Private Perforations on U.S. Vending and Affixing Machine Coil Stamps 1907-1927

1906-1908 Imperforate from the Designs of the Series of 1902 - Flat Plate
Attleboro   Brinkerhoff      International Vending Machine   Mailometer   Schermack   U.S. Automatic Vending

1908-1910 Imperforate Flat Plate Double-line Watermarked Washington-Franklins
Attleboro   Brinkerhoff   Farwell      Mailometer   Schermack   U.S. Automatic Vending

1909 Flat Plate Imperforate Commemoratives
   Brinkerhoff   Farwell      Mailometer   Schermack   U.S. Automatic Vending

1910-1912 Imperforate Flat Plate Single-line Watermarked Washington-Franklins
   Brinkerhoff   Farwell      Mailometer   Schermack   U.S. Automatic Vending

1916-1917 Imperforate Flat Plate Unwatermarked Washington-Franklins
      Farwell      Mailometer   Schermack  

1918-1919 Offset Imperforate Washington-Franklins
               Schermack  

1923-1925 Flat Plate Imperforates - Series of 1922
               Schermack  

Private Perforations Applied to U.S. Government Issued Stamps

Attleboro Perforations 1909
The Attleboro type I perforation runs across the entire margin separated by two narrow 1.1mm to 1.3mm strips. The central oblong/rectangular hole is 13mm wide by 1.5 to 1.8mm high with a V-shaped notch at top. Only three issues of U.S. stamps are known with this perforation, the double-line watermarked 1908 1¢ and 2¢ stamps, Scott 343 and 344, with horizontal perforations and the 1909 double-line watermarked 2¢ Alaska-Yukon commemorative, Number 371, with vertical perforations.

Brinkerhoff Perforations 1909-1916
The Brinkerhoff Company originally produced their coil stamps in Sedalia, Missouri, and received licenses to operate their machines in Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. It is not certain in which cities Brinkerhoff had offices, but in 1909 an office in Denver was listed in the city directory. In 1910 the company moved from Sedalia to Lyons, Iowa. The company operated under a variety of names, including at least the following: the "Nebraska-Iowa Stamp Vending Company", "Brinkerhoff Stamp Vendor", "Postal Vending Manufacturing Co." and possibly the "Tri-State Stamp Vending Company".

The type I stamps have four 1.8mm in diameter holes uniformly spaced 3.2mm apart and no slits. All of the type II stamps have two larger 2.3mm diameter holes spaced 12.2mm apart and an overall length of 16.8mm. The type II have no slits, the type IIa have one long slit (about 9.7mm) between the holes and two shorter slits outside the holes, and the type IIb have two shorter slits (2.5-3mmm) between the holes and two short slits outside the holes. The holes on all of the Brinkerhoff stamps were applied to vertical strips of stamps prior to being placed in the vending machines. The slits were added in the vending process to aide the separation of stamps from the vending machine.

Farwell Perforations 1911-1917
The John V. Farwell Company was a wholesale dry goods firm operating out of Chicago. In 1908 it began using the Schermack stamp-affixing machine to handle its heavy volume of mail. By 1911 it was decided that rather than paying the Mailometer Company a 50¢ per roll surcharge for their Schermack III coils, they might be able to produce their own coils to use in the Schermack machines at a cost saving. The large number of varieties in this group reflects the amount of experimentation that went into getting the stamps to feed properly in the Schermack machine. The nomenclature for these is as follows: The first number describes the number of holes at top and the last number the number of holes at bottom. The letter in the middle describes the spacing, where "A" describes a narrow spacing and "B" a wide spacing. All holes are 1.5mm in diameter, vertically aligned and spaced a more or less consistent .5mm apart.

International Vending Machine Company Perforations 1906-1908
The International Vending perforations are normal looking, continuous, round, generally well aligned 1mm in diameter holes with irregular spacing. They have a distinctive look with a variable tendency to slant from right to left as the result of having been made one row at a time using a single-stroke perforator. The proper gauge is approximately 12½ and examples that have gauge 13 perforations are not International Vending coils. According to Steven Belasco, there are no known genuine examples of the 1908-1909 imperforate issues, Numbers 343-347.

Mailometer Perforations 1909-1918
The Mailometer type I has holes 1.95mm in diameter spaced 1.2mm apart with a total length of 17.7mm, which distinguishes them from the type Ia perforations by the spacing, the Ia's are 1.15mm apart with an overall length of 17.45mm. The Mailometer type II again has 1.95mm diameter holes spaced 1.15mm apart, but the holes run continuously, with typically eight holes per stamp. The Mailometer type III has continuous perforations, but they are a smaller 1.5mm in diameter and are spaced 1.5mm apart. The Mailometer type IV has five distinctively larger 2.2mm diameter holes spaced 1.1mm apart, with an overall length of 15.5mm. The Mailometer type V is a continuous perforation with 1.8mm holes spaced 1.35mm apart, with some minor variation between spacing.

Schermack Perforations 1907-1927
The Schermack type I perforations may have six, seven or eight small holes, approximately 1mm in diameter and spaced .7mm apart. The early examples of these perforations have ragged holes while the later examples are much cleaner and more regularly spaced. The Schermack type II perforations have six holes 1.55 mm in diameter, larger than the type I holes, with uneven spacing. The Schermack type III perforation is the most common of all the vending and affixing machine perforations, having been used for twenty years. The oblong/rectangular hyphen holes are a distinctive 4.75mm high and 1.25mm wide with 3.25mm spacing. The size and spacing is quite uniform considering the length of production, although some of the early stamps have a slightly smaller spacing between the perforations. Every flat plate imperforate stamp illustrated above is known with Schermack type III perforations.

U.S. Automatic Vending Company Perforations 1907-1915
The U.S. Automatic Vending Company perforations are notable in that they were fed through the vending machines by engaging the outside edge of the stamp via the 60 degree notches illustrated. The type Ia notches were spaced 15.5mm apart on either side of the stamp's margins with a 10.8mm slit centered between the notches. The type Ib notches were spaced 16mm apart with an 11mm slit centered between the notches. The type II notches were spaced 19.7mm apart with a 14.5mm slit centered between the notches. The type III notches were spaced 19.7mm apart on either side of the stamp, but instead of a slit, seven approximately 1.1mm in diameter holes spaced 1.25mm apart were placed between the notches. This is equivalent to 8½ gauge perforations. The USAV type III is the only private perforation found on the rare 1914 rotary imperforate, Number 459.

The first experimental coil illustrated below was made by adding notches to the ordinary perf 12 stamp, Number 319. These are very easy to fake by simply cutting notches into a vertical pair of the carmine NUmber 319. Certification is a must. The other experimental coil illustrated is somewhat similar to the type III USAV, but the perforations are 11.75 gauge Rosback.

Further reading:
Guide to United States Vending and Affixing Machine Perforations 1907-1927 - by Steven Belasco
Stamp Machines and Coiled Stamps - by George P. Howard
United States Coil Issues 1906-38 - by Martin A. Armstrong
The Dr. Joseph Agris Gold Medal Collections of United States Coil Issues - Shreve's Philatelic Galleries
United States Postage Stamps 1902-1935 - by Max G. Johl