Cummins Lettering Machine Manufactured in the United States in 1892.

Rare Cummins initial machine made in the USA in the late 10th century (1892). This instrument boasts a heavy and curious design, quite different from the addressing machines that were designed and produced afterwards and are also used nowadays. The machine is quite big and is more that 380 mm wide, and can be still use to mark paper, adhesive tape or cardboard. It is made of black-lacquered cast-iron and this finish is still in quite good condition though its shows slight signs of wear due to the trace of time and used. The lacquered is embellished with two parallel blue and gold lines, still visible and decorating the machines sides.The device has a disk with the alphabet in embossed capital letters and an oak wooden handle. In order to mark the chosen piece, the user must grip the handle and turn the wheel selecting the letter he or she desires to mark. The material must be inserted in the frontal lower slot; to mark it, the user has to grip the handle again and lower it, pressing the letter on the material. This is a very basic system whose simplicity has succeeded in keeping the device in perfect working order in spite of its old age (more than one hundred years old). The oak wooden handle is very well preserved and keeps its original finish.Screwed to one of the machines sides we can see a metal plate with the following inscription: CUMMINS INITIAL MACHINE - PAT. AUG. 20, 1889 JULY 29, 1890 NOV. 29, 1892 THE B.F. CUMMINS CO. CHICAGO NEW YORK. This plate testifies for the devices authenticity and guarantees us that it was manufactured by the mentioned company. The B. F. Cummins Company was founded in the 1880s in New York (USA). Its founder was Benjamin Franklin Cummins. In the beginning the company produced only check protecting machines, but in 1889 it started manufacturing perforating machines. From then on it changed its name to DF Cummins Perforator Company and it became a very important producer of both types.This curious machine is a rare piece, whose simple and effective design combines with its ancient age to make up an exclusive article, a hundred per cent original.Measurements: Width: 380 mm. Height: 230 mm.