Blue Hinges

I came across some pages where the previous owner used blue-green hinges. They held the stamps in place well, but peeled very easily and cleanly. Any idea what these are?

The following is from the Winnipeg Stamp Club (2004)
THE SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT HINGE
BY LEN KRUCZYNSKI
Though Dennison Stamp Hinges have not been
manufactured for many years, they are prized by
collectors. These familiar greenish hinges have
remarkable adhesive properties: although holding
the stamp firmly in place, they peel easily, never
ripping or taking apiece of the stamp (or album

Cool! I've run into some of those as well. Are they re-useable?

I always though the Dennisons's were clear, like wax paper. The ones I have (in the red white and blue bag) are 30 years old. Did they make more than one type?

-- edited for spelling

[EDIT: I have removed the references to "rounded corners" on the Dennisons, as it appears they also came with 90 degree corners.]

If they are greenish hinges that peel extremely easy, they are most likely the Dennison hinges that bobgggg mentioned.

Dennison hinges have been out of production for a long time and the gum formulation/application secrets have been lost. Subway attempted to duplicate the Dennisons using the original manufacturing equipment but failed and have since given up trying.

Most other hinges aren't even close to the Dennisons. There is a very high premium for packets of Dennison hinges. I haven't checked in a while, but they used to sell at auctions for $10-$20 per full pack of 1000; that's 5x-10x the price of other brand hinges.

If your hinges are blue-green with 90 degree corners and reasonably peelable, I have seen those too. It is a German manufactured hinge but I don't remember the brand, because there are several blue-green hinge brands but only one of them is truly peelable.

Hinges are designed for one-time use, although I do know some people who will reuse Dennisons because of their cost and scarcity. I don't recommend reusing hinges.

[EDIT: I have removed the references to "rounded corners" on the Dennisons, as it appears they also came with 90 degree corners.]



Yes, it looks a lot like wax paper with a slightly greenish tinge. However, it is not wax paper but glassine.

k

Actually, I picked up an old Grossman album at a flea market once; inside was a full envelope and a half envelope of Dennison's dating from the late 50s. They were the familiar greenish color, but no rounded corners -- these were folded with square corners.

Thanks for the info, Glen. Obviously I have not been paying that much attention to my Dennisons and they changed format over time. Or my memory is completely shot.

I will correct the above posts. Thank you.

k

These are the German ones, then. They are more opaque and almost turquoise. They are also narrower, about 7/16" compared to the others which are 1/2" or more. The glassine Dennisen's are translucent and more yellow-green.

I think that the rounded corner hinges that you had to fold yourself went out in the mid-50s, if that's any help. From what I am led to believe, it was revolutionary when they started to come pre-folded.

For anyone's reference, the Dennisen's I had came in an orange package instead of the more familiar red white and blue one, which I think came out in the mid-60s, and for sure this is what they were in when I started collecting in early '68.

And yes, yellow-green is a more appropriate description of their color.

Whoa...

Dennison and Dennisen are NOT the same company. The former is the classic one that traditionalists go after. The latter is a knock-off.

[EDIT: Actually, my last sentence was not a fair statement, as I do not know the history of Dennisen. It may be a knock-off or it may be a legitimate business usage of that spelling variation. Either way, the original Dennison is no longer in production and not around to protect any trademark infringement.]

That's true, Glen!!

Here's the funny part. I'm in the midst of converting parts of my collection and I am making my own hinges -- and yes, that means I have to fold them myself! Don't know how long that will last as it's a lot of folding. Right now it's only a test for a small part of my worldwide collection. It's not quite the same as folding laundry.

Ahhhh, those are the ones I remember. A joy to use. They peeled so easily and did not stick. The new hinges don't even come close.

See Previous discussions on hinges.
https://goscf.com/t/6124&SearchTerms=dennison

https://goscf.com/t/3747&SearchTerms=dennison

https://goscf.com/t/1145&SearchTerms=dennison

My understanding is that the Dennison equipment is back in mothballs and "Dennis" hinges are/will no longer be manufactured. I believe they went to the German manufacturer BEFORE the Dennison project; but we could be talking about 2 separate events. Those German-formulated hinges they still sell (at least when I checked earlier this year). All this is 16th hand information, so take it with several grains of salt.

This taken off the net, but very informative.

Subway Stamps has purchased the old Dennison hinge equipment and reverse engineered old fashoned peelable hinges.

http://www.subwaystamp.com/
G&K (part of the Subway Family) has purchased and rebuilt the original machine Dennison used for over 50 years to manufacture the best stamp hinge that was ever made. G&K is now using the original machine (completely rebuilt), the original Dennison gum formula and special glassine made to the original Dennison specifications.
They have named these after their grandson, Dennis, look for "Dennis's Stamp Hinges", Just like Grandpa used.
So far they have developed the Formula A stamp hinge for ungummed stamps. They are still working on a Formula B hinge for gummed stamps.

======================================
The following is from the Winnipeg Stamp Club (2004)
THE SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT HINGE
BY LEN KRUCZYNSKI
Though Dennison Stamp Hinges have not been manufactured for many years, they are prized by collectors. These familiar greenish hinges have remarkable adhesive properties: although holding the stamp firmly in place, they peel easily, never ripping or taking apiece of the stamp (or album page) along with it.

I recently opened a packet of Dennison hinges that had been purchased in the early '70's (priced at 35 cents per 1000): the hinges were still flat, separated easily and functioned as well as the day they were made.
Now, the first thing that comes to mind to explain the remarkable adhesive ability of the Dennison hinge is that it must have something to do with the gum. Being a chemist by training, I decided to use Chemical Analysis to see if Dennison gum was different from any other. The method of analysis used is called Infrared Spectroscopy: an infrared beam is passed through a thin layer of the gum, producing a trace which, like a fingerprint, is unique to each chemical substance.
The gum rinsed off three hinges was sufficient to do the analysis. In the process of removing the gum from the hinge, I weighed the three hinges before and after gum removal in order to calculate the percentage of the weight being due to the gum. The results of the chemical analysis are startling. All hinge makers use the same gum: dextrine. Dextrine is manufactured from potato or corn starch by boiling with minute amounts of acid. It has been available commercially since the '30's.
It is very common: it is the gum on most envelope flaps and has been used on Canadian stamps up to the '70's when it was replaced by Poly Vinyl Acetate, or PVA for short. Hinge manufacturers have tried to capitalize on the remarkable adhesive properties of the Dennison hinge. Collectors may have been fooled into buying "Dennisen" hinges, marketed in a package similar to the blue and red Dennison package. More recently, Subway Stamp Shop (2121 Beale Ave, Altoona, Pa. USA) is marketing the Dennis hinge, claimed to be manufactured on, and according to, Dennison specifications of paper and gum.

Here are the results of my analysis of six different stamp hinges put into three categories:

1.THE BEST: peel easily, never rip, never take a "divot" out of the stamp or album page.
Dennison (26 % gum)

2.ACCEPTABLE: peel if you are very careful; sometimes rip, sometimes take a "divot" out of the stamp and/or page.
Dennis (16 % gum)
Unitrade (33 % gum)

3. POOR: almost alway rip when removal attempted; often removing part of stamp or page.
Gibbons (39% gum)
Fasto (42 % gum)
G&K(38 % gum)

And now for some comments and conclusions.
Gibbons hinges are made in Germany, as are Fasto; they appear to be one and the same hinge.
G&K hinges are also marketed by Subway.
One striking trend that may explain Dennison's secret is the amount of gum. The best hinges have a smaller amount of gum.
The only conclusion that I can come to at this point is that Dennison's secret may lie in that greenish (glassine) paper. Does it have some sort of wax that causes the peelability?

The hunt for the perfect hinge goes on!