One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make Money

by Harold Morse Dunphy

PLAN No. 349. MAKING RUBBER STAMPS

That there is good money in the making of rubber stamps, is proven by the experience of a 20-year-old youngster who started in business for himself in a western town of 8,000 inhabitants.

He bought a complete outfit, consisting of a vulcanizer, screw-press, assorted type, etc., for $25, and as he had learned to set type in the office of the local weekly paper, the business was easily learned. Here is the way he started:

Set up the desired name and address in common type, oil the type and place a paper guard about half an inch high around the form; now mix plaster of paris to the proper consistency, pour on the type and allow it to set. Have your vulcanized rubber all ready prepared in long strips the proper width, and about ¹⁄₈ of an inch thick, and cut off the size of the intended stamp. Remove the plaster cast from the type, and place both the cast and the rubber in a screw-press; apply sufficient heat to thoroughly soften the rubber, then turn down the screw hard and let it remain until the rubber receives the exact impression of the cast and becomes cold, when it is removed, neatly trimmed with a sharp knife, and cemented to the handle ready for use.

The inks to be used with rubber stamps, he made as follows:

Aniline blue, water sol., 1 B. 3 parts; distilled water, 10 parts; pyroligneous acid, 10 parts; alcohol, 10 parts; glycerine, 70 parts. The blue should be well rubbed with the water, and the glycerine gradually added; when the blue is dissolved, the other ingredients are added. This makes a fine blue ink. Other colors may be produced by substituting for the blue any one of the following: Methyl violet, 3 B. 3 parts. Nigrosin W (for blue black), 4 parts. Vesuvius B (for brown), 5 parts. To make a superior red ink, dissolve ¹⁄₄ oz. of carmine in 2 ozs. of strong water of ammonia, and add 1 dram of glycerine and ³⁄₄ oz. of dextrin.

He not only supplied rubber stamps to his home town but a little ad. in the local paper brought orders from other towns, and he soon had all the business he could handle.