- 



KNVr.I.'H'K M AKIXC. 



ST. p.\n.-s F.IMSTLE TO riir. 



History at the EnglUh Law.' (BUclwt, 'Comm./ Mr. Kerr's ed., 

 v. ii.. p. 191; v. iii. p. 1 



I \\ II nl'K-MAKlNC. fntil tho intr.liieti..n of the great 

 change in the portal arrangement* of tho 1'nited Kingdom about 

 twenty rears ago. envelope* for letter* were very little ued. There 

 was sufficient reason for this, seeing that double portage WM charged 

 for any letter consisting of two pieces of paper. Tho letters them- 

 elve* were directed and sealed, or wafered, without exterior coverings. 

 When, however, letter* were charged only with a postage-rate by 

 weight, the name obstacle did not exist; and it disappeared entirely 

 when the penny rate commenced, whereby a moderately sized letter 

 and its envelope could both be conveyed to any part of the United 

 Kingdom for one penny. In 1889, just before these changes were 

 made, the letters i>osted in or passing through the whole kingdom 

 were about 76,000,000 annually ; since which time they have risen to 

 628,000,000 in 1858, under the influence of cheapness and efficiency. 

 The manufacture of envelopes has hence^ become a matter of some 

 importance ; for nearly all letters are now enclosed in such covers, 

 except certain official kinds. The number of envelopes actually made 

 is not correctly known ; for large numbers are used for purposes which 

 do not bring them within notice of the postal authorities. The French 

 used envelopes before they were much employed in England ; and the 

 Americans send over large quantities made of a peculiar kind of drab 

 or buff paper ; but the great proportion ore of home production, and, 

 in the present day, machine-made. At first, a hand-method was 

 adopted for cutting, folding, and gumming. The sheets of paper were 

 in toe first place shaped by sharp cutters, acting against the edges of 

 guide-plates, and penetrating several layers of paper at once. The 

 shaped pieces were then folded, something in the same way as the 

 sheets of paper for bookbinding ; an expert worker could fold three 

 thousand in a day, but not so uniformly and symmetrically as they are 

 now folded by machine. The gumming, and the embossing on the 

 loose flap, were subsequent operations. Envelopes are still made in 

 this way ; but there are no means of knowing what ratio they bear to 

 those made by machine. 



Although the extensive use of envelopes began in 1840, and the 

 ingenuity of inventors was soon afterwards directed to the possi- 

 bility of producing an envelope-making machine ; it was not until 

 1851 that the public became familiar with the results. Messrs. De la 

 Rue's envelope-machine was one of the most attractive objects at the 

 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park throwing off its three thousand 

 envelopes per hour, and showing how much may now be effected by 

 the labour of one or two persons. There was another machine exhi- 

 bited, and many specimens of envelopes unaccompanied by any notice 

 of the mode of manufacture ; but the one above adverted to was that 

 to which attention was most deservedly directed. 



This highly ingenious machine, the joint invention of Mr. Warren 

 de la Rue and Mr. Edwin Hill, was patented in 1845 ; and to it were 

 made certain additions which were the subject of another patent in 

 1849. The paper is not cut to the proper lozenge or diamond shape 

 by the machine itself, but by a cutting apparatus used separately. 

 Nor does the machine feed itself with these blanks ; it is fed by an 

 attendant at the rate of about sixty a minute. When the blanks have 

 been cut out, and embossed with any device that may be chosen, each 

 one is placed in turn on a small table or stand. A compound box or 

 plunger descends, presses the paper into a recess, and makes four 

 creases in it, in such way that four flaps stand upright. Four folding 

 levers, which act the port of fingers, then descend one after another, 

 and fold the four flaps of the envelope. After the end flaps have been 

 turned down, however, and before the side flaps are similarly treated, 

 a gumming apparatus moves forward, and applies a little gum to those 

 ports which ore to be fastened together. This gumming apparatus is 

 beautifully contrived ; an endless band moves through a trough of 

 gum or adhesive composition, takes up a portion and imparts it to 

 a sorl of printing-lever, which in its turn transfers the gum to the 

 paper. When this is completed, the gumming apparatus withdraws, 

 and the folding levers press down the remaining flaps of the paper. 

 The automatic action of the machine instantly removes the finished 

 envelope, to make way for another. To prevent the flaps from flying 

 open again while the gum is yet moist, each envelope is transferred to 

 the bottom of the heap already made, so as to receive pressure for a 

 short time ; two levers acting like fingers, tipped with india-rubber to 

 render them slightly adhesive, draw the envelope sideways, and carry 

 it to a point where an endless band takes it under a roller to receive a 

 slight pressure, and then deposits it at the bottom of a previously 

 made heap of envelopes, lifted up for that purpose. By a little adjust- 

 ment of the mechanism, the folders can be adapted for envelopes of 

 different sizes. As the feeding of the machine must be as rapid as 

 the cycle of operations, any failure in it would produce mischief ; if a 

 blank were not deposited on the proper spot at the proper instant, the 

 gum would wet the small table, and thus spoil the next envelope ; and 

 at the same time a disarrangement of the finished heap would take 

 place. The attendant is provided with means for avoiding these two 

 evils, without (topping the machine. One machine can make 30 000 

 envelope* in a day. 



Another envelope-making machine, exhibiting great ingenuity, was 

 patented by M. Rfimond, in 1849, and was afterwards purchased by 

 Messrs. Dickinson, to be used in their paper works at King's Longley. 



This machine is self -feeding. A hollow arm, moving backwards aud 

 forwards, is alternately exhausted and filled with air ; in its exha 

 state, it comes down gently upon a heap of paper blanks, one of whi.-h 

 slightly adheres to it by a species of suction ; the arm moves on, 

 becomes filled with air, and drops the blank on a moveable table. The 

 blank is then pressed against two pieces of sponge saturated with gum, 

 by which it is gummed just in the right places for fastening, 

 this, the folding is effected by a combination of plungers and folding- 

 levers. The machine is more automatic than De la Rue's in regard to 

 the feeding, but not so much so in the pressing and final removal of 

 the envelopes. 



There are other envelope-making machines which have been patented, 

 but which need not receive any lengthened notice here. Messrs. Polhr.l 

 and Muinby's machine is intended to effect the feeding, gumming, 

 stamping, folding, and delivering, all by the aid of one person. The 

 blank is fed upon a folding-box, and gummed on the lower flap. At 

 the same time it is embossed or stamped on the opposite or seal flap, and 

 with the maker's name on one of the end flaps. A folding-plunger then 

 descends into the folding-box, driving up the edges of the paper into a 

 vertical position ; the plunger then rises ; and spring incliners give the 

 necessary inclination to the flaps. The plunger descends again, and 

 presses down the flaps on the gummed surface. The envelope finally 

 falls from the box upon a moveable bottom. Shaw's envelope machine 

 was intended by its inventor as on improvement on Romond's. It 

 has an adhesive substitute for tho pneumatic feeder, which takes the 

 blanks one by one off the heap ; this substitute is mode of india- 

 rubber treated with turpentine. There are also elastic revolving 

 surfaces acting in conjunction with the plunger ; four rollers covered 

 with india-rubber form the sides of the folding-box ; and a plunger 

 drives the blank down between the rollers. In Addenbrooke'i pa- 

 tented machine, an attendant places the blanks on a feeding-table, 

 adjusts it by guide studs, and works a treadle. A complicated system 

 of rollers, arms, excentrics, springs, levers, flies, screws, fingers, and 

 plungers is set in action ; a gum-box, gum-distributor, and gum-pad 

 do one part of the work; after which, the creasing and folding are 

 effected nearly in the same manner as in the machines already described. 

 The envelopes are finally deposited on an 'endless band, which carries 

 them away to a receptacle. Keith's envelope-machine, like iuost.it' 

 the others, requires that the blanks should be fed iu by hand ; they 

 are creased by the descent of a plunger into a creasing-box ; a ]>:n ti.il 

 exhaustion of air then holds the paper in the box while the plunger 

 rises. The box then advances to another plunger, for folding and 

 pressing the flaps; this second box has projecting sliding pieces, whieh 

 first turn down one of the flaps, and then lay the end flaps upon it. 

 There is on air-exhausting apparatus connected with the plungers. 



ENVOY, a diplomatic minister or agent, inferior in dignity to an 

 ambassador, but generally invested with equal powers. [AMBASSADOR 

 DIPLOMACY.] 



EOS ('H(4i), in Greek mythology, the Goddess of the Morning ; the 

 Aurora of the Romans. The daughter of Hyperion and Tliei;i. and 

 the sister of Helios and Silene, it was her task to precede the chariot of 

 the sun, and announce the coming day. By Tithonus she was the 

 mother of Memnon and Emathion. She urged Zeus to render Tithonus 

 immortal ; but having forgotten to ask that he should retain his youth, 

 he at length withered away and she changed him into a cricket. She 

 carried off Cephalus from Mount Hymettus, and became by him tho 

 mother of Phaeton, but eventually allowed him to return to hi*< wife 

 Procris. The splendour of Eos, or Aurora, was a frequent theme of 

 the Greek and Roman poets. She was also a favourite with tho 

 ancient artists. There are many representations of her both in 

 sculptures and on vases. The carrying off of Cephalus occurs fre- 

 quently. Sometimes she is represented in a magnificent quadriga ; at 

 others guiding the horses of the sun ; or again preceding or pursuing 

 Orion. 



EPACT, the number of days in the moon's age at the beginning of 

 the year. 



EPAULEMENT is the term properly applied to the moss of earth, 

 about 7 feet 6 inches high and 18 or 20 feet thick, which is raised for 

 the purpose of either protecting a body of troops from the enemy's 

 fire, or of forming a wing or shoulder of a battery to prevent the guns 

 from being dismounted by an enfilading fire. It is in fact the term 

 applied to many works of merely passive defence. The term is occa- 

 sionally, improperly however, used to designate the whole moss of 

 earth or other material which protects the guns in a battery both in 

 front and on either flank ; and it can only be distinguished from a 

 parapet by being without a banquette, or step, at the foot of the 

 interior side, on which the men stand to fire over a parapet That 

 part of the epaulement which is between every two embrasures is called 

 a merlon ; and the part under the embrasure is called the j 



I.I'IIKMKIUS (iipnucpls, from i*t, ami iipipa) a name given to 

 almanacs, from their containing matter for each day. In astronomy it 

 is usual to call any table which assigns the place of a planet for a 

 number of successive days an ephemeris of the planet. [ALMANAC.] 



EPHESIAN8, ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE, is the fifth, in 

 numerical order, of the fourteen apostolical letters of St. Paul, con- 

 tained in the canon of the New Testament. Throughout the primitive 

 ages of Christianity it was regarded by the principal fathers as being 

 of genuine and sacred authority. According to Dr. Larduer (' Credi- 





