Year: 1863

Manufacture Of Postage Stamps


THE design for the stamps are first en-
graved on dies, taken up on rolls, and
then transferred to large steel plate by
the process of multiplication, the hard
eaed ioIl being applied suecessively to
every portion of the surface until the dies
of two hundred stamps are made The
plate being now hardened, goes to the
printing room. The process of printing
is very simple, the plate being linked, is
then laid in the press, the mOistened
sheet placed on it, the roll pressed once
over it, and two hundred postage stamps
are printed at one operation. A weak
oil is used, so that the stamp may not be
saturated, as the paper is not so highly
sized as that used for bank notes. Car
mine gives the red color to the 3 cent
stamp, pale ultra marine the blue to the
penny stamp, chrome green the tint to
the 10 cent stamp; while the FIVE cent
denomination is printed on brown, the II
cent in black, the q cent in purple, the
30 cent in orange, and the 80 cent in in
tense ultra marine. From the press the
sheets of stamps go to the drying room,
where they are piled in canvass covered
frames or racks so arranged that each
days work, and the task of each man is
kept by itself. They 60 next to be gum
mediator which is entirely done by
girls The sheets are laid in piles, face
down; each girl has copper basin of
gum and a soft, fat brush, with which
she finishes sheet with few strokes.
Each girl gums 1000 sheets, or 100000
stamps in a day.


The gum for this purpose is prepared
by one man, who keeps the formula of its
manufacture secret. The gummed sheets
are placed in racks similar to those used
in the drying rooms, for half day, or a
day and half, as the atmosphere may be
more or less dry, and when thoroughly
dry are laid between paste board leaves
and subjected to powerful pressure,
The sheets are now cut in halves so as to
leave one hundred on a sheet, are then
taken into another room, where the holes
are perforated between the stamps by
machinery. This operation is performed
by passing the sheets first in one direc-
ton and then across, between two sets Of
narrow brass cylinders on shafts, the up
per set being furnished with small steel
punches, and the other perforated with
holes or dies to correspond The opera
ton is instantaneous, the whole of eleven
rows or holes being made at once. The
cylinders are adjustable on shafts, so that
stamps of any size can be perforated with
the same machine.


The stamps are now finished, the only
remaining duty of the attendants being
to count and inspect them, after which
they are placed in the safe, and sent in
packages wherever the Government d.
rects. Each machine is worked by a girl
for y hours, and perforates 100000
stamps a day, one way, or half that mum
Der if the holes are made in both direc-
tions. Last year the Post Office Pepart-
ment used 100000 of postage stamps
of all denominations, while this years in
crease will rot fall short of 2O,0OO,OOO.


Of all denominations of stamps the red
or 3 cent ones, are most in demand, about
three times as many of them being used
as of the penny stamps. Next to the
penny the 10 cent denomination is most
in request; next the II cent, then the "a
cent, and so on-the 80 cent one, of
course, being required less than any
other. Stamps being the representatives
of so much money, the greatest care is
taken to guard against dishonesty on the
part of the workmen; and so perfect is
the system of checks, that the loss of
single penny stamp can be detected with
absolute certainty.