US418211A - Envelope and stamp moistener - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

O. E. MOSMAN. ENVELOPE AND STAMP MOISTENER.

Patented Dec. 31, 1889.-

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UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. MOSMAN, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT.

ENVELOPE AND STAMP MOISTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 418,211, dated December 31, 1889. Application filed Ha 15,1889. Serial No. 310,797. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. MOSMAN, of Meriden, in the county of "New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented new and useful Improvements in Envelope and Stamp Moisteners; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of said invention, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invent-ion relates to improvements in envelope and stamp moisteners; and the obj ect of my invention is to produce a convenient article for the desk, which will enable the possessor to quickly and easily moisten the gum on an envelope or stamp or alarge number of them without performing the disagreeable operation of using saliva.

My invention consists in the construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my moistener complete. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the lever, which is shown in section in Fig. 2. Figs. 4 and 5 are respectively a plan or top view and a sectional view of a modification hereinafter referred to, the cover in Fig. 4. being removed.

A indicates a rectangular or other suitablyshaped box of a material which is watertight.

B is a cover, whichmay be either removable from the box or permanently secured thereto. Theoover has an opening I; of a shape similar to the gumn'ied portion of an envelope-flap, and over this opening is a similarly-shaped guide or guard b, secured to the cover on one side of the opening by screws or other suitable means. The piece 11' serves as a guide for inserting the gummed flap of an envelope with the gummed face downward, and as a guard or stop for holding the flap against the upward pressure of the moistening-pad, to be now described.

To the sides of the box or cover, as desired, is pivoted a lever C, which has a curved handle or pressure-piece c, projecting upward through the long straight slot 1) of the cover B, and at the other end of the lever under the opening I) of the cover is a pad 0', covered with felt or other absorbent 0 The pad is of a shape corresponding with the opening I) and slightly smaller than said opening, so as to project through it when the pad is raised. The box is kept partially filled with water, and when it is desired to moisten the gum of an envelope the flap of the envelope is opened and inserted, gummed face downward, under the guard b and pressure exerted on theleverhandle a through the envelope. The pad and felt is thereby lifted out of the water and pressed against the envelope-flap, thus moistening the gum. This operation can be performed in a very short time, less than usually required to flick an envelope, and avoids the disagreeable task and the danger of cutting the tongue resulting from licking the flap.

Instead of applying the absorbent material directly to the pad of the lever, I may loosely suspend a piece of such material over the pad, as shown at c in Figs. 4 and 5.

The stamp-moistener consists of a roller of absorbent material D, hung in bearings cl, placed at any convenient portion of the device, the cover being provided with an open ing, through which the upper portion of the roller projects, the ,lower portion being immersed in the water in the box.

It will be seen that the pad in its vertical movement causes moisture to be carried up to the envelope-flap to be moistened and then falls again, there being, therefore, very little opportunity for the water to evaporate when the device is not in use.

If the cover is made a fixturelmay provide a suitable opening for the admission of water, or the water may be poured into the box through the roller-opening.

A small piece of glass may be set in the side of the box, as shown at E, to enable the user to see the amount of water contained.

It is obvious that at or near the opening I) there may be a rectangular opening corre sponding in size and shape with a stamp, and the lever C may have a corresponding pad. By such construction I can dispense with the roller D and use the above-mentioned enlarged pad of the lever C for moistening a With a box having an opening in its cover, of

a lever having a moistening-pad at one end inside the box and having a handle at its other end projecting outside the box, substantially as described.

2. In a inoistening device, the combination, with a box having an opening in its top, of a Vertically-m ovable moistenin g-pad un der said opening, and a moistening-roller having a portion of its periphery projecting through a second opening in the top of the box, substantially as described.

3. The combination of box A, coverB, havingopening b and 6 and guard b, and lever C, having handle 0 and pad 0 c substantially as described.

l. In a moistening device, the combination, with a Water-receptacle, of a cover having an opening corresponding to the flap of an envelope and a second opening corresponding With a stamp, and a moistening-pad corresponding with both of said openings and adjustable to different elevations in said receptacle, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

CHARLES F. MOSMAN. Witnesses:

A. L. STEVENS, O. P. Ivns.

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