IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DAMPING POSTAGE AND OTHER STAMPS, LABELS, AND LIKE ARTICLES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Phelps,, of Croydon, in the County of Surrey,
Ironmonger, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
DAMPING POSTAGE AND OTHER STAMPS, LABELS, AND LIKE ARTICLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Phelps at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th December 1854.
I, JOSEPH PHELPS, of Croydon, in the County of Surrey, Ironmonger, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA-
BATUS FOR DAMPING POSTAGE AND OTHER STAMPS, LABELS, AND LIKE ARTICLES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing an apparatus, in one part of which
there is a reservoir or supply of liquid, which communicates by a pipe with a
case through an aperture in the bottom thereof, and in which a sponge or other
like porous material is placed. The apparatus carries also a roller, which can
be brought down upon the sponge or not, according to the article to be
damped. A lever opens at the same time a cock, for admitting liquid from the
reservoir to the sponge, and brings down the roller upon the sponge. For
such labels as those employed by chemists, the roller will be found very useful,
as it will keep the label in contact with the sponge along its whole length,
while such small articles as postage and receipt stamps. will not need the
roller,-and-it-may-then-be-turned-back-or-put-out-of-gear..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Phelps in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
PHELPS, of Croydon, in the County of Surrey, Ironmonger, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in- the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Phelps, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Phelps, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said, Joseph Phelps, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DAMPING-POSTAGE AND OTHER STAMPS, LABELS,
AND LIKE ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph Phelps, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
"particularly describe. and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent, Office within six calendar months next and
-imniediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
".. NOW. KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Phelps, do hereby, declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed,, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that-is-to-say-:-
My Invention consists in constructing an apparatus, in one part of which
there is a reservoir or supply of liquid, which communicates by a pipe with a
case through an aperture in the bottom thereof, and in which a sponge or
other like porous material is placed. The apparatus carries also a roller,
which can be brought down upon the sponge or not, as required. A lever
opens at the same time a cock, for admitting liquid from the reservoir to the
sponge,
, and brings down the roller upon the sponge. For such labels as those
employed by chemists and shopkeepers in general, the roller will be found
very useful, as it will keep the label in contact with the sponge along its whole

page_text: .
length, while such small articles as postage and receipt stamps will not need
the roller, and it may then be turned back or put out of gear; or the case
for containing the sponge may be carried beyond the roller, and the labels
damped by drawing the gummed part over the sponge. In the Drawings
hereunto annexed I have shewn the method in which I carry my Invention
into effect. Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 a longitudinal section, of a
damping apparatus, particularly adapted for damping labels for shops, railway.
stations, and other purposes. A, A, is a box or stand, on the top of which-
is screwed the metal plate or icover B; C is a reservoir for containing
water or other damping liquid. This reservoir is secured to the plate Bat D,
where it is also in communication with the pipe, E. The pipe E is continued.
along the under side of the plate, and secured at its opposite end by the screws
a, a, where it opens, into the trough or box F. This box. F is cast in a piece
with the metal plate, and contains a piece of sponge or other porous substance,
which absorbs, the water from the reservoir C,, and is thus kept constantly
moist. G is a cock upon the pipe for regulating the flow of the water from
the reservoir to the sponge; H is a lever, having its fulcrum at I, in the side
of the box. The opposite end of this lever projects beyond the end of the
stand A, where it is flattened out, so as to form a thumb piece, for the purpose
of pressing down the lever, a slot being cut in this end of the stand to admit of
this action. J is a crank upon the square end of the plug of the cock G, the
other end being provided with a stud pin, which is passed through a slot b, b,
in the lever H. By this means, when the lever is depressed, the crank is
drawn down and the cock thereby opened, which admits of the water flowing
from the reservoir to the sponge. K is a rod, connected by the link c to the
lever H, and passed up through the plate B and column L, where it is bent
round and formed into the fork M, in which the spindle of the roller N is
supported. The column L is hollow, and contains a helical spring O, the
lower end of which presses against the bottom of the column, and the upper
end against a washer P, secured by the pin d to the rod K. The action of this
spring is to keep the roller N from off the sponge when not required for use,
to sustain the lever H in its raised position, and to keep the cock G closed.
When using this apparatus, the label is placed upon the sponge and the roller
brought down upon it, by pressing upon the end of the lever H; the label is
then drawn across the sponge, and the lower surface thereby thoroughly
damped, the roller keeping all parts of the label in contact with the sponge.
Instead of water, a solution of gum or other adhesive-compound-may-be-
supplied in the reservoir. When damping-postage-or-receipt-stamps-the
roller would not be required, the trough F being made sufficiently long for

page_text: that purpose. R is a recess, made in the side of the box, for holding the
labels, stamps, and other like articles required for use.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not confine myself to
the precise arrangement of the parts of the apparatus herein-before described;
but that what I claim is, the construction of a damping apparatus, consisting
of a reservoir or supply of liquid communicating through a pipe and valve or
cock with a case through an aperture in the bottom thereof, and in which a
sponge or other like porous material is placed, whether combined or not with
a roller for pressing upon the label and sponge; and I also claim the arrange-
ment of the lever and cock for regulating the flow of the liquid, and for
bringing down the roller, all as herein-before described and represented in the
Drawings hereunto annexed..
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Phelps, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-third day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-five.
JOSEPH PHELPS. (L.S.)