Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1913-06-05
STAMPS MILE LONG
New Device Great Saving il
Printing Cost.
New Machine In the Government Plant
at Washington Saves Time, Labor
and Space In Turning Out the
Little Paper Squares.

A~NNANN .E"N NHa"f -
Washlngton.--Just think of It. post
! age stamps can now be purchased by
\ the mile strip. Uncle Sam has Just
installed new invention In the bu'
rcau Of engraving and printing which
manufacturers stamps at the rate OF
$4,000 per minute. 1t Is a plate press
which produces the little stickers on q
continuous roll OF paper. Further than
that, the same press is apt to revolu-
Honize printing from engraved plates;
II Is regarded as bearing the lame re-
lation to the development OF the
science Of plate printing that the
Mergenthaler linotyle machine bears
to hand composition Of type.
This plate-printing press eliminates
% processes in the former method OF
printing postage stamps; the only use,
so far, to which II has been applied.
The paper Is fed automatically from
the roll, inclosed In safe-cylinder, to
the press, which prints the stamps,
dries the Ink so that there Is no trace
of offset" gums the back of the
stamp-printed roll. dries the gum.
breaks the hard, glazed, solid face of
the gum, perforates and counts, and
either rolls up the strip of stamps or
slits them into strips of a single
lamps thickness for use In stamp
vending machines, which 1t also rolls
Up, or cuts them into sheets. The
xAchines, which is looked upon as
Vi of the mechanical wonders of the
Whiting age, is the invention Of Ben
jamin r. Stickney, a mechanical ex-
pert and designer in the bureau, whose
salary has for years been only $1,000
per annum Since completing the
machine Mr. Stickney's salary has
been advanced to $4,000. This Is only
one instance in many where Uncle
Sam recognizes inventive genius in
his employ
On an annual bill of half million
dollars for printing postage stamps.
the bureau Of engraving and printing
Is anticipating a saving Of 100000 an
nuaIly through the installation Of this
device, a 81 per cent. decrease. II the
machine takes to printing money and
bonds and other securities the pro
spective economy will likely reach
into the millions of dollars.
The press, while It has not yet been
speeded up. IL expected to print from
the roll at the rate Of rs feet OF
stamps minute. The Derforator and
cutter can revolve even faster-four
times as fast, making holes or strips.
lateral or Transverse, at the rate OF
$50 feet a minute.
The device also means great saving
In space occupied and In manual la
Dor. The press is about three feet
wide snd something less than 20 feet
lonstth a height of never over sew
en- NJ Human direction will be re
quire6R only to run the press and to
direct the perforating machine-a
man and a girl will make crew.
In the old way of making stamps,
there was much handling with many
separate processes. The paper on
watch the samps were printed was re-
earded as a valuable asset, and had to
be guarded. so that in the imprinted
bulk 1t was carried to a place OF Sc
curity after work every night, and back
again to the presses every morning.
The paper, before 1t is ready for
printing by the new process, must be
made wet, and wet according TO Ger
tain accurate standard of moisture
The old stamp presses could not apply
the pressure necessary for dry print
Ing. ~.~-"f -
The sheet of unrolling paper ascends
over rollers and is fed from overhead
into the press, 1t passes down between
the feed roller and the printing cylin
der. on which is fixed the engraved
plate -whieh=tf samps are print
ed. receiving the impression m pass
ing.
The papera having received the
stamp impression from the engraved
platEa.p proceeds to roller * the bot
tom the. press. and then -ascend'
agaS4y{o the top. where is passes
through group of ten cylinders. al
heated by electricity, ' This Is tnt
method of drying the ink. and SO ct
fective is 1t that not trace OF Offset
Is shown at any time in the process o.
making the stamps. or afterward.