- Machine postmark
A machine postmark or machine cancellation is a
postmark or cancellation onmail that is applied by a mechanical device rather than with the use of ahandstamp . Nearly all machine-cancellation devices apply both postmark and cancellation simultaneously. While remote areas of the world still use handstamps, machine cancellation is ubiquitous, and in the industrialized nations the vast majority of mail is cancelled by machine.United States
In the
United States , the first successful postmarking machine was developed byThomas Leavitt in the 1870s, with covers known from 1876. By 1880 Leavitt machines were in use in twenty cities. Cancellations were of a variety of forms, including horizontal and diagonal lines, as well as "football" shapes. TheAmerican Postal Machines Company soon got into the business, with postmarks appearing from 1884, and became successful with a machine known for its speed of processing.APMC introduced the flag cancel in 1894, which used the wavy lines of the cancel to depict an approximate image of an American flag. During the 1890s dozens of other companies got into the business, although most were short-lived, and only about six, including
Pitney-Bowes , lasted past the 1920s.Slogan cancels also first appeared in the 1890s, initially to advertise the
Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, gradually expanding to include a wide variety of uses. Slogans are commonplace today, with theUS Postal Service still using them to promote special events, as well as to encourage better mailing practices (use ofZIP Code , proper addressing, etc).References
*
Russell F. Hanmer , "A Collector's Guide to U.S. Machine Postmarks 1871-1925", 3rd ed. (David G. Phillips Publishing, 1989)External links
* [http://www.machinecancel.org/ International Machine Cancel Society Homepage]
* [http://www.swansongrp.com/machines.html Pages with many US examples]
* [http://home8.swipnet.se/~w-86794/machine_text.htm Machine cancellations of Latvia]
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