Improvements in Devices for Moistening Envelopes, Stamps, and the like.
Year: 1890

page_text: COMPLETE SET A
Improvements in Devices for Moistening Envelopes, Stamps, and
the like.
1, CLINTON HUGER BURTON of St. Louis in the County of St. Louis and State
of Missouri, United States of America, Inventor, 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 relates to dampeners for the gummed edges of envelopes, for
attaching postage stamps, and other like purposes; and it consists in the novel
construction and combination of parts, as herein after described, and pointed out in
the claim.
Figure 1 of the drawings is a representation of this invention and is a vertical
section.
Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken where the broken line x x is marked in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a side view of one portion of the device, and
Fig. 4 is a side view of the other portion.
In the accompanying drawings, the letter A designates a hollow handle or
reservoir for holding water and having telescoped therewith at one end, a shorter
tube or cap B, closed at its outer end and open at the opposite end, which enters
the tube A, the later being sometimes provided at its opposite end with a removable
small cap c.
The cap B is provided longitudinally with a rectangular well E, which enters it
through a correspondingly-shaped slot, in which it is seated. This well rests upon
the inner wall of the cap B and is laterally cut away on its inner edges at d for the
admission of water to saturate the brush D, composed of felt or other absorbent
material contained therein. The outer end g of the well projects vertically from
the cap B and has its orifice oblique or enclined forward, and the projecting edges of
the felt or absorbent contained therein are trimmed to a corresponding angle. The
object of this angular construction is to give an upward pitch to the hollow handle A
and afford ample space for the fingers to grasp the same without coming in contact
with the article beneath.
The absorbent which I usually prefer to use is of felt, which is folded in V shape
and trimmed to the proper size to admit it to the well, the free ends ii projecting
outside to form the brush portion. Between the folds of the felt brush is enclosed
a thin plate of metal H, corresponding with the angular shape of the well and
brush. The object of this plate H is to facilitate the introduction of the folded felt
to the well and at the same time provide a lateral bearing for the ends i i of the felt
as they are brushed across the surface of the paper, thus having a tendency to brace
the brush and render the same more compact. On the side of the cap B opposite the
brush a rectangular bracket or rest L is provided, having a plane bearing surface
to preserve the equilibrium of the device when laid away, thus preventing the weight
of the brush from causing it to roll and thereby injure any article on the deck or
table by the moisture.
I may sometimes construct my dampener of a single tube, dispensing with cap B

page_text: and introducing the water from the end closed by the small removable cap c; but I
prefer the construction first described.
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 what I claim is :-
In a resevoir dampener, the combination, with the removable cap B and its oblique-
edged well adapted to contain an absorbent brush, of the bearing-plate in the fold of
said brush, the hollow handle or reservoir, and the bracket or rest therefor, sub-
stantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described, set forth and illustrated in
the drawings.
F. W. BARKER,
Applicant's Agent.