The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-12-31
AN HEREDITARY CONTRACT.
Machines by Which Stamps Are Can
ceIled, Made by One Family.


Since 1886 all the machines by
which postage stamps are Cancelled
and envelopes marked, with the name
of the postoffice, the date and so forth,
have been made by one family. In the
year namod the postmaster general
entered into contract 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
there have been multitude Of COM
petitors ON several occasions, that
contract has been renewed year after
year for .65 years with Mr.. Chambers,
his son and his grandson, who have a
secret process by which the dies are
made of. malleable iron and carbonized
into steel at q cost Of from so cents
TO $2.75 each. It Is certainly the only
government contract, and probably the
only contract in the United States,
that has been renewed SO often and
continued so long. The department
buys about $4,000 worth of new can
celers every year Bids are advertised
for annually, and every now and then
some ambitious manufacturer who
thinks he has a good thing offers
proposal, but the Chambers family
are invincible. They have improved
the device until it is now almost per.
feet. N
The stamper is a circular cast-steel
box with screw thread, one end Of
which 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 disk of steel.
a portion of its thickness enters the
box by means of a screw thread
around it's periphery of almost 20
threads to one inch. This permits of
a space between the inner face Of the
disk and the bottom of the box, while
the remaining thickness of the disk
forms a flange with the edge, which
is coarse milled, SO that the disk may
be turned with the hand or a wrench.
On the outer face Of the disk are char
acters of the body of the cylindrical
die. These combine the marking and
the cancelling devices, one being stu
ated on one side of the disk, inclosing
the name of the postoffice in circle.
There are three slots for removable
type, for month, date, hour and half
hour. Dramatically opposite the cir
Gle is the canceling device, the SIDE
of which is parallel with the edge Of
the disk. Any required number or
letter Is cut in relief in the centre,
The removable type are of steel and
have on the ends opposite to their
faces projections from their edges, SO
that when inserted in the slots the
projections can be 'clamped and held
in place.
Until 1880 Capt. Chambers manufac-
tured the cancelers here in Washing
ton, and he is still required to main
tain repair shop in the neignbor-
hood of the postoffice department, but
he moved his factory to Northumber-
land county, Virginia, on a leg of land
at the mouth of the Potomac, where
he has a little village composed ex-
clusively of his employees and .--~4r
families. No one can enter mis-
grounds without permission, and those
who have been there say it is quite
an ideal little village, safe from the
spies of competitors who would like
to get the contract away from him.
William E. Curtis, in the Chicago Rec
ord HERALD.