Pitney Bowles Mail Opener

Pitney Bowles Mail Opener

In 1902, Arthur Pitney patented his first "double-locking" hand-cranked postage-stamping machine, and founded the Pitney Postal Machine Company. In 1908, Walter Bowes, founder of the Universal Stamping Machine Company, began providing stamp-canceling machines to the US Postal Service. A rapid increase in mail volume in 1919 made the Post Office more receptive to metered mail, and Pitney traveled to meet Bowes, and the two companies merged to form the Pitney Bowes Postage Meter Company, with the goal of producing a machine that would combine Pitney's "double-locking" counter with Bowes' system for wrapping postage payment, postmarking and cancellation. The United States Post Office approved their postage meter on August 25, 1920. Pitney Bowes also began to sell their products internationally and to branch out in other directions to create office related equipment. No photographer credited, undated.

black & white • TECHNOLOGY • History: Modern

Album / NYPL/Science Source

? Model Release: No - ? Property Release: No
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4200 x 3322 px | 39.9 MB

35.6 x 28.1 cm | 14.0 x 11.1 in (300 dpi)