are again inspected to see if there are any
defects in the cumming. If they are found
to be perfect they then counted and
pressed and sent to the perforating ROOM
the process of perforating being in itself
an exceedingly interesting one.
Care to Insure Uniformity.
The care taken to insure perfect uni
formity in the cumming of the stamps is
not the least interesting part of the work
Every morning when the machine press
men report for duty they are each given
blank form which they must fill out dur
Ing the day as their work progresses. On