Editor: Alastair Nixon, 7 Bramblegate, Edgcumbe Park, Crowthorne, Berks, RG45 6JA. Tel: +44 (0) 1344 775378
Email: Web site: http://www.meterfranking.co.uk
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Meter of the Month
Wow, what an exciting way to complete 10 years of Meter News!
My Meter of the Month shows a specimen frank from Pitney Bowes’ new franking machine, the Connect+. Pitney Bowes have recently launched this machine into the UK market and it comes in three variants – the ‘Connect+ 1000’, the ‘Connect+ 2000’ and the ‘Connect+ 3000’. These machines are capable of printing in high-resolution colour.
Page 120-3 depicts an illustration of the Connect+ 3000 variant, together with some ‘live’ examples. Page 120-4 gives the detailed specifications of the three machine variants. Page 120-5 gives some other (somewhat blurred) illustrations that have been screen-captured from the Pitney Bowes web site.
Editorial Comment
This machine is clearly a remarkable piece of engineering – the colour franks on the examples seen are ‘pixel-perfect’. The high-throughput machine is clearly aimed at the largest users but it must, however, surely be expensive and I am concerned that most businesses will find them unaffordable. Probably the largest users are the councils, but all of them are currently facing government cutbacks as attempts are made to tackle Britain’s current financial deficit. From a collector’s point of view, it would be such a shame if these machines fail to find a permanent place in the market.
Acknowledgements
My thanks this month go to Jim Ashby, David Crotty, Michael Dobbs, Richard Goring, Peter Huss, Peter Mantell, Tom Mullins, Richard Peck, Robert Petts and Peter Woods for their reports and communications.
Latest Numbers
Below is the list of ‘Latest Numbers’ as at 29th October 2010 – with updates shown in red. Please could I have the next reports by 27th November, thanks.
Frama (UK)
Matrix F2, F4, F6 F1000725 20.08.10 See MN 118
EcoMail FSC356948 03.08.10 See MN 118
MailMax FSC909446 04.09.09 See MN 107
Francotyp-Postalia
Optimail T402872 12.10.09 See MN 108
Optimail 30 F04112383 01.10.10 Reported by AN
Centormail 240/300 FC5110428 23.07.10 See MN 117
MyMail FM2119849 04.02.10 See MN 114
Ultimail FU3115620 21.09.10 See MN 119
Neopost
IS-330 N1051012 09.09.10 See MN 119
IS-350 (Ex IJ-25) N1176404 26.10.10 Reported by PM
IJ-65 N1208315 30.10.09 See MN 109
Various upgraded N1240541 29.09.10 Reported by AN
IJ-80/90/110 N1254234 14.09.10 See MN 119
Various upgraded N1290064 01.03.10 See MN 117
IJ-35/45 N1318066 14.07.10 See MN 117
IS-460 (Ex IJ-50) N1373418 15.09.10 Reported by PM
IS-420 (Ex IJ-30) N1385241 11.06.10 See MN 116
IS-440 (Ex IJ-40) N1390285 26.05.10 See MN 119
IS-480 N3013462 04.10.10 Reported by AN
Pitney Bowes
DM50, 55 PB062077 20.09.10 See MN 119
DP200? PB130215 01.04.10 See MN 116
DP400? PB143209 19.02.10 See MN 116
DP400? PB148004 03.04.09 See MN 105
Personal Post PB294355 21.12.09 See MN 110
DM 300 PB311641 15.01.09 See MN 107
Personal Post PB499249 18.08.09 See MN 109
DM 810, 900 etc. PB526493 19.08.10 See MN 118
Unknown. PB550691 06.10.10 Reported by PM
Connect+ 1000 etc. PB555206 05.10.10 Reported by AN See p120-3
DM 400, 550 etc. PB615068 01.10.10 Reported by AN
Post Perfect PB764280 14.04.10 See MN 114
DM100i PB850916 01.10.10 Reported by PM
Advanced Mail
AACJ-CB PB550337 22.09.10 Reported by PM
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Images of this month’s highest numbers have been uploaded to my web site.Pitney Bowes Connect+ Machine
Further to page 120-1, here is an illustration of the Connect+ 3000, taken from the Pitney Bowes web site.
Your editor has been fortunate to acquire three different live examples – all from Pitney Bowes themselves from machine PB555206 over a four-day period in early October 2010.
Editorial comment
The Connect+ is a truly remarkable new machine. The three Pitney Bowes items that I have seen so far are ‘pixel-perfect’. When you consider that the throughput is between 90 and 300 items per minute (see the machine Specifications on the next page) this is clearly an engineering masterpiece.
The problem is, however, going to be selling the machine. I don’t know what the purchase / rental costs are, but they are likely to be unaffordable to most large users, surely? There may also be increased running costs associated with the use of full colour. The biggest customers (i.e. the ones that process the most mail) are the Councils but the Public Sector is currently facing severe cutbacks to fight-off the country’s deficit.
It would be interesting to know how many of these machines have been sold so far in the United States. Do any of our American readers have any sales figures or estimates, perhaps?
The first example is dated 05.10.10 and has an item count of 3387, the second is dated 06.10.10 and has an item count of 13880 and the third is dated 08.10.10 and has an item count of 28185. From these three examples it would appear that this machine is processing approximately 7000 items a day, which could possibly make the item dated 05.10.10 a ‘first-day’ example.
Pitney Bowes Connect+ Machine
Below is a technical summary of the three variants of the Connect+ machine taken from the Pitney Bowes web site:
FeaturesConnect+™ 1000 / Connect+™ 2000 / Connect+™ 3000
Weighing options / 5, 7, 12, & 35kg / 5, 7, 12, & 35kg / 5, 7, 12, & 35kg
Differential weighing / Optional / Optional / Optional
Accounts / 50 standard
up to 500 optional / 50 standard
up to 500 optional / From 100 standard
up to 500 optional
Stacking / Drop stacker
or power stacker / Drop stacker
or power stacker / Drop stacker
or power stacker
Barcode scanner / Optional / Optional / Optional
External USB report printer / Optional / Optional / Optional
Print colour / Postal blue, black &
white, process colour / Postal blue, black &
white, process colour / Postal blue, black &
white, process colour
W-o-W™
Weigh-on-the-Way™ / Not available / Standard / Standard
W-o-W™ weight limit / Not available / 500g / 500g
D-o-W™
Dimensions-on-the-Way™ / Not available / Standard / Standard
Connectivity / Permanent connection
via wired LAN,
wireless or 3G / Permanent connection
via wired LAN,
wireless or 3G / Permanent connection
via wired LAN,
wireless or 3G
Specifications
Connect+™ 1000 / Connect+™ 2000 / Connect+™ 3000
System dimensions / With drop stacker
Length 1,257mm x
Width 635mm
Power stacker adds 483mm to length
Colour adds 185mm
to length / With drop stacker
Length 1,638mm x Width 635mm
Power stacker adds 483mm to length
Colour adds 185mm
to length / With drop stacker
Length 1,867mm x Width 648mm
Power stacker adds 483mm to length
Colour adds 185mm
to length
Weight / 27.7kg / 50kg / 63.6kg
Print quality / Up to 1200 dpi / Up to 1200 dpi / Up to 1200 dpi
Processing speed
(letters per minute) / Up to 180 LPM
Non-W-o-W™ / Up to 90/160 W-o-W™/
non W-o-W™ or
110/180 W-o-W™/
non W-o-W™ LPM / 160/260 (W-o-W™/
non W-o-W™) or
200/300(W-o-W™/
non W-o-W™) LPM
Colour touch screen
display/user interface / 10.2" standard
15" optional XGA / 10.2" standard
15" optional XGA / 15" XGA
Media size / Minimum size:
89 x 127mm
Maximum size:
254 x 356mm / Minimum size:
89 x 127mm
Maximum size:
254 x 356mm / Minimum size:
89 x 127mm
Maximum size:
254 x 356mm
Envelope flap depth / 25 to 98mm (for sealing) / 25 to 98mm (for sealing) / 25 to 98mm (for sealing)
Envelope pack max
thickness (sealing) / Up to 16mm / Up to 16mm / Up to 19mm
Pitney Bowes Connect+ Machine Cont.
Below are some images of Connect+ franks, screen-captured from the PB Web site.
Recent Interesting Items
Robert Petts reports this extraordinary error on a Frama Matrix machine where the town die reads “London / London”. It is worth noting that F1000032 is the lowest number recorded for this series and the item also has the maximum 10 lines of user-address details!
Advanced Mail
Peter Mantell has noticed a smaller font being used on this Neopost Advanced Mail frank (machine N1252488). An example of the normal size font from machine N1253457 is shown alongside for comparison.
Peter Mantell has found this Advanced Mail item in a strange purple colour. The postcode indicates it is from Manchester City Magistrates Court. Obviously, some blue ink has been mixed in with the red ink residue.
Interesting Items from the Past
Peter Mantell has found two unusual town marks on Frama E3 franks from the mid-1990’s. The first one has the London Postal Region as just “20”. Unfortunately there is no user slogan and hence it is unknown whether it should have read “N20”, “SE20” or “SW20”. The second frank has the outward postcode “OX4” in the town die.
In April 1994, new Hasler machines started to appear with an ‘I’ year suffices. In July that year these new machines started to be re-engraved with ‘J’ suffices following concerns that the letter ‘I’ could be interpreted as the digit ‘1’. By September 1984 all the ‘I’ suffix machines had been converted. At that time ‘HB’ and ‘HT’ machines were the only ones being marketed by Hasler, but only ‘HT’ machines have been recorded with letter ‘I’ suffices. It is believed that a total of 222 machines were affected, the serial number blocks being HT799821I to HT80075I, HT82760I to HT82783I and HT85546I to HT85649I. Peter Mantell kindly sends ‘before’ and ‘after’ illustrations from one such machine.
Interesting Items from the Past
Robert Petts sends this item from 2001where the day of the month is missing on a frank made by a B921 (PB9) machine.
Foreign Meters
Peter Huss sends this Neopost frank from the Isle of Man and asks whether anyone able to identify the model that produced it. Is it an IJ-65 machine perhaps?
Meter Thematics
Peter Mantell sends this household thematic depicting a mop and brush!
Further to page 116-10, Peter Mantell has found another slogan depicting a person – this time a caricature of the famous English film actor Kenneth More, who died in 1982 at the age of 67. Kenneth More starred in such films as The Admirable Crichton (1957), The Thirty-Nine Steps (1959) and The Battle of Britain (1969). The Kenneth More Theatre in Ilford is named in his honour. This item receives my ‘Meter Thematic of the Month’ award.
Index of News Items (Issues 109 to 120)
Ascom Hasler
HF01712E / 117-5 / Date error – “32.12.93”
HS01296Z / 110-5 / Elusive ‘Z-series’ suffix – mostly from Northern Ireland
Frama
F1000032 / 120-6 / Frama Matrix – “London / London” townmark errorF1000065 / 109-1 / First example of Frama Matrix frank
F1000083 / 116-5 / Print jets overlap in value die
F1000092 / 113-8 / First report of blue ink on Frama Matrix F6 machine
FSC1234 / 114-1 / Specimen die on advertising card showing coke bottle
FSC224625 / 111-8 / Date set as 12.1.43
FSC259150 / 116-1 / Full postcode ‘CB8 7NY’ in town die
FSC353989 / 119-3 / County (Surrey) only in Town die
FSC354861 / 110-7 / 2ND PAID overprint – Chelmsford Mail Centre
FSC906056 / 116-5 / Printing error – double image of slogan and town dies
FSC908364 / 119-5 / Advanced Mail use with red ink
FSC908958 / 113-6 / Mis-spelling of Newton Abbot in town die
Francotyp-Postalia
F04111373 / 119-4 / Item Count resetF04111487 / 112-4 / Change of machine ownership
FC5110104 / 112-4 / 5-element frank
FC5110175 / 109-3 / Second example of a user ‘Department Number’ in slogan
FC5110300 / 110-5 / Spelling mistake, Middlesborough instead of Middlesbrough
FJ0561980 / 116-4 / Printing error revealing frank comprised of three print jets
FJ0565749 / 117-3 / Printing error revealing frank comprised of three print jets
FJ0568165 / 119-6 / Example of Machine Re-use
FJ0710641 / 114-4 / Printing Error
FM2117225 / 113-6 / Printing error – double printing on upper print head
FM2118730 / 116-5 / Printing error – increasing separation of upper & lower jets
T398376 / 110-4 / Missing date in Town Die explained
T400475 / 110-4 / Missing date in Town Die explained
T551789 / 113-5 / Further example of missing date in Town Die
Neopost
- / 111-9 / The IS-330 and IS-440 machines
5NE19616 / 110-3 / Highest no for 5NE. Underlining of ‘Return Address’
9NE50703 / 111-6 / Late use of Model 5460
DEMN3314 / 109-7 / IJ350/IJ35 Demo m/c from Copenhagen Post-Expo
N1157456 / 115-5 / Neopost Specimen in town die
N1159267 / 117-5 / Neopost Specimen in town die
N1171081 / 118-3 / Revenue Protection instructional mark from Coventry MC
N1172606 / 116-3 / Neopost Specimen in town die
N1205391 / 113-5 / ‘Instructional mark - Revenue Protection handstamp - MCK
N1206869 / 113-5 / ‘First Class’ mini die example
N1207222 / 110-6 / Machine replaced by N1240382 – see below
N1240382 / 110-6 / Lower case ‘littlehampton’ with different user
N1240404 / 117-5 / First report of blue ink on N124 series
N1250045 / 119-1 / Unusual Townmark – “Slough 82938”
N1251228 / 117-4 / Large ‘INV’ and ‘ST’ to left of slogan
N1251228 / 118-3 / Large ‘DL’ to left of slogan
N1251775 / 111-6 / Neopost Specimen in town die
N1251775 / 111-6 / Small font in town die
N1252488 / 120-6 / Small font size in Advanced Mail logo
N1253457 / 120-6 / Normal font size in Advanced Mail logo
N1253482 / 115-4 / Machine dedicated to First Class Advanced Mail items
N1253483 / 115-4 / Machine dedicated to Second Class Advanced Mail items
N1253508 / 115-4 / Machine dedicated to First Class Advanced Mail items
N1253509 / 115-4 / Machine dedicated to Second Class Advanced Mail items
N1253863 / 113-5 / Neopost Specimen in town die
N1253883 / 115-5 / Neopost Specimen in red and blue
N1253997 / 109-3 / County name only (Surrey) in the town mark
N1254111 / 116-3 / Unusual use of a label
N1290002 / 109-3 / PERSONAL & PRIVATE PLEASE OPEN IMMEDIATELY
N1311906 / 116-4,117-5 / Erroneous report of typographical error
N1352468 / 117-4 / Wordy instructional handstamp from Ipswich Mail Centre
N1357806 / 116-3 / Small ‘First Class’ mini-die