The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-11-18
MAKING OF POSTAGE STAMPS.


The first mechanical process in the
manufacture of a postage stamps the
cutting, or engraving, of the die.
This is a piece of steel of the finest
quality, on the polished surface OF
which man slowly and patiently
cuts, line by line, the portrait or other
emblem which has been adopted for
this particular stamp. Asteel engrav-
ing is what is called an inciser plate
that is, every line which is to show
in the finished print is cut into the
surface instead of being left in relief,
as in wood engraving.
The die which the engraver cuts is
a negative" in other words, re-
versal of the design which the stamp
will show. The reason for this soon
becomes apparent.
When the die is finished and proofs
show it to be satisfactory, it is har-
dened and fixed in the bed of pow
erfuI press. Over it is then passed .
steel roller, the circumference of
which is several times, perhaps four
times, the diameter Of the die. I'm
mense pressure is applied, so that
every line on the surface of the die is
impressed upon the surface of the roll
er as many times as the circumference
of the roller is larger than the area
of the die. In this way four perfect
copies of the die are reproduced on
the roller, but reversed. Each of
these impressions is positive"
This roller is now hardened in turn
in order that it may transmit the i'm
pressions once more, this time to the
plate from which the actual printing
is to be made. This plate is also of
steel. The size is sufficient to print
a whole sheet of stamps-from 200 to
3oo-at single impression.
Into the surface of this plate the
impression on the roller is forced by
great pressure once for each stamp in
the subsequent sheet, and then the
plate is hardened. eseimpressions
are negatives, so that the prints from
them-the stamps themselves-will
be positives.
The reason for all this preliminary
work is most interesting. In the
first place, printing could not be done
from single die because of the vast
quantities of stamps required. In
the second place, it could not be done
from the roller, because on that the
lines are in relief instead of being in
cised, and in the third place, it would
not be feasible to have several dies or
a large number of them engraved,
both because the expense would be
prohibitive and because no two would
then be absolutely alike. The pres
ent system makes it certain that
every stamp of a certain lot is exact
ly alike every other of the same lot-a
great safeguard against counterfeit
ing.
When three printing plates have
been made they are all fastend to the
bed of special printing press. When
the machinery is started the first plate
is linked, then automatically wiped
until it is like mirror. The wiping
removes all the ink except what clings
to the lines of the 200 duplicate en-
cravings which dot the surface.
Over the plate is laid sheet of
dampenend paper, the plate is slightly
warmed in order to permit the ink to
swell, and heavy pressure is applied.
Meanwhile the second plate is receiv-
ing ink, and then the third comes into
play, so that although all three are
on the same press, each is at given
moment undergoing a differentprocess
from either of the other two. This
has wrought great saving of time
over the old process of printing
by hand. When the printed sheets
are dry they go to the cumming ma
chine, in which they pass between
dry roller on one side and one moist
ened with mucilage on the other.
From these rollers they are cast out,
wet side up upon an endless web,
which carries them through steam
heated box.
There come out dry, ready for the
perforations, which permits them to
be torn apart easily. These are very
easily made by passing the sheets be-
tween one cylinder studded with
steel pins and another perforated
with holes to match the pins. The
two together act like the jaws of
conductors punch.
The last process is pressing the
sheet by hydraulic power to coun-
teract the mucilage.
The printing of stamps, like the
printing of gold and silver certi6-
Gates and bank notes, is subject to
the most careful and constant in
spection.
Every sheet of paper is counted be-
fore it is delivered to the printer, and
before he goes home at night he must
return exactly the same number of
sheets, either of perfect stamps or
spoiled paper, and no Seconds" or
samples are given away to visitors.
A NEWSPAPER publisher recently
brought suit against forty6ve men
who would not pay their subscription
and obtained judgment in each case
for the amount of each claim. Of
these, twenty-eight made affidavit
that they owned no more than the
law allowed, thus preventing attach
ment. Then under the decision of
the supreme court they were arrested
for petit larceny and bound over in
thesum of S. 900 each. All but six