Some inventions, like this slot machine automated for sending mail, seem to complicate a simple process. Instead of plopping on a stamp and sending the letter out, this machine worked with gears, weights, and bells to register your mail for sending.
At the time of this invention, 1897, postal stamps were still fairly new. Before postal stamps, you would have to take your mail to the clerk and pay for its sending. By 1897, the first postage stamp was released and people could buy the stamps for mailing letters.
What I believe this news entry is describing is the Di Brazza meter stamp, believed to be one of the first of its kind in the world. Letters bearing this stamp are considered extremely rare and can be worth over $20,000.
REGISTERED MAIL.
A Machine Which Makes the Sender His Own Clerk.
An inventor says he has spent three years in perfecting a slot machine which is designed to make every person his own registered letter clerk and to facilitate the forwarding of registered mail.
Some of the machines have been placed in position, and their use sanctioned by the postmaster general. Under his orders they are to have a six weeks’ trial.
While the machines are being officially tested an agent of the post office is to be in constant attendance at each. He will explain the mechanism to the public.
To work the machine a dime is dropped into a spout at the upper right-hand side. A square iron cover flies up automatically and reveals a roll of white paper. On certain lines are to be written the name and address of the person to whom the letter is sent, and the name and address of the sender. Then a small lever at the right-hand upper end of the machine is to be pressed back. This opens the letter slot in front. When the letter is dropped in the handle of a big crank at the right must be forced back until a bell rings. The iron cover closes and locks over the writing tablet.
The big lever should then be drawn forward until a bell rings. As this is done, a duplicate of the writing, on a separate piece of paper, slips out of the machine at the left-hand side and upon this paper is also imprinted the post office date marks, the serial number of the letter, and signature of the postmaster. This is your receipt. The original writing is removed with the letter.
In order to get the letter to the post office without a chance for the carrier to tamper with it, the hopper bottom of the box is so constructed that it can only be opened when the mail bag is attached. The mail bag can only be opened in conjunction with the hopper or at the post office.
The machine is constructed with a delicate balance where the dimes are weighed. If too much worn, instead of passing into the machine they fall through a hole on the floor, after being rejected by the scale. [Source]
