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PITNEY BOWESMODEL MPOSTAGE METER1920An InternationalHistoric MechanicalEngineering Landmark,September 1986The American Society ofMechanical Engineers

PITNEY BOWES MODEL M POSTAGE METERDesignated the 20th InternationalHistoric Mechanical EngineeringLandmark by the American Societyof Mechanical EngineersSeptember 17, 1986The original Pitney Bowes Model Mpostage meter, circa, 1920.THE INEFFICIENT POSTAGE STAMPSince its creation in 1789, the Post Office hasbeen driven to make the mail move faster, morefrequently, and more safely. Private enterpriseprovided much of the innovation and success inimproving the efficiency of postal service. Part ofthat history is the Pitney Bowes Model M postagemeter, which on November 16, 1920, became thefirst commercially used meter in the world.Less than fifty years after the first conventionalpostage stamps appeared in 1840 in England,designs to eliminate them were well underway. In1884, Carle Bushe had conceived and patented amachine similar to the postage meter but thedevice was never used. In 1898, Elmer Wolf andWilliam Scott experimented with a metermachine for large-scale mailers which offered thePost Office security from theft, but no record exists to indicate that a model was built. In 1903,the first government-authorized use of amechanical device in place of adhesive stampstook place in Norway, but this was abandonedafter a two-year trial.Though today’s meters are more sophisticated,the basic principles of the Model M are still intact. The postage meter imprints an amount ofpostage, functioning as a postage stamp, acancellation mark, and a dated postmark all inone. The well-known eagle meter stamp is proofof payment and eliminates the need for adhesivestamps and further postal servicing. Billions ofletters and packages are meter stamped byprivate businesses and are transported throughthe postal system annually.Ernest Moss of New Zealand introduced a coinoperated stamping machine in 1904. Since it wasnot foolproof, it was withdrawn. A year later, thefirst credit machines (without locking devices)began operating. Traveling postal inspectorsperiodically examined these machines andcharged customers accordingly.The issuance of adhesive stamps in 1847, alongwith the introduction of personal mail boxesalong routes and mail distribution by rail,pneumatic tube, and automobile, were pivotal innovations that made the U. S. Postal Office intoa first class system. Key concerns were securityagainst stamp thefts and how to process the mailwithin a reasonable time and at a reasonablerate. In 1860 the Pony Express carried mail for 5 per half ounce. Over the next hundred years,the Postal Service progressed to a fullymechanized service that today operates facilitiesthat electronically face and cancel letters andautomatically transports them to 300 destinationbins at a rate of 18,000 a minute. The PostalService processed 139 billion pieces of mail in1985 and is expecting an increase of 51 billionpieces by 1995.About the time that airmail service was initiatedand expanded coast-to-coast in the early twenties,inventor Arthur H. Pitney and entrepreneur WalterH. Bowes succeeded in demonstrating the ModelM postage meter to the satisfaction of the UnitedStates Post Office Department.With official acceptance by the Postal Serviceclearing the way for expanded commercial use ofthe postage meter, “The days of sticking hundreds of thousands of stamps is about gone,”Bowes declared in 1920. While meter development met with difficulties from conception to fullutilization over nearly three decades, Bowes’prediction proved true.1

machinery so that it could be brought to the PostOffice for resetting instead of the Post Officerepresentative traveling to it. This new systemwas tested from January 28 to May 28, 1914, atthe Addressograph Company and other firms.Over 853,000 pieces were mailed during the trial,but the Post Office decided the new model wasnot needed.ENTER THE ENTREPRENEURDuring the early years of the 20th century, WalterH. Bowes headed the Universal StampingMachine Company, which manufactured post office canceling machines. Between 1912 and 1917he achieved prominence in postal circles for hispromotion of permit printing of mail, “similar tothe way money is printed,” according to onedismayed postal official who was concerned aboutthe burden such a system would place on postoffice administration.For Bowes, the canceling business had been increasingly successful, and in search of morespace he moved his factory from New York Cityto Port Chester, N.Y., and then finally to Stamford, CT. In 1918, a postal official suggested thathe contact Pitney. In October of 1919, apessimistic Pitney arrived in Stamford. Hispatents were expiring, and some 90,000 hadalready been invested in the machine with littleto show for the effort. By 1919 the firms hadbeen combined, and the efforts of the PitneyBowes Postage Meter Company went intodeveloping and promoting the postage meter.Arthur H. Pitney, inventor of the postage meter.THE INVENTOR'S PERSISTENCEArthur Pitney, a wallpaper store clerk who evidently had never heard of the work of other postalmeter inventors, devised his first mailing systemin 1901, for which he was granted a patent onOctober 14, 1902. Shortly after, he formed thePitney Postal Machine Company in Chicago, whichbecame the American Postage Meter Company in1912. In the interim, the machine’s acceptance bythe public and the postal administrations draggedon slowly without resolution.This first machine consisted of a manual crank,chain action, printing die, counter, and lockoutdevice. An electrically operated model that automatically sealed and stacked the envelopes alongwith printing the postage was patented later.The speed of operation was hastened through theuse of gearing in place of chains. The imprint indicated the license number of the machine andthe register count. Its lockout was reset with akey, and the machine required a Post Officerepresentative to reset the mechanism each timemore postage was needed. This model was testedby the Post Office from November 1903 toJanuary 1904, the first official test of such adevice in U. S. history. While the test was regarded as highly successful, the Post Office permittedprinted postage only on third- and fourth-classmail, not first-class as Pitney had hoped.Walter H. Bowes, the entrepreneur whose effortshelped secure U.S. Postal Service approval for theModel M.During a later demonstration in 1911, Pitneyenvisioned a way to detach the printing andregistering mechanism from the mail-handling2

Above: Postal workers sorting and facing mail for cancelling. Pitney's invention helped move the Postal Service away from this time consuming and inefficient process. Right corner: Walter H. Wheeler, Jr., the engineer who madea crucial design correction to the meter before final approval.details that permitted the new prototype tooperate flawlessly.However, over the years Pitney had establishedsome credibility with the Post Office, which wasnearer to accepting a new mailing system thaneither man realized.An improved version that separated the registering mechanism from the printing die, therebyremoving the incidence of dirt, grease, andcoagulated ink from the printing process, wasdemonstrated to the Post Office in August of1920. The Model M Postage Meter was authorized on September 1 and was put into commercialuse in Stamford on November 16, 1920.THE CREATIVE TRIANGLE: INVENTOR,PROMOTER, AND ENGINEERPitney was the inventor. Bowes concentrated hisactivities in Washington, lobbying for passage ofthe necessary legislation permitting first-class mailto be carried without postage stamps affixed. Thebill passed in early 1920, and for all their work,neither Pitney nor Bowes was ready--the modelwas not complete and the final contract for themerger of their respective companies had notbeen worked out.METER MANUFACTURING EVOLVESManufacturing began in Stamford, Connecticut, ina modest way. The present, greatly expanded vertically integrated plant exists in the same location. Throughout the years many special processes have been developed to produce the precision parts of a product that has performed with ahigh degree of reliability.Within a month, on April 23, the company wasorganized and incorporated. The Post Office requested a demonstration no later than August.Just before the deadline, Walter H. Wheeler, Jr.,the 23-year-old stepson of Bowes, joined thedesign team. While he was not formally trainedas a mechanical engineer, he was mechanicallygifted and had sales experience. In addition to hisskill in demonstrating the machine, he is creditedwith the innovation and implementation of designThe Model M meter provided only a singledenomination imprint and was equipped with fixedimprinting dies. Several generations later, theModel H provided multidenominations that thecustomer could select, adding complexity to thedesign, which now included an amount-selection3

The need to expand service to customers wasmet by providing a Model J meter that could imprint any amount of postage up to the design’slimits. The device grew still further in complexity,requiring further development of manufacturingskills. Such development continues today with theincreased use of plastics and other materials thatassist in controlling cost. Computer-controlledmachinery is now commonplace along with thenew equipment required to produce the designsthat followed the Model J meter.device that had to be securely linked to the accounting registers. The new design required theproduction of parts with greater precision, and themanufacturing branch responded to the challengeby introducing new metal-working techniques,such as, upsetting or “swaging,” and by applyingnew materials, such as, powdered metals.Early 1939 saw the introduction of still anotherversion of the J meter. The design objectiveswere still to provide security of postal revenuesan objmective that always dominated the PitneyBowes postage meter. After World War II production, still further developments took place inmeter design. Both meter and mailing machinebecame one stand-alone device, enabling smallerbusinesses to benefit from the metered mailsystem. New designs continued to emerge to provide the postage customer further convenience.Customers could now reset their meters withoutgoing to the post Office.The character of meter design still changeswith the marriage of electronics to the oncewholly mechanical devices, which for exampleallows automatic setting of postage fromweighing devices.Manufacturing of the first Pitney Bowes postagemeters began in this building in Stamford. Thecompany’s present manufacturing facility inStamford is located on this very spot.Mailing machines in full production at the Pitney Bowes plant.4