I never thought twice about the numbers on them, but it’s a tricky challenge. You want the number to be different on every copy, but typesetting a completely new number every time is cumbersome – and numbering by hand afterwards might be equally annoying.
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Say hello to the Ultra-Force numbering device. It seems like a regular rotary stamp. You can rotate the digits to whatever number you want by hand if you want to. But that extruded typeset numero is not a weird accident.pic.twitter.com/fAabIoKnCj
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Turns out, it is actually a *button*. Each press increments a number by one. That’s more convenient, I suppose, just pressing it every time you print another copy… …but here’s the kicker: the button is meant to be pressed by the printing press itself.pic.twitter.com/HYKNmOMKkv
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Every time the press goes down to make an impression on the digits and the №, it also presses that numero, incrementing the number just before printing. It’s so wholesome!pic.twitter.com/LXa7sx9A6N
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I love the ingenuity and practicality of this little device. It is tangentially related to earliest automatic typing machines, or mail merge, or… We haven’t tried it out today, but if I ever do more letterpress – I would love to use it, just for fun.pic.twitter.com/7Mb8kX8rON
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And, if anyone is interested, here’s the patent: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/cd/33/9a/64ad4b15256df6/US1798176.pdf … /cc
@robinsloan +@GlennF +@mkirschenbaumShow this thread -
(It’s funny how one could confuse it for an old, broken counter that’s really, *really* hard to press – but the point is that this is a rare button not meant for human fingers!)
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These are also commonly used in printing other types of "secure" documents where tracking and serialization are valued. Like, for example, written prescriptions by a doctor, various types of financial instruments, hand-filled receipts of payment, etc.
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Frequently, a type of ink with a bold color (usually a very bold red) and with properties which cause it to difuse into the paper more than most other inks will be used. This allows it to nearly bleed through to the back side of the paper, as a sort of anti-counterfit mark.
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