17th February 1864. Perkins Bacon to Ormond Hill

69, FLEET STREET, E.G. ;

Feb. 17, 1864.

DEAR SIR,

We find that the facts regarding the time taken in the manufacture of a Postage Plate are as follows:— To transfer the 240 labels on to a Plate takes one day, and a very hard day's work it is. Perfect accuracy in the arrangement of the labels cannot however at present be secured if the roller is taken off the Plate during its manufacture and therefore it must be assumed as one day's work. To transfer the Legends and scrape the burr off the steel takes 3 full ordinary days, so that a Plate takes in the Transferring Room 4 days exclusive of the hardening and subsequent cleaning. To put in the letters at the 4 corners and retouch the work where it is injured by this process takes Mr.H Gill 4 days good work also. The hardening and cleaning cannot be reckoned at less than a day. It therefore takes 9 days to make a Plate from first to last, and the week is only 5 days, so that to promise one complete plate a week is to lock up from all our other work 2 of our engravers for the greater part of the time. Still we undertake to do this from this time until a stock of 22 Plates with he new lettering, &c., is completed. There is no difficulty in lettering as fast as the Plates are transferred, and in fact Mr. H.Gill will have finished Plate No.85 before 86 is ready for him.

We are, &c., &c.,

[Signed] PERKINS, BACON & Co.

Ormond Hill Esq

Inland Revenue

Somerset House

Comments

Some explanation of the phrase "Perfect accuracy in the arrangement of the labels cannot however at present be secured if the roller is taken off the Plate during its manufacture" is called for. In 1863, there was an improvement in the transfer press with the addition of Holtzappfel's ratchet gear. This gearing system ensured that each impression was regularly spaced in both vertical and horizontal planes, something that was a desirable prerequisite for good perforation. The reason it required a very long working day was due to the fact that removing the plate and roller from the press (to securely lock them up for the night) would ruin the good alignment afforded by the Holtzappfel gear. No doubt, before the introduction of this gear, the engraver could have done the initial rolling in over the space of two days.

Additional information is very useful, even if it is possibly coloured by a degree PB spin.

• Rolling in - one day with Holtzappfel gear, 2 days assumed without.
• Adding marginal inscriptions and removing all burrs from the plate, 3 days.
• Adding check letters, 4 days for penny plates. Assume 2 days for penny stars.
• At least one full day for hardening and cleaning. I would suggest a day and a half due to the two stage quench practiced by Perkins Bacon. This would assume no damage caused by the hardening process.

That would give us 8-9 days for a penny star, and 9-10 days for a penny plate.

AP

October 2015.