US Kiusalas Gauge 11-73

There are several opinions on this specific Kiusalas U.S. 11-73 (10.79) gauge of perforation. One is that it does not exist but was used for fake perfs. Another is that it is actually 11-72.5 such as found on U.S. Scott 542 (10 x 11) for its vertical perf. 11 (10.86). Any opinions?

I looked a nice 542 and some of the perf 11 regular issue, and the have the same perforation at the sides, which fits perfect to perf 11 - Kiusalas's gauge: 11-72 and none of them fits to 11-73. They all also fit better 11.0 than 10.9.

I also read that there is something wrong with the 11-73 on the gauge, something about the 544 and fake perforations.

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this would be an interesting article, but I can't get:
Michael Laurence: "Reperforating tools match Kiusalas gauge settings", Linn's stamp news July 2, 2001

stamperix: Do you mean the following that may relate to the newspaper article that you refer to?:

"Just for example, as part of our tool inventory, we have a set of custom designed and manufactured perforation dies consisting of 44 dies of varying spacing and an accompanying set of 22 hole punches. The perforation dies are manufactured in varying sizes starting with dies for a perforation of '7' (spacing of 0.1125 inches or 2.856mm) up to a perforation '16' (spacing of 0.0492 inches or 1.250mm). Our set of dies includes all dies as referred to by the Kiusalas USA and Canada Specialist Gauges. Sizes for our punches start at .023 inches (.711mm) in diameter up to .046 inches (1.168mm) in diameter in .001 inch (.025mm) increments." (Reference http://home.golden.net/~hanssitt/SR...ome.html#How )

While these dies may duplicate both the perforation gauge and the size of the perforation holes, they appear to be done using the stroke flat bar method rather than the rotary wheel method which was the original manner in which most of these perforations were done. This difference allows experts to tell these perforations apart.

Please read my post with the excerpt from the USSS "The United States Specialist" and checkout the full article:

Volume: 57 Number: 10 Year: 1986 Specialist: 680 Article: Washington-Franklin Head Issues - Perforation Measurement and Scott #544 Author(s): Larry S. Weiss

Scott 544 and 596 are believed to be rotary press sheet waste perforated on 11-72 flat plate perforators. But, Kiusalas believed that the rare perf 11 rotary press sheet stamps were from perforating experiments.

Please keep in mind that the rotary press perforators used a bar perforator for horizontal rows and conventional perforation wheels for vertical rows. The diameter of the rotary press perforating wheels differed from flat plate perforators. Spacing was determined by the number of pins equally spaced on the perforating wheel. The bar perforator, on the other hand consisted of bars with pins equally spaced around a cylinder. Spacing was not as constrained. Some coils do not seem to be exactly 10-80, perhaps motivating Kiusalas to postulate a 10-81 spacing. I believe that three hole sizes have been observed, if not fully documented. Originally, pins for perf 10 were to have been 0.0465" in diameter. A few Washington-Franklin coils with large holes exist, suggesting that these pins were used initially. The larger hole may have resulted in too many coil breaks and the pin size was changed to 0.042", the hole size seen on the majority of Stickney Rotary Press coils. Perf hole diameter for horizontal perf 11-70 used on perf 11 x 10 1/2 sheet stamps appears to about 0.037", the same size used on the new rotary press coil perforators associated with the Cottrell press and dry printings. However, it appears that the smaller pins may have been used at times on the Stickney Rotary Press coil perforators.

At this point, I haven't done enough hole size measurements of rotary press sheet stamps, but this explanation, if correct, is the simplest.

The other US Specialist reference is

Volume: 63 Number: 4 Year: 1992 Specialist: 746 Article: The Stickney Rotary 11 x 10 1/2 Bar and Wheel Perforator Author(s): Louis Repeta

If 11-73 exists, it was either because some wheels were produced with one fewer pin around the circumference or bar pin spacing could have subtly changed.

Here an article (page 2 and 4) about the 11-73 and Kiusalas' possible reasons for it.
http://www.bnaps.org/hhl/newsletter...-08-w004.pdf

Here's one that's a conundrum that may fit here. Got it off ebay a couple of weeks ago. At first I though it would be a #448 with a late use; but when I counted the perf. holes (complete holes) falling between the design borders on the sellers scan, I counted 10 holes. For a perf. 10, it should be 9 holes, so that would indicate its a perf. 11 (horizontally) verticle coil Washington. There are no perf. 11 Washington coils. When I got it in hand, I checked it with a standard perf. gauge and it didn't quit fit a 10, 10.5. or 11. When I checked it with the Kiusalas gauge on the Sonic Imagery Multi-gauge, it measure exactly 11-73. This measurement and the late date of cancel seems to suggest that it is a faked coil; but its puzzling why it gauges 11-73? Design measures 19mmx22mm. Straight edge to straight edge 21.5mm

I am not the expert for telling if it's fake or not, but I would rather use a template of a similar stamp than using the gauge first. Maybe you could make a scan of this and other 1-Cents in one scan and then you can look at the perforations and compare.

I asked in another thread whether I am correct to use the normal 10.5 on a standard gauge to "calibrate" the 10.5-75 on any newer "Kiusalas" gauge, like on the US Multigauge, I guess it's possible. So you could compare some of your standard gauges 10.5 with this on your US Multigauge Kiusalas 10.5 to see whether this is accurate.

Also, you could check the perforation on a decimal way to see to which perforation it's the closest.