The following appeared originally in The Precancel Forum, March, 1963, and does a good job explaining how the government issued precancels were made, and explaining some of the familiar terms.
GOVERNMENT STYLES
by Rolston Lyon
Prior to July 1, 1913, all precanceling devices were supplied by the individual permit holders or postmasters "at no cost to the (Post Office) Department." The theory behind this requirement, as explained in numerous official circulars and regulations, was that the permit-holder would derive such extra benefit from the speedier handling of his mail that he would be glad to shoulder whatever expense the precanceling cost him.
Probably due in great part to the avalanche of mail created in 1912 and later by the introduction of the Parcel Post system, official thinking changed. It was felt that great savings in time and money could be realized by the Department by extending the privilege of using precancels to almost all comers, so that one complete operation (hand-canceling ordinary stamps on packages of various sizes and shapes) could be virtually eliminated. Effective July 1, 1913, the Department began to issue precanceling equipment and allowances to cover the cost of precanceling to "authorized" post masters.
"Miscellaneous Orders of the Postmaster General," on file in the Department at Washington, contains annual references to receiving bids for and letting contracts to supply both hand and mechanical precanceling devices. See C. C. Fisher's article in the May 1962 "Forum."
In compliance with departmental specifications each contractor used several type-faces in filling orders for precanceling devices. As the official contractor changed from year to year there were changes in specifications and in type faces, but in general they remained in certain "family groups." Thus, after 1913, it became feasible to refer to certain type faces, arranged in a certain way, as a certain "style" of precanceling indicia. During 49 years of change and improvement these "styles" have not yet reached the third digit in serial numbers.
Printer's type is the basic raw material for all precanceling devices. It may be set from individual letters ("hand set"), or on machines such as the Linotype or Monotype ("machine set"). After the type has been arranged in proper order, properly spaced and punctuated, and embellished according to specification (with "lines" or "bars"), it is clamped together ("locked") in a form so that it cannot get loose or become misaligned.
At this point the assembly may be put into a press and used to print precancels, (producing a local 'typeset" variety) or it may be used as part of a further process which will produce rubber stamps or electrotype plates. In the further process the type, locked in its form, is pressed into a plastic material in which it forms an impression ("matrix") which is the reverse of the type.
In the matrix high spots on the type make the deepest indentation, while low spots on the type make little or no impression. The matrix, which starts out as a relatively soft "impressionable" material, is then hardened for further use. If the matrix ("mat," for short) is to be used to make a rubber stamp it must be "greased," just like a cake pan, to prevent the hot rubber compound from sticking to it. After lubrication the hot compound is poured in to the desired thickness, allowed to cool, peeled off the matrix and trimmed. This sheet of rubber, with the exact form of the metal type which was its ancestor, is mounted on a block of wood to which a handle is attached. When it arrives at the post office whose name it bears the postal employee inks it on a pad and is then in the business of making precancels.
On the other hand, the mat may have been made to prepare an electrotype printing plate. If this was the case the matrix may well have been hot wax (it's a "plastic," too) into which the type form was pressed. When cool, the matrix receives a coat of graphite and is suspended in a bath of copper sulphate. Electric current is applied and the graphite, being an excellent conductor of electricity, is electroplated with metallic copper. This hair-thin shell of copper is then trimmed to size and shape, placed face-down in another machine and filled with type-metal, usually building its thickness up to one-eighth of an inch. If the electrotype plate is expected to have a long, hard life it may be re-plated with nickel or a chrome alloy to give it an almost impervious face. A second plating, of course, would result in a tiny increase in the size of the original type face.
Printer's type can be described, first, by the height of the letters (its "point" size) and, second, by its de sign ("face") or appearance. In the point system of measurement 996 points are equal to 35 centimeters, or 1 point is .0138 inches; less precisely, 72 points equal 1 inch, 36 points equal a half inch, and so on. The point-size of a given font is type is measured from the top of the highest point on a capital letter to the bottom of the lowest point on the tail of a lower case "g" or "y" or other dangling letter. Even if all the letters used are capitals there is still room below the letters for those possible danglers; this is known as a ''shoulder,'' and must be included in the measurement.
The length of a line of type, or other horizontal measurement, is made in "picas," of which there are six to each inch. (In height, pica type, which appears on many type writers, is 12-point; six pica lines will fit in a vertical space of one inch.) But this pica measurement is used only for length and cannot be used to describe the "face" or appearance of the type in that line.
Type faces are designed. Some have been designed by printers, others by artists, and some by "graphic engineers." But all designs are the result of a specific purpose, such as legibility, conservation of type metal, effect on the reader, and, in some instances, concealment of the meaning of the text.
Type faces come in three general classes. There is Roman type, which has little tails or serifs wherever possible on the letters. There is Gothic type, also known as Sans Serif, which is straight and plain, without ornamentation. And there is Italic type, often used for emphasis, which is not really a class of type face in itself, but a slanting of other type faces; for this reason you can find type faces described as Slant Gothic or Slant Roman, as well as Italic.
In the type descriptions which follow, the names Franklin, Cheltenham, etc., are the names of the printers who designed the faces so described. The term "light face" indicates that the thickness of the strokes used in forming the letters is at a minimum. "Bold face" or "black face" indicates that the strokes are as fat as possible in keeping with the design.
Further alteration of type faces is achieved by widening or narrowing the space occupied by a given letter. A normal letter is taken for granted and not mentioned, but if the letter is wider than normal it is called "extended"'; if the letter is narrower than normal it is called ''condensed.'' A very narrow letter is "extra condensed." Thus, a Franklin Gothic type face, 10 points in height, may be either extended, condensed, extra condensed, or without adjectives if it is normal width; and it may also be either normal, light face, or bold face. Punctuation, when used follows the face of the type.
In the tabulation which follows, the first column gives (for comparative purposes) the "U-Number" or Universal Style Number as it has appeared in various editions of pre cancel catalogs. If there are four numbers, one above another, it indicates an old style first numbered by Bushnell, second number by Rotnem, third number by Hoover Brothers, and last as numbered in Noble catalogs. The BOTTOM number is the One which should be most familiar to you.
If there are only three numbers it indicates a Government Style issued after the time of Bushnell, but during Rotnem's regime and thus numbered as in Rotnem, Hoover, and Noble catalogs. Only two numbers indicate a still later style, not numbered until Hoover Brothers had the catalog, and followed by Noble. A single number indicates a style not known until Gilbert W. Noble took over catalog publication. If the first column is blank it would indicate a Government Style not previously cataloged. Catalogs published by Richard J. Coda, Sr., have not used "style numbers" and so cannot be referred to in this column of the tabulation.
The center column will describe the Government Style under discussion. Given will be the type of device, whether with lines or bars, and their measurements, name and size of the type face, manufacturer of the device, period of issue through the Post Office Department and, when available, the approximate number of these devices issued. Other pertinent data may follow.
The third column will give the identifying Government Style number for the device under discussion which will be illustrated in the fourth, or right-hand column.
Because all classifications must start with an arbitrary assumption, each type "family" has been listed with the style for short town names first, followed by medium-length town names, 'long town names next, and (if used) extra-long town names. A minimum of ten different towns using the same style is a basic requirement for listing as a Government Style; if this minimum is not achieved (as with three-line devices, for instance) it is felt that no hardship will be imposed on catalog publishers or editors if these types are described or illustrated like other non-standard local types, and labeled as "Government Issued" to differentiate them from locally-obtained devices.
Listings, as far as possible, are in strict chronological order as the various devices were issued through the Post Office Department.
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