Popular Science Monthly 



347 



tures when grasped in the hand 

 of the deputy paymaster author- 

 ized to do the work, rests on a 

 ball bearing and is connected 

 with ten fountain pens. With 

 Uiis device, a novice can trace 

 twenty thousand signatures in a 

 clciv without fatisfue. 



Ten fountain pens 

 obey the impulses 

 of the master pen 

 in the operator's 

 hand, and one 

 man can sign 

 twenty thousand 

 checks a day 



For each employ- 

 ee there is a type 

 plate bearing h i s 

 name. These plates 

 are placed in a ma- 

 chine which can be 

 operated by a clerk 

 receiving $ 5 4 a 

 year. The individ- 

 ual checks are print- 

 ed with names and 

 appropriate amounts 

 at the rate of sev- 

 enty-five hundred an 

 hour. The machine 

 is almost human. It 



stops automatically when the supply of 

 check blanks is exhausted, or the reser- 

 voir of name-plates has been emptied. 



The checks are numl^ered and dated 

 in a container whose principle of opera- 

 tion is that of the machine used in can- 

 celling stamps on letters in post offices. 

 In order to make the checks valid, of 

 course, they must be signed. This is 

 done on a machine so designed that ten 

 will receive the signature sinniltaneouslv. 

 The penholder, which traces the signa- 



A machine for num- 

 bering and dating 

 checks. The checks 

 are carried forward 

 in a vertical posi- 

 tion by means of 

 long belts 



