Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-02-10
MAKING AN ENVELOPE.
TEN MILLIONS TURNED OUT IN THIS
COUNTRY EVERY DAY.

The word is spelled in two ways
envelope and envelop. The Envelope
Trust spells it with the final Z, in
which case it should be pronounced
as il French-ahn-v-lope The French
spelling is, however, envelope The
word without the final is pronounced
en-vellup. Dean Swift made the fol-
lowing rhyme
LEND these to paper-sparing Pope,
And when he sits to write,
No letter with an envelope
Could give him more delight"
The trade does not say ahn-v-lope,
but en-vellup. The United States En-
velope Company, with capital of So
100000, is the largest manufacturer
| of envelopes in the world, comprising
as it does no less than nine big con-
Germs in New England and one in
| Milwaukee. In the United States we
haoVe, all told 80 large firms engaged
in this manufacture, 20 of which do
not belong to the trust.
Over 100000 envelopes are made
in this country every working day, or
more than 3,000,000,OO0 a year. The
| Pm plOuuIl dniOtllS 10 OU,tNUtUU IL
day, or nearly 10000, 100000 annually.
The American output of lead pencils
is 5000 gross or 100000 a day, max
ing the annual production Of 225 600.
Buttons we make by the million gross,
and great quantities of steel pens.
In the latter product England is far
ahead of us. 1t is said we do not
make the right kind OF steel for pens.
The biggest little thing is the match,
| of which We make and use annually
over 125, 100000, 900. 1t is estimated
that the consumption is five matches
a day for every man, woman and child
of the population, which makes 400,-
000,000 a day. A single machine
| turns out 100000 matches an hour,
or 5,2S0,000 each working day of
eight hours.
| The oldest envelope manufacturing
firm in the United States is IN William
street, which boasts many ancient
houses in other lines. If you wish to
see the old, the solid, the safe and
the sound IN our commercial life go
to William street. between, say, Lib
|
was the original envelope manufac-
turer in New York, and the firm in
| William street is his successor. When
he began business our fathers were
folding their letters with the writing
inside and concealing the contents by
means of waters and sealing wax.
| That was about so years ago. For
long time envelopes were made by
hand and the cost was considerable.
The establishment of to-day turns out
with so machines 100000 every eight
hours, and the present cost of enve-
| lopes is so small that we hardly take
it into serious consideration.
l confess to feeling of disappoint-
ment since going through this factory
| with Mr.. Johnson. | thought an en-
velope machine could eat rolls OF pa
per and turn out millions of the fnish-
eu product, packed in Dox,>s reaCy for
| the customer. Match machines are
| fed on blocks of wood and .he COM
pleted product is set before you
! packed in boxes containing from 90
to 500 each However, the envelope
machine is ingenious enough. The
blanks are first cut with steel dies,
which are forced through from 800 to
zoo sheets of paper at a single I'M
preston. They are then placed in the
front of the machine, which picks
them up one by one, gums the flaps,
folds them dries them and delivers
them in blocks of % to the operator.
| The latter is invariably woman. All
she has to do is to keep up the supply
sf blanks and band the envelopes as
hey are turned out. The smaller the
Envelope the faster the machine. the
capacity ranging from 12,GG0 to $1,000
a day of eight hours.
Some of the envelopes made here
are veritable works of art. Splendid
examples of lithographing are seen in
immense sheets OF paper, some with
gorgeous pictures so intricate that the
man with the die must be a Philadel-
phia lawyer to unravel the puzzle. The
number of sheets to be cut into blanks
at one impression must be of perfect
register, else the envelope will be
ruined in the folding. The old plan
was to drive steel pins through the
4J0 or more sheets, seeing that in each
a mark made by the photographer was
punctured. So varied is the demand
for envelopes that no factory could
keep in stock a sufficient number of
dies and machines for making odd
| STYLES, therefore the ancient hand
work is carried on in a secluded cor
ner.
A young man in a wire cage has a
mallet and some queer shaped steel
chisels, with which he cuts out these
odd shapes and sizes all of which are
gummed and folded by hand. 1t is
slow and tedious yet a necessary
branch of the business. Gum arabic,
dissolved in hot water or steamed,
is used for pasting the flaps Some
of the envelopes are 10 by Is inches,
with the top flap closed by means
of cord. Then there are little fellows,
| n n ~.,.., II, 1,- l.@ -