Because coil stamps are convenient for use in stamp-affixing machines, and local devices designed for precanceling stamps in sheets do not lend themselves to coils, special jigs were ordered for this purpose before Bureau coils became available. Earlier styles read horizontally across the more-usual horizontal coils; later styles show a “ladder” arrangement usually reading vertically. In both cases, the subjects were arranged around a wheel, and the stamps were wound past this wheel by turning a crank. Any slippage between the rate of travel of the stamps through the machine and the rate of the precanceling wheel led to examples showing the imprint wider or narrower than it actually occurred on the precanceling wheel. Earlier devices had rubber surfaces; later ones had metal surfaces.
Seattle Multipost Coil Machine (Courtesy Jack Blanchard)
US1494571 Patent MACHINE FOR CANCELING STAMPS IN Rolls 19240520
