The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1912-03-29
POSTAGE STAMPS
The Story of Their Making Is an
Interesting One.
ENGRAVING THE STEEL DIES,
How This Delicate Work ls Done and
tho Processes by Which tho Designs
Are Transferred TO the Plates-Print-
ina and Cumming the Sheets.

u
! ing and Cumming the Sheets.
The manufacture OF postage stamps
! involves n process not altogether sim
pie. There Is much labor given to the
making Of the little waters with which
everybody is so familiar. The first
step toward the production OF the
stamp Is, OF course. the engraving Of
the die with which II is printed Only
steel Of the finest quality Is used for
the purpose, and upon this the engrav-
ers slowly and laboriously cut line by
line the portrait or the emblem that
the government has selected for the
particular stamp I'm hand.
Engravers call this die negative
for the reason that it Is a reversal Of
the design that the stamp will exhibit.
Upon the completion Of the die
proofs are pulled" Should these
prove satisfactory the die is then
hardened and fixed i'm the bed of -
press OF great power. Then n stcri
roller whose circumference is several
times the diameter of the die is PASS
ed over it., immense pressure bcin2
applied, so that every line cut on the
surface Of the die may be impressed
upon that OF the roller as many
times as the circumference of the
roller IS larger than the area Of the
die The result is that there are re-
produced OH the roller four perfect
copies OF the die, but copies that are
reversed. Engravcrs call these impress
sions "positives."
The next step IS TO harden the roller
in order that it may give the impres-
sions once more, this time TO the plate
from which the real printing is to be
obtained. This plate, which Is also of
the finest steel, Is Of a size large
enough to print sheet OF stamps.
numbering from 200 to 800, at single
impression. Great pressure Is brought
to bear upon the surface Of this plate,
once for each stamp in the subsequent
sheet, and then the plate Is hardened
1t follows, Of course, that such impress
slons are negatives" and that the
prints obtained from them-the stamps
themsclves-are "pOSihvcs.'
1t should be stated at this point that
the reason why the printing is done I'm
this way instead OF from single die
lies in the fact that such enormous
numbers OF stamps are required. Then,
too. the printing could not be done from
the roller inasmuCh as on the roller the
lines are i'm relief instead Of being
"incised." Furthermore. 1t would not
be practicable TO employ several dies
or n great number OF them engraved.
The expense would be too great, and
no two stamps would be absolutely
alike.
When the workmcu have obtained
three satisfactory printing plates these
are fastened to the bed of special
kind of printing press. Peculiar care Is
exercised i'm the process OF mixing
Upon the starting OF the machinery the
first plate is mixed and wiped automat
ically until the plate fairly shines This
wiping takes away all the ink except
that which clings 10 the lines OF the
200 or 800 CnlrayingS.
The printers lay over the plate n sheet
Of dampened paper, slight degree of
heat is applied to the plate in order
that the ink may swell" and then
more pressure is applied During all
this time the second plate has been re-
ceiviug its ink, and subsequently the
third is brought into action, with the
result that although all three plates
are ON the same press, each one of
them is at a given moment undergoing
a different process from its fellows.
When the printed sheets have been
properly dried they are sent to a gum
ming machine. In this they are passed
between a dry roller on one side and
roller moiStened with mucilage on the
other. From the rollers they emerge,
wet side up, on TO an endless web that
conveys them through steam heated
box.
From this box they reappcar toirc
ceive the perforatiouS which are n-',
by passing the sheets between cy'iN
der provided with steel pins and ~ cyl
inder perforated with holes to maDc'
the pins.
The last step in the manufacture OF
the stamp Is the pressing of the sheets
TO overcome their tendency to curl b1
reason OF the mucilagc used This
pressing is accomplished 10y hydraulic
power.
The stamps are now ready for the
postmaster-II IIarpeT's Weekly.