IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF POSTAL WRAPPERS
Year: 1881

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PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Arthurs Elstob and
Charles Mills Elstob at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
16th March 1881.
JOHN ARTHURS ELSTOB and CHARLES MILLS ELSTOB, of 145, Camberwell Road,
in the County of Surrey.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF POSTAL
WRAPPERS."
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of postal
wrappers.
We employ in the manufacture of these wrappers a thin tough paper, so that the
wrapper sheet may be large, and yet the postal limits of weight not exceeded when
a full sized letter is enclosed.
The paper is printed with such information as the wrapper is intended to
convey.
This is done by first preparing a large scale sheet or sheets, and producing
a printing surface therefrom on the smaller scale by well known photographic
processes.
The sheets of paper after having been printed with this photographically
prepared surface and thoroughly dried are accumulated one over the other in a
pile, and the wrappers are then produced from the paper by means of a tool
consisting of a rectangular steel frame. Three of the sides of this frame are
straight, but the fourth side is bowed out in the middle to the form of an.envelope
flap. On one side (which is the underside when the frame is in use) the metal is
This steel frame is laid upon the pile of
sharpened to a cutting edge all round.
printed paper from which the wrappers are to be produced, and then by a powerful
press pressure is applied to the upper surface of the frame, and the cutting edge
is forced through the pile of paper; so a large number of wrappers all identical in
form are simultaneously produced. The wrappers are afterwards finished by
folding; the postal label is affixed and gum is applied to the flap.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
by the said John Arthurs Elstob and Charles Mills Elstob in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 16th September 1881.
JOHN ARTHURS ELSTOB and CHARLES MILLS ELSTOB, of 145, Camberwell Road,
in the County of Surrey. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF POSTAL
WRAPPERS."
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of postal
wrappers.
Our postal wrapper consists of a sheet of paper of such a shape that when folded
it takes the usual form of an envelope, and a letter or memorandum may be
written upon it or enclosed within it. A large portion of the surface of the
wrapper is covered with the advertisements which it is intended to disseminate,
but so arranged that these do not appear when the wrapper is folded, and especially
the face upon which the address is to be written is left blank with. the exception
of the postal stamp, which is embossed upon or attached to it in accordance with
post office regulations. The system on which the advertising is carried on is to
give away to the advertisers and other suitable persons the postal wrappers thus
prepared already stamped or carrying the postal label. The receivers are able by
means of these wrappers to carry on correspondence or to circulate hand bills
through the post without any expense for postage, which indeed has been paid for
them, and for which they give an equivalent in the circulation of the advertise-
ments printed upon the wrapper in a way which is likely to attract attention, and
consequently to prove efficient.
· The annexed Drawing represents the advertising postal wrapper.
Figure 1 shows the front of the sheet. The dotted lines show the folds which
are made in it, 1, 1, indicating the first crease; 2, 2, the creases along which it is
next folded; and 3, 3, and 4, 4, the creases at which it is subsequently folded to
reduce it to the envelope form and dimensions.
Of the front of the sheet which is shown in Figure 1 the lower part only is
printed with advertisements, the lines drawn upon it divide the surface into small
compartments, each intended to contain an advertisement. Near the top of the
sheet the postal label is seen.
Figure 2 represents the other side of the wrapper, and the lines seen in the
Drawing here also show the compartments in which the advertisements are to be
contained; these may be larger or smaller as required. At a is a space on which
a memorandum may be written, or the wrapper can be employed to receive an
enclosure. The flap is gummed at b, and in closing the wrapper for the post the
flap is stuck down just as in closing an ordinary envelope.
The wrapper may if desired be even more closely covered with advertisements
than the Drawing indicates.
In order to compress a large number of advertisements into a small space and
arrange them neatly, we print first upon a much larger sheet, and reduce by
photography; we make use of a photolithographic, zincographic, stereographic, and
microphototype process in printing the wrappers.
In order to ensure the perusal of the advertisments, each envelope will contain
rules, tables, and other useful information, photographic portraits of celebrities, &c.

page_text: What we claim is the manufacture, substantially in the manner herein-before
described, of postal wrappers to be used for advertising.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Arthurs Elstob, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
JOHN A. ELSTOB. (L.S.)