IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF POSTAL AND OTHER STAMPS AND PAPERS WHICH REQUIRE FROM THE REMOVAL OF OBLITERATING MARKS OR FRAUDULENT PROTECTION " ALTERATIONS
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Sydney Pitt at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 15th September 1882. A communication to
him from abroad by Paul Antoine Tapponnier of Paris in the Republic of
France.
SYDNEY PITT of Sutton in the County of Surrey.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PRODUCTION OF POSTAL AND OTHER STAMPS AND PAPERS WHICH REQUIRE
FROM THE REMOVAL OF OBLITERATING MARKS OR FRAUDULENT
PROTECTION
"
ALTERATIONS A communication to him from abroad by Paul Antoine Tapponnier
of Paris in the Republic of France.
The invention has for its object the protection of postage and other moveable
stamps from attempts to remove the obliterating marks by which it is customary
to annul them after use. Many inventions have been made with the same object
but without success and frauds by the use of washed stamps are numerous.
I overcome the difficulty which has been found in putting a stop to such frauds
in the following manner :-
I compose the paper from. which the stamps are made in two layers; one is
ordinary paper to carry the adhesive matter for attaching the stamp to the letter
or document which it accompanies; the other is a transparent silk paper, it is
ungummed and forms the face which receives the impression. This second paper
is colored at the back in water color with a simple mineral color to the tint desired
for the stamp. This coloration will be made in accordance with the design to be
afterwards printed. This paper is then applied by means of very thin starch paste
to the other surface and the whole is pressed or passed between rollers so that the
two become completely united.
As soon as the paper is sufficiently dry it receives the impression, being treated
in the same way as ordinary colored paper; the impression is produced upon the
colored face.
It will be readily understood that as the obliteration is made with a fatty ink
which penetrates the silk paper, washing cannot be attempted without attacking
and disfiguring the silk paper and without reaching the water color which is
behind.
Under such treatment the water color being very delicate, will disappear so as
to render the stamp unrecognisable.

page_text: This process has the great advantage over those which rely simply in the
employment of water color in the printing, That the water color, which is very
light and delicate, is not exposed to injury by moisture or touch during the
handling of the paper; the color being protected exteriorly by the silk paper which
covers it and which is only removed by friction.
The application of the invention to postal stamps is very important but it is
equally so in many other cases where stamps are used which are capable of being
issued a second time in fraud after washing.
It has this great advantage that it requires no change to be made in existing
customs and methods of obliteration; the change introduced being in the
manufacture and the tinting of the paper, and this under conditions which will not
materially affect the price of the paper or the cost of production of the finished
article, the use of color is not in all cases necessary and the invention is applicable
to documents whether colored, partly colored or plain which require protection
from fraudulent alteration, the face of silk paper which receives the impression or
writing being unable to resist either, rubbing, washing, or scratching infallibly
preserves the traces of any attempt at alteration which may be made.