An Improved Appliance for use in Affixing Adhesive Stamps and the like.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 15th July, 1890-Accepted, 23rd Aug., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Appliance for use in Affixing Adhesive Stamps and
the like.
1, JOHN NICHOLAS STRONG, of 28 Stanwell Road, Penarth, in the County of
Glamorgan, ship broker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
This invention consists in an appliance for facilitating and expediting the operation
of affixing adhesive stamps to the envelopes of letters and other postal packets,
more especially when a succession or series of such stamps are required to be affixeıl..
It is also applicable to affixing adhesive labels, tickets and the like to papers, parcels
and other articles. The appliance which may be made in any suitable material is an
instrument for the hand having at the upper end or head a chamber or reservoir for
containing water.
The head screws on to a stem which towards the lower end is divided into two feet
in one of which is a recess communicating by a channel with the water chamber in
the head. Into the recessed foot is fitted a pad of cloth or other suitable porous
material to which the water from the head is fed, the feed being assisted by the
introduction of a filament of worsted or the like, one end of which is in the reservoir.
At the other end the worsted is coiled or otherwise disposed on the back of the pad
in the recessed foot of the instrument.
The other foot has an even or flat solid face at bottom.
The method of using the instrument is as follows. By impressing the pad on
the place designed to receive a stamp the said place is damped or moistened. The
stamp is then applied to the damped place and is pressed down by the application
of the plain foot of the instrument. When a succession of stamps is to be affixed,
and it is in such a case that the appliance is more especially intended for use, the
stamps, previously divided into strips, are detached as they are applied, the foot of the
instrument being kept on the applied stamp during detachment.
In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 represents a side elevation and Fig. 2, a
vertical section of my improved appliance. Fig. 3 is a plan as seen from below and
Fig. 4 is a section of the instrument as laid aside horizontally when not in use.
The head a which serves as a chamber for containing water is screwed to the stem,
a washer w, of india-rubber or other suitable material, intervening to make a water-
tight joint. At the lower end the stem is divided into two feet c and d of which
dis recessed and contains, dovetailed into the recess, a pad e which projects at
bottom beyond the end of the foot. A channel f extending within the stem establishes
communication between the water chamber a and the pad e and by a filament g of
worsted, or other suitable material, the water is conducted from the chamber a to the
pad. The foot c has an even or flat solid face at bottom.
In using the appliance for the purpose for which it is designed, the place where
the stamp is to be affixed is damped or moistened by applying thereto the padded
foot d. The stamp to be affixed is next laid on the place thus moistened and the
foot c is pressed upon it. With a succession of stamps they are divided into strips
or other connected series and are detached after application to the envelope or other
place, the foot c of the instrument being held down on each applied stamp in turn
while the unapplied stamps are detached therefrom. The operation of affixing a
succession or series of stamps is, with the use of my improved appliance, facilitated
and expedited and is conducted without the application to the stamps of saliva.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
An improved appliance, for use in affixing adhesive stamps and the like, to the
envelopes of letters and other postal packets, and for like purposes, the said appliance
consisting of a water chamber such as a screwed or otherwise secured to a stem b
having feet c and d one of which contains in a recess at bottom a pad to which water
is supplied from the chamber aforesaid by a channel such as f and filament g, sub-
stantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
Dated this 12th day of July 1890.
NICHOLAS WATTS,
Bristol Bank Buildings, Bristol, Agent.