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POSTAGE STAMPS^d:k;lv' ' \ .• ^■v ^ V;:.:: - '•: ! -./;HOW UNCLEvSAM. LOOKS. AFTER THE ,v • v;;UTTLE STICKERS;Intricate .Work- Tlmt 3In*t Bo Porfomed __ ,l?y Skillful iHwdilrW Important Part* of the Entire Operation I* FoliiWn*: tbe Platen—Hotv Tliey Are Gummed*' ’ S k . ’ : ’• ••, ; Thopostoflico department requites annually 40xu0p,000 tliouts, each containing 100 postage itanips. ■. .■Thu printing is (lone on queer looking presses, each of which produces MQO ~ fitaippa a uilnuto, or about 100,000-an. hour-. 1 Each press has an endless chain that carries four plates, on which tho do signs of tho stamps- are engraved. On each pi a to 400 stamps aro represented The sheet* printed from thcso plates uro in-tended to bn cut la to quarters eventually, in which shape they vrili bo sold to.tho postoflieo department. Each plate is car-Had by tho endless chain first under an• ink roller, from which it receives a coating-of ink of tho. proper color. Then it posses beneath a pad of canvas, which oscillates so-as to. rub tho ink, in. .Next ^ pauses for sv moment, under tlic hands of a man who polishes tho plate.Finally a sheet o£ white paper *s iaia upon the plate, both pass under a roller, and tho sheet comes out on chc other siao 400 printed postage stamps. The plates revolve in a .circle, as it were- More accurately speaking, they move around tliafour sides of n square in a horizontalplane; “ , ; .While one Is being inked another is being rubbed by the canvas, another is bo-Inirpollshcd, and the fourth.is passing nn-dor the printing Toiler. Tho circuit takes about a minute] during which four sheets of 400 stamps each 3io printed.Tho most import am part of tho vroric, requiring the greatest skill. Is tho poll*h-lug. It is done with tho bare tanas, no other .method being equally efficient. Th6 objeot i to leave exactly euough ink for A £?ood impression and no more, , One fcirl lays the white paper sheets upon the plates, while another young womr.n removes thorn as fast as they are printed und stacks them up in a pile.This process gives the results of liana press work. Half a dozen presais working together, each turning out 100,000 stamps an hour, can produce a good many millions in a day. Three hands are required Cor each press—the printer, who docs the polishing, and two girls.The printer muse account Cor every sheet of blank paper that he received. These sheets arc counted in the wetting division before thov arc delivered to ldiu. Alter they are printed r.hoy are counted before they are sent to the examining division, where they aw counted a gam.Spoiled sheets aro counted as carefully
Newspaper Details
Racine Journal
Racine, Wisconsin, US
Wed, Nov 07, 1894
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 24 Feb 2024
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