Early U.S. Machine Cancels

AMERICAN POSTAL MACHINES COMPANY, J. George Cooper, President, Henry E. Waite, Secretary and Treasurer, Office: No. 53 Devonshire Street.

The demands upon the Post Office Department for more rapid transmission of mails are frequent and pressing. Vast quantities of mail matter are deposited in post offices only a few moments before the closing of mails; upon each separate letter the stamp must be canceled and the postmark impressed before it can leave the office for its destination. This work, done by hand, is a slow process, painfully laborious, generally indistinct and ought to be a thing of the past, as the American Postal Machines Co., of this city, has developed a practical method of handling letters by machinery, and the Boston Post Office has demonstrated for the past five years that the work can be rapidly, distinctly and well done by machinery at a greatly reduced cost.

This company was incorporated in 1885, under the laws of the State of Maine, with a capital of $1,000,000, and is officered as follows, viz: J. Geo. Cooper, president; Henry B. Rice, vice-president; Henry E. Waite, secretary and treasurer. The offices of the company are eligibly located at No. 53 Devonshire Street.

The postal machines produced and perfected by this company are the inventions of Mr. Thomas Leavitt and Mr. M. V. B. Ethridge, and are revolutionizing the existing system of handling letters in post offices throughout the country. For facing and bunching letters alone these machines are a great saving to the Government; but when it is understood that they are also stamp-canceling and postmarking machines as well, doing all the work by one operation, their great value for post office use is at once apparent.

The machines produced by this company include a continuous and progressive line of inventions, patents and developments. No. 1 is for stamp-canceling and postmarking letters, by hand feed, with capacity of 4,000 per hour, and adopted by the postmaster of Boston in 1876. No. 2 is for stamp-canceling and postmarking postal cards, automatic feed, 400 per minute, 15,000 per hour; adopted by act of Congress of the United States in 1880. No. 3, for stamp-canceling and postmarking letters, automatic feed, 400 per minute, 15,000 per hour; adopted by act of Congress of the United States in 1882. No. 4, same as No. 3, with improvements. No. 5, for facing, stamp canceling, postmarking, counting and bunching letters and postal cards, all by one operation: 100 to 200 per minute, 4,000 to 8,000 per hour, according to the speed of the operator; adopted by the Post Office Department of the United States in 1889. No. 6, patented in 1890, same as No. 5, with improvements.

These machines, unlike automatic-feed machines, are strong and durable in construction; do not easily get out of order; and can be operated by anyone without experience. The difficulties attending the application of machinery to the varying conditions of letters have been so great that this company expended over $200,000 in money and fifteen years in time in experimenting before perfecting a satisfactory method and machine. These machines, on a basis of saving to the Government, are furnished at extremely low rates, and on a basis of their actual cost; with superintendence and repairs, the price is very reasonable. The increase in efficiency and reduction in cost secured to the postal service by the adoption of these machines is without a parallel in the history of the Post Office Department.

Twenty-four are in use in the Boston Post Office, and also one at each of the sub-stations in the city; while others are in use in the Philadelphia and Washington Post Offices. The management of the company is in safe, wise and energetic hands, and under such capable and progressive direction the influence and success of the undertaking is being steadily extended and confirmed.