A hole new way for stamps
QUESTION Who came up with the idea of perforating paper, such as stamps and toilet rolls?
The inventor of perforations was henry Archer (1799-1863), an Irish businessman who is also known for the Ffestiniog Railway in Snowdonia.
he took the idea for separating stamps to the Postmaster General in 1847. Until then, sheets of stamps had been cut up with scissors or a knife by Post Office staff. This was time- consuming and prone to errors. The straight cuts produced are what stamp collectors call imperforate.
After struggling through various bureaucratic levels, Archer’s ideas were trialled for several years, with the result that the Post Office bought his patents for £4,000 in June 1853.
Archer invented two perforating machines. The first produced a wavy line of slits known as rouletting, similar to many perforations found today. however, this was not acceptable to the Post Office.
his second machine used a pin-comb to produce the holes separating the stamps that are still familiar today.
Archer was issued with 5,000 plain sheets, equivalent to a million penny red stamps. They were perforated with a comb of 16 holes to the inch. Many still exist and good used examples can be bought for several hundred pounds.
At this level of philately, a degree of expertise is required to be certain the stamp is a genuine Archer Trial version. The perforation needs to be 16 holes to the inch; most stamps after the trials were perforated at 14 to the inch.
The spacing of the holes is an important factor: if too far apart, the stamps will not separate easily and are likely to tear; if too close, the stamps could come apart in normal handling.
The penny stamps were printed 240 to a sheet by a series of printing plates. each stamp position on the sheet is located by two letters in the corners.
Archer was issued stamps from plates 92 to 101. These plates were also used for official imperforate issue. Reference printings, known as imprimateur, exist from which identification can be made.
Keith Matthews, Ferndown, Dorset.
TOILET paper was first used by the Chinese in the 5th century, while the Ancient Romans are believed to have used a sponge soaked in vinegar. The first commercially available toilet paper was invented by Joseph Gayetty, whose firm, Gayetty, New Jersey, produced what it called therapeutic paper in 1857. This was in the form of 500 loose sheets.
The first perforated loo roll is credited to Seth Wheeler of Albany, New York, owner of the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Co. Dated 1891, a drawing for U.S. Patent No. 465,588A features a roll virtually indistinguishable from the type we use today. Wheeler also patented a holder for his invention.
Tim Moore, Luton, Beds.
QUESTION What is the best genuine excuse for not handing in homework?
I WAS a pupil at St Joseph’s College, Blackpool, in 1962, when the U. S. discovered the Soviet Union had moved nuclear missiles to Cuba.
The U.S. blockaded the island and Nikita Khrushchev, the Russian leader, threatened to bomb the West. In common with many people at the time, I believed we could all be toast in a few hours.
When my teacher harold hassett asked why I hadn’t done my maths homework, I replied: ‘If there’s going to be a nuclear war at the weekend, there doesn’t seem to be much point.’ he said, ‘I suppose you’re right’ and let me off.
At 2pm that Saturday, the BBC announced Khrushchev had backed down. It’s hard to believe how close we came to Armageddon.
Malcolm Crane, Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancs. I WAS a police officer in West Kirby, Wirral, in the early Seventies during the IRA bombing campaign when a suspicious sports bag was reported on the steps of the locked coroner’s office.
I saw white liquid seeping from the bottom, so I closed the street and called in the Army bomb disposal squad. A robot blew the top off the bag. On examining the contents, I found a wet white towel, the cause of the leak. On top was a school homework file. I traced the bag to a schoolboy and when I returned it to him, I said: ‘I used excuses at school for failing to do my homework, but this is the best I have ever seen.’
Malcolm Craig, Wirral.
WHEN I was a teacher, a girl asked me if she would be punished for something she had not done. I explained that would be unfair, to which she responded: ‘ That’s good because I haven’t done my homework!’
Roger Bradshaw, Colchester, Essex.
WHILE teaching at an independent school on Merseyside in the eighties, I was surprised when a teenager brought a letter from home explaining he had been unable to complete his homework as ‘he had to prepare a landing site for his father’s helicopter’.
Bob Johnston, Formby, Merseyside.
QUESTION Is there a connection between the Jamaican flag and the Scottish Saltire?
The earlier answer touched on the fact that the Jamaican flag was designed by my father, the Rev William McGhie from Glasgow. he was serving as a minister at Webster Memorial Presbyterian Church in Kingston, Jamaica.
During a conversation with the Jamaican prime minister Sir Alexander Bustamante, my father suggested that, as a Christian country, Jamaica’s flag might have a cross as part of the design.
he sketched out the Scottish Saltire and, using my paint set, coloured his drawing with the now famous green, black and gold of Jamaica, creating one of the world’s iconic flags.
To learn more about the connection between Scotland and Jamaica, visit flagupscotjam.uk.
John McGhie, Coupar Angus, Scotland.
IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT; fax them to 01952 780111 or email them to charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.