Yep, a Scott #409 Mailometer type IV. When the former Schermack Company set up a perforating plant in St. Louis they were sent a machine with a Mailometer type I perforator instead of the Schermack type III perforators that were currently in use in Detroit, Chicago and New York.
The thought was, this was a piece of excess equipment left over from their failed attempts at convincing the Bureau to offer a perforation that could function in their affixing machines.
A few months later, no explanation known, that perforator was switched over to a Mailometer type IV.
Though we call these "perforations" their intent was not to separate the stamps from the coil. That was done by a knife inside the affixing machine. The slots or holes were used by 4 tiny steel fingers inside the machine to locate the stamp, in the proper place, for cutting and affixing.
These machines were high speed, capable of processing up to 250 envelopes per minute. A huge labor saving device for high volume mailers in the early 1900s.
Disclaimer: While a tremendous amount of effort goes into ensuring the accuracy of the information contained in this site, Stamp Community assumes no liability for errors. Copyright 2005 - 2026 Stamp Community Family - All rights reserved worldwide. Use of any images or content on this website without prior written permission of Stamp Community or the original lender is strictly prohibited. Privacy Policy / Terms of UseAdvertise Here
Posted 04/06/2018 6:22 pm
