Addressograph Model 965-RR

An Addressograph is a labeling system, specifically an address labeler. The first Addressograph was patented in 1896 by Joseph Smith Duncan of Sioux City, Iowa. His original company, Addressograph International, merged in 1932 with American Multigraph to form the Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation.

This Addressograph is from the 1960s it prints address labels on envelopes from embossed metal address card produced by a Graphotype machine. It is equipped with a sturdy steel frame, a plate feeder, a heavy-duty inked ribbon that moves rapidly, a plate for hand feeding the mail pieces, and a pedal for stamping out the address. The metal plates were assembled into thin metal frames with letter flags for sorting and stored in the below drawers, resembling library card catalogue drawers. When the foot pedal was pressed in a sequence the plate assemblies would be switched and printed, leaving a raised type impression of the address on the envelope’s surface. In some versions from the 1960s onward, an integrated keyboard for stamping out address plates was added to the Addressograph, skipping the need of a separate Graphotype machine altogether.

The Addressograph process might be even be faster than hand-sticking large quantities of envelopes with printed labels.