A NEW OR IMPROVED ELECTRICALLY OPERATED STAMP, FOR POST MARKING, OR FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES OF OBLITERATION
Year: 1884

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
I NESTOR FRÈRE, of 22 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for A NEW OR
IMPROVED ELECTRICALLY OPERATED STAMP, FOR POST MARKING, OR FOR OTHER
LIKE PURPOSES OF OBLITERATION to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object the production of a stamp for the purpose of
marking or obliterating by the intervention of electricity, and consists in forming
the device on the stamp of fine platinum wire, the ends of the said wire being
connected to the respective poles of an electric battery which may or may not be
enclosed in the handle of the stamp.
By these means the platinum wire is made sufficiently hot as to burn or mark
the paper or other material. The current can be switched on or off by any well
known means.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Patent Agents,
22, Southampton Buildings, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: I, NESTOR FRERE, of 22, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED ELECTRICALLY OPERATED STAMP FOR POST-MARKING, OR FOR OTHER
LIKE PURPOSES OF OBLITERATION," and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention has for its object the production of an improved electrically
operated stamp for obliterating or defacing postage or other similar stamps, marks,
or signatures.
In carrying out my invention, the face of the stamp, instead of being formed of
metal with the device, incised or in relief as is customary with defacing stamps,
which operate by impression, is of non-conducting material into the face of which,
and flush therewith, the defacing design or mark, made of fine platinum wire, is
sunk. The ends of the defacing design are connected to the poles of a battery
which may be either inside the body of the stamp or separate, and such make-
and-break devices as may be desirable with either battery arrangement can
be used.
My invention may be applied to hand stamps, or the stamp may be driven by
power, obtained from any convenient source.
The desired obliteration or defacement is effected as follows: The 'current being
turned on, the stamp is brought down upon the label or signature to be defaced;
and the heat of the fine platinum wire of the obliterating device due to the
impeded current, burns a corresponding device upon the material subjected to its
influence, thus effectually defacing the stamp.
It is clear that the current can be made and broken automatically during the
descent and ascent of the stamp, especially when the latter is operated otherwise
than by hand.
In order that my invention, and the means by which the same can be put into
practical and succesful operation, may be thoroughly understood, I will now
describe the same in detail, referring in so doing to the accompanying drawings
which are to be taken as part of this specification and read therewith, and in which
like parts are marked with the same reference letter.
Fig 1. is an elevation of my invention applied to a hand stamp, with parts
broken away to show the construction Fig 2. is a plan of the contact under the
screw-off cap. Fig 3 is a plan of the bottom contact Fig. 4 is an inverted plan
of the face of the stamp, the defacing device being drawn as consisting of two
lines only.
Figs 5 and 6 shew a method of operating my improved stamp by power; and
Fig 7 illustrates its operation by means of a foot-gear.
A is the body of the stamp, B the operating face, and C, D, the positive and
negative wires, respectively. Access to the interior of the stamp is provided for
by means of a removable cap, E, or similar device, at the top, and a screw plate, F,
at the bottom.

page_text: The body of the stamp, top cap, and screw plate just mentioned may be of any
suitable material insulated where necessary, for the purpose of my invention.
G. and H are two plates of non-conducting material each one carrying a pair of
spring contacts, g³, g², h¹, h³, on its opposite face. The positive wire is connected
to one of the contacts, say h¹, on the plate H, and the negative wire to the last
contact, gl, on the plate G, the screw plate, F, carries on its upper surface a pair
of contacts f. f, which engage with the contacts h1, h2, when the plate is screwed
home. The fine platinum wire, i, out of which the defacing device, I, is formed in
the face of the stamp, B, is led from one of the contacts, f, to the other.
It is evident that when the plate F is screwed home, and the wires from the
stamp connected with the battery (assumed to be charged), it will not be until
the two contacts g¹, g², are in touch, that the current will flow. Their shape and
material keep them apart, but pressure upon the spring-stud, K, causes g' to contact
with g', thereby completely the circuit.
Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate, the former in front and the latter in side elevation, my
invention arranged to be driven by power. Lis the driving band from the prime
mover, , the first motion shaft, and its fly-wheel. The rotary motion is con-
verted into a reciprocating linear one by means of any well known suitable
mechanical device.
Fig 7. is a side elevation of an adaptation of the stamping mechanism illustrated
in Figs 5 and 6 adapted to be driven by foot gear.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
The herein-before described construction of a stamp for the obliteration or
defacement of postage and similar stamps, labels, signatures, and the like, by
means of a mechanically or manually operated device made by letting a fine
platinum wire into the operating face of the said device, such wire being heated
by a current of electricity sufficiently high to burn the stamp upon which it is
impressed, the whole substantially as described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.