The Washington herald., 1922-04-08
POSTAGE METER
MAKES ITS DEBUT
In WASHINGTON
Stamps, Seals and Stacks
Letters at Rate of
10000 Hourly.
On E-MAN MACHINE
telephone Company First
Capital Concern to
Make Trial.
)N E-MAN MACHINE

Now comes the postage meter"
remarkable machine which post
1arks. stamps, seals. Counts and
tacks letters at the rate Of 80 per
linute. =
The first OF these time and labor
aving machines seen in Washing
on was installed yesterday in the
eVcnue accounting office OF the
,hesapeake and Potomac Telephone
company. where Postmaster Chance
nd a number Of city postOfiice and
elephone offieials gathered to see il
n operation
Mails 10000 an Hour.
The machine. which is distrib-
tied by the Postage Meter Com
Sny. Of Stamford. Conn. and New
-ork. arrived in the telephone COM
any's office At an oppOrtune. mo-
1ent. Stacked upon a table were
1000 monthly telephone bills,
Shich Mail Clerk Earl Abergail and
n assistant usually spend days of
ard work getting out to subscrib-
RS. The postage meter machine
vas put to work on the envelope
nclosed bills and began speeding
hem out at the date of 10000 an
our.
when you receive your telephone
ill take a look at the envelope and
-ou will see the kind of a stamp
lsed by the postage meter. The
ticky, sometimes eNasperating. ad-
.esive stamp is entirely done away
With. In its place the machine i'm
rints on the envelope II. S. Post
ge. Paid" together with the reg
IlatIon cancellation, showing the
,lace. date and time.
speeds Mail Delivery.
Since the machine postmarks the
etters, only one operation is neces-
AIRY when "metered mail" reaches
he postofice. That operation is
lorting. and as the result of the
rervice performed by the machine
'metered mali arrives at its desti-
latiOn from one to twenty-fOur
Iours sooner than ordinary mail.
The statistician Of a big firm in
Sew York. which sends out large
mount Of mail, estimated that the
'itney- Bowes postage meter saves
he work Of fifty-three persons.
only one person is needed to oper-
ate the machine. while it greedily
stamps. postmarks, seals, counts
and stacks letters at the rate Of
10000 an hour.
"Stamps" for the postage meter
IRE secured in this manner: Say.
he company owning a machine de-
Iires to send out 100000 letters.
zach requiring cents postage. The
mailing department head detaches
he little meter on the machine.
axes it to the postofice and has II
set for 100000 2-cent imprints- The
irm owning the machine pays for
Waving the meter set. just as though
were suying that number of
stamps.
When the meter is readjusted the
machine is then put into operation
I can stamp letters when there are
some stamps" to the meters credit.
When the 100000 stamps. or what
aver the number may be. are ex-
lausted the meter is returned TO
he postofice for a "reloading."
Common in Other Cities.
While the Pitney-Bowes postage
meter is new in Washington. II has
become commonplace in New YORK
and other large cities. The Ame--
,
pany has installed the machines in
its offices throughout the country.
In New York they are being used
by banks. department stores. news
papers. railroad offices and many
other large concerns.
A highly interested audience wiz
messed the first Washington dem
onstration of the machine at the Co.
!umbia telephone exchange yester-
day. One of the most Interested
present was Postmaster Chance.
Assistant Postmaster w II. Hay
cock and Superintendent of the
Mails c. E. Schooley also were pres
snt Representing the telephone
company were c. T. Clagett. divi-
sion manager OF the company; W. II.
Brandt. general clerk. and p. c.
King. division auditO- of receipts.
Henry G. Evans, representing the
Postage Meter Company. conducted
the demonstration. The Washing
ton representative Of the Postage
Meter Company is J. a. EgertOn.
Universal Stamping Machine Com
psny, 312-13 Ouray building.