Meter of the Month Talk to the Postal Mechanisation Study Circle (PMSC) Acknowledgements

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1 Editor: Alastair Nixon, 7 Bramblegate, Edgcumbe Park, Crowthorne, Berks, RG45 6JA. Tel: +44 (0) alastair@nixon48.freeserve.co.uk Web site: Meter of the Month Peter Mantell reports this zero-value applied by a Frama MailMax machine. The four 0 s in the value die have a horizontal line drawn through them, indicating an illegal postage amount. The item came on a label affixed to a letter bearing a 39p frank that was dated Clearly the label was applied to reflect the correct date of posting. This frank is the equivalent to the Invalid Value dies that are now generated on all Pitney Bowes IJP machines and have been seen for the last ten years or so. Invalid dies have yet to be observed on franks from Francotyp-Postalia and Neopost machines, although an Invalid Value die has been reported on a frank from an Irish machine (see page 123-6). The full image is shown below: It is not known how long such dies have been applied on zero-value Frama machines and reports of other examples (with or without the horizontal line) would be appreciated. Indeed, reports of zero-value franks from Neopost and Francotyp-Postalia machines would also be welcome. Talk to the Postal Mechanisation Study Circle (PMSC) Your editor is planning to give a talk to the PMSC in Conway Hall, Holborn (London) on Saturday 17 th September 2011, starting at 10am. The informal talk will be on the subject of Meter franking developments over the last 10 years. Visitors are most welcome and if anyone is interested in coming along, please let me know and I ll provide further details. Acknowledgements My thanks this month go to Jim Ashby, Michael Dobbs, Keith Downing, Alan Godfrey, Richard Goring, Ross Irwin, Peter Mantell, Miles Patterson, Richard Peck, Robert Rowe and Peter Woods for their reports and communications. Meter News Page of 8 April 2011

2 Latest Numbers Below is the list of Latest Numbers as at the end of April 2011 with updates shown in red. Please could I have the next reports by 27th May, thanks. Frama (UK) Matrix F2, F4, F6 F See MN 125 EcoMail FSC See MN 123 Francotyp-Postalia Optimail T See MN 125 Optimail 25/35 F See MN 123, see below Centormail 240/300 FC Reported by PM MyMail FM See MN 121 MyMail / PostagePro FM See MN 125 Ultimail FU See MN 124 Neopost IS-330 N See MN 125 IS-350 N Reported by AN IJ-65 N See MN 125 Various upgraded N Reported by PM IJ-80/90/110 N See MN 125 Various upgraded N See MN 124 IJ-35/45 N See MN 122 IS-460 (Ex IJ-50) N See MN 121 IS-420 (Ex IJ-30) N See MN 125 IS-440 (Ex IJ-40) N See MN 124 IS-480 N Reported by PM AutoStamp2/IS-280 N Reported by PM Pitney Bowes DM50, 55 PB Reported by PM DM 810, 900 etc. PB Reported by AN Connect etc. PB See MN 125 Connect+ 10FC etc. PB See MN 125 DM 400, 450, 475 PB Reported by PM DM100i, 150i etc. PB Reported by AN Advanced Mail AACR-HK PB Reported by AN. On their web-site, Francotyp-Postalia now market the Optimail in two versions, namely the Optimail 25 and the Optimail 35. Previously, it has been marketed as the Optimail 30. Meter News Page of 8 April 2011

3 Recent Interesting Items Exactly ten years ago, on page 6-1, we featured a refill report from a Post Perfect (PB7 prefix) machine that had been through on a live mail item, repeated alongside for reference. Your editor has now found a similar item - shown below. The item comes from a DM500 series machine (PB5 prefix) and was discovered under a frank that was affixed to a label that had been applied in a way that covered the refill receipt. The image of the frank is shown below. Of particular interest within the refill receipt is Meter No This enables us to update the list (see pages 88-6 and 91-3) that maps the machine licence numbers to the machine serial numbers, as follows: Maker Serial No. Licence No. Model - Market Name By Pitney Bowes PB DM500 series etc. AN Pitney Bowes PB Post Perfect TN The update for the PB5 machine aligns with other entries in the master list, but the 2001 report from Tom Norgate (previously omitted from the list) is a new machine entry for the table. Your editor would be pleased to receive any further reports of refill receipts or other paperwork that enables us to map a machine s licence number to its serial number. Meter News Page of 8 April 2011

4 Recent Interesting Items Continued Your editor reports two more examples where companies are making good use of their Connect+ FC machines with these coloured slogans: Six years ago, on page 55-1, we reported a Smart mailing slogan from the Mailmax machine that was being used at the Frama office at Hoddesdon. Your editor now reports a second example from November last year, but this time the slogan includes a return address. On page we reported a frank bearing a value of 36.00, applied in error. Kamal Maheshwari now sends a genuine higher value of from a parcel sent by the British Museum to India. Meter News Page of 8 April 2011

5 Overseas News Further to page 125-1, here is some more information that Peter Huss acquired during his visit to the CeBIT Exhibition in Hanover. Below is a specimen frank from a VARIO IT machine, produced by a company called TeleFrank GmbH, together with an illustration of the machine. Neither the brochure supplied, nor the web-site publishes a figure for the throughput of the machine, which tends to suggest that the VARIO is targeted at low-volume users. The basic features of the machine are described, including the slot for labels that can be generated singularly or to a pre-selected number. The integral scales transmit the data to the minicomputer installed in the VARIO. The correct postage is computed with respect to weight, the routing/class selected, and the size of envelope. The TeleFrank Company does not, at present, sell any franking machines within the UK. Meter News Page of 8 April 2011

6 Instructional Markings Peter Mantell reports this Revenue Protection handstamp that has the outward postcode BS34 rather than the town name. We have not seen this before and it is not known whether this is a wider new development or a one-off. Reports of similar examples are welcome. Your editor reports this 1 st Class Revenue Protection handstamp from the South Midlands Mail Centre that has been applied to an underpaid 2 nd Class item. The postage rate for meter users went up by 3p on the 4 th April to 28p and 39p for 1 st and 2 nd class mail respectively. Meter News Page of 8 April 2011

7 Interesting Items from the Past On page 109-5, we depicted a 1952 GviR FRANKOPOST SPECIMEN frank from machine SA 44, advertising the Simplex machine. Here, the same slogan is seen on a live mail item a year earlier from Universal machine U 621 (London N 18). My thanks go to Ross Irwin for this and the other reports in this section. From 1935, here is a Design B Midget machine M 68 (London W1) with a slogan that advertises the Universal Postal Franker. From 1937, here is a Design C FV machine N 44 specimen with a nice slogan that advertises the Kennel Club s 76 th Show. Finally, Ross sends this early Design B frank from machine 1 PB, showing the sender as Postage Meters & Machines Co., London SW1 agents for Pitney Bowes Ltd. Meter News Page of 8 April 2011

8 Meter Thematics Your editor has acquired this frank from Wellington College celebrating its 150 th anniversary. The college is in my home town of Crowthorne and hence this is of particular interest to me. It was built in 1861 for the orphans of army officers in memory of the Duke of Wellington and in consultation with Queen Victoria and her husband, HRH Prince Albert. Your editor has also found this design that depicts a scene from the battle of Hastings during the Norman Conquest of England in Your editor has found this frank from The Wheel House Veterinary Centre in Chesham that depicts the silhouette of a dog with a cat in front. Finally, I shall award myself Meter Thematic of the Month with this attractive design showing a peacock from Beale Park Wildlife Park near Reading. Meter News Page of 8 April 2011