GB Meter Franking - The Meter Stamp Society

BRITISH STAMPS 

GB Meter Franking 

Part 6—Postwar to Decimalisation 

Continuing his history of meter franking, Jack Peach looks back at the 

postwar period, with new machines, new frank designs, and company 

amalgamations 

Peacetime and shortages 

The last article brought our story to the end of the 1939-45 war. The factories of the 

meter machine manufacturers had been primarily engaged in making armaments rather 

than cancelling and franking machines. Since 1936 the UPF factory had been in Cannon 

Street, Islington, but by 1946 the lease was due to expire. New premises were found at 

Edmonton but the ‘fuel crisis’ during the winter of 1946-47 and general shortages of 

materials did not help the transfer. The company gained priority support from the Post 

Office and the Board of Trade so that by the end of 1947 the move had been completed. 

UPF had used the telegraphic code In 1931 Roneo-Neopost had been registered 

and the production of the Neopost 

word ‘Francopost’ for some years so, with a 

slight change of spelling, the Edmonton machine transferred to the Roneo factory 

factory became the Frankopost Works. The in Romford, where the modern machines 

name Universal Postal Frankers was a bit of are still made today. 

a mouthful for everyday use so the word During the war Roneo, like others, were 

‘Frankopost’ was used in connection with concerned with armament production. 

all UPF products. It also made a better When the war ended they were faced with 

comparison with ‘Neopost’! 

similar problems in getting back to franking 

machine manufacture as were UPF. At 

During this immediate postwar period 

Frank Parfett (in charge of UPF machine Romford, however, priority was given to 

development) spent time restyling the making Roneo duplicators; franking machines 

had to take a back seat. Little or no 

Midget which had remained virtually unchanged 

since its introduction 20 years development took place. The Neopost 

previously. Frank Parfett, incidentally, had 

been concerned with franking machine 

design since he joined Frank Langdon at 

UPF to develop their first NZ model in 

1922. Langdon had left UPF in 1934 to 

form his own company, Langdon Precision 

Engineers Ltd, to develop and manufacture 

industrial machine tools in his factory 

in Battersea. It will be recalled that Langdon 

had been responsible for the development 

of the first Neopost machine with 

Kinnard in 1927. 

Fig 105 (below) Frankopost Simplex 

Fig 106 (bottom right) Mark made by the 

Frankopost Simplex 

Fig 107 (right) Cover franked by the 

Frankopost Multivalue machine of the 

Post Office Foreign Section 

range had remained unchanged since the 

introduction of the Limited Value machine 

in 1930. It was clear that a multivalue machine 

was much needed. As a matter of 

fact, Roneo had designed a prototype before 

the war but it proved too costly to 

produce and was generally unacceptable. 

Roneo-Neopost approached Frank Langdon 

and he agreed to undertake a design. 

As the production of franking machines 

increased it became necessary to extend 

the prefixes of more popular machines. 

The ‘UA’ for the UPF Multivalue was followed 

by ‘UB’, ‘UC’ to ‘UF’ in George VI’s 

reign and to ‘UK’ in later years. The Pitney 

Bowes Model CV followed the prefix ‘P’ 

with ‘PA’ and ‘PC’ later (‘PB’ was already 

being used on Single Value machines). 

The restyling of the Midget machine was 

completed and launched as the Frankopost 

Simplex with the prefix letter ‘S’ and 

later by ‘SA’. 

22 G.S.M. October 2001


Fig 108 Ticket Issue Machines Ltd 

Cambridge trial mark 

Fig 109 Westinghouse-Garrard Ticket 

Machines Ltd used by British Rail 

Fig 110 Frankopost Simplex trial on tape 

from a roll 

Fig 111 An example from the Parcel- 

Label Printing and Issuing Machine No 2 

Fig 112 Frank from the Festival of Britain 

Branch Office TIM machine 

Fig 113 Specimen examples from the 

British Industries TIM machine. The 

machine printed its mark in two 

operations and the lower example has 

part missing 

Fig 105 illustrates the machine and Fig 

106 the mark made. The Simplex machine 

was of the Limited Value type with a range 

of 13 values from 1 ⁄2d. to 6 1 ⁄2d. This was the 

only new machine introduced during the 

reign of King George VI. 

In the last article some uses of franking 

machines by the Post Office were described. 

Another use was by the Foreign Section, 

mainly on Post Office mail to countries 

abroad. As far as is known, only one machine 

was used, a Frankopost Multivalue 

machine number UB 52. The town mark 

was London/FS. An example with the 

added handstamp ‘On Postal Service’ is 

shown in Fig 107 on a cover from GPO HQ 

to Belgium. 

Parcel post 

Parcels sent through the post attracted a 

large number of rates and in most cases 

more than one adhesive stamp had to be 

applied. This meant much ‘licking and 

sticking’! By 1947 several machines had 

been developed which could print money 

values on to paper tape held in roll form 

and from which short lengths could be 

readily separated after receiving a printed 

value. These machines had been largely 

developed to provide receipts for fares on 

buses and trams. The Post Office saw their 

potential for use at post office counters to 

produce postage paid labels, gummed on 

one side, for fixing on parcels. 

The first trials took place at Romford and 

Cambridge between April and September 

1947. The two Limited Value machines 

were made by Ticket Issue Machines Ltd 

(TIM). The 12 values ranged from 6d. to 

1s.5d. in steps of 1d. Fig 108 illustrates the 

mark made by the Cambridge trial machine. 

The example is clearly dated 20 AP 

47, although the official date for it being 

brought into use was 28 April 1947. 

The trials were considered successful 

and the Post Office ordered 100 machines 

which they called ‘Parcel Label Machine 

No 1’. The main difference in the mark 

made by the production machines was the 

wording ‘PARCEL POST/PAID’ instead of 

‘PARCEL POST’. They came into use in 

1948. 

The second type of machine to be tested 

was made by Westinghouse-Garrard Ticket 

Machines Ltd. Again, the test was undertaken 

at Cambridge between 12 December 

1947 and 2 November 1948. A further 

trial was carried out at Birmingham between 

14 February 1949 and September 

1950. No orders were placed but similar 

machines were later used by British Rail 

(Fig 109). 

In September 1950 two Frankopost 

Simplex machines were modified to print 

on tape from a roll. These were placed for 

trial at Romford and Birmingham, respectively. 

An example from Birmingham is 

illustrated (Fig110). Again, no orders were 

placed. 

The last of the series of trials was undertaken 

on two machines made by Setright 

Registers Ltd in October 1951, installed at 

Birmingham and Cambridge. They were 

Limited Value-type machines and no orders 

were placed at that time. 

Arising from the experience gained in 

these various tests, a specification was prepared 

for a two-bank Multivalue-type machine. 

In the event, an order for 600 machines 

was placed with Setright Registers. 

They were capable of printing any value 

between 1d. and 19s.11d. (in steps of 1d.). 

Known as the Parcel-Label Printing and 

Issuing Machine No 2, they came into use 

in 1959. An example is shown (Fig 111). 

One of these machines is in the Heritage 

Collections at the Post Office, arranged to 

print Specimen examples. 

A TIM machine was installed at the 

Festival of Britain Branch Office in 1951. 

Only 2000 labels were printed (only 73 

went on to actual parcels!) so they are not 

very common (Fig 112). 

The TIM machine printed its mark in 

two operations as shown by the Specimen 

examples from a machine at the British 

Industries Fair (Fig 113—on one the lefthand 

part of the mark has been omitted). 

By 1960 only Setright machines were in 

use. 

New reign, new frank 

King George VI died on 6 February 1952 

and was succeeded by his elder daughter, 

Elizabeth—Queen Elizabeth II. The general 

style of franks remained the same but 

the cypher was changed to EIIR, there was 

also a change to the shape of the crown. 

These franks are known by collectors as 

group E. 

Pitney Bowes Single Value and Model 

CV meters, UPF NZ, Midget and Simplex 

machines and Neopost Fixed Value and 

Limited Value machines all changed to the 

new style of frank in 1953. Only three NZ 

machines (numbered NZ 13, NZ 16 and 

NZ 170) were still in use and no Pitney 

Bowes Model H machines changed. 

In 1953 UPF (Frankopost) introduced 

a Simplex machine capable of printing 

25 different values. This was called the 

‘Major’ model and values ranged from 1 ⁄2d. 

to 1s. 1 ⁄2d. The original 13-value machine 

( 1 ⁄2d. to 6 1 ⁄2d.) was called the ‘Junior’ model. 

SA and SB prefixes were used with Junior 

machines. The Simplex Major was more 

popular and prefixes ran from SX to SZ, 

then backwards SW to SV; SV being 

reserved for Junior models converted to 

Major. One machine, SZ 638, used by 

G.S.M. October 2001 23


Fig 114 (top) Label from the modified Simplex Major machine of Draffens of 

Dundee 

Fig 115 (above) Specimen label from Draffens’ second machine, numbered 

SL2, on tape intended for the multivalue machine 

Fig 116 (below) A label anticipating foreign sales of the Simplex 

MacRobertson & Hutchinson of Glasgow, 

was issued posthumously with a George VI 

Group D frank die. 

Although the normal Simplex machines 

could not print on to continuous paper 

tape, it has been mentioned that two 

machines were modified for the Post Office 

to produce parcel post labels. In 1955 a 

similarly modified Major model was sold 

to Draffens of Dundee Ltd. The values 

printed ranged from 1d. to 2s.1d. in steps 

of 1d. The prefix SL was allocated to this 

model. 

Fig 114 shows labels for this machine, 

numbered SL1. Initially, ‘SL1 DUNDEE 

ANGUS’ was printed continuously along 

the tape. Later, when the company acquired 

a second machine, the wording was 

changed to ‘DRAFFENS OF DUNDEE 

LTD. ANGUS’. The second machine, 

numbered SL2, was supplied in 1956. This 

was a Junior model with values from 1 ⁄2d. to 

1s. 1 ⁄2d. Some specimens from this machine 

were printed on tape intended for the 

multivalue machine UF 490 (Fig 115), later 

the normal DRAFFEN tape was used. Only 

two machines were sold in the UK but 

foreign sales were at least anticipated, as 

illustrated in Fig 116 for use in Singapore. 

By 1955 Langdon had developed a multivalue 

machine for Neopost. It was given 

the name ‘Frankmaster’ and the earliest 

model was available for commercial use 

in that year. The electrically-driven 

version is illustrated (Fig 117). As 

introduced, the machine was heavy 

and awkward to handle, bearing in 

mind that it had to be taken to a local 

post office for resetting. The features 

offered were the basic minimum. 

Nevertheless, it filled a major gap in 

the Neopost range. Development 

continued and a redesigned version 

called the Model 305 was launched 

in 1965. During the ‘E’ frank period, 

prefixes used were NA to ND. For each 

prefix, machine numbers ranged from 001 

to 999. There were several versions of the 

Neopost 305 with either 3 or 4 operable 

banks. From the right of the frank, the first 

bank printed either ‘ 1 ⁄2’ or ‘=’, the second 

bank printed ‘=’ for the nil value, then ‘1’ 

to ‘11’ (‘10’ and ‘11’ were printed as if 

single characters). The third bank used ‘0’ 

for the nil value, then printed ‘1’ to ‘9’. 

The fourth bank again used ‘=’ as the nil 

value, then printed ‘1’ to ‘9’. Fig 118 shows 

how ‘2d.’ appeared. Fig 119 is a specimen, 

illustrating the maximum possible value 

from a four-bank machine and shows ‘11’ 

as a single character. Fig 120 shows a frank 

on a piece of continuous tape. 

As with the Simplex, one machine, 

numbered NA 156, used by James H 

Lamont of Edinburgh, was fitted with a G 

VI R Group D die posthumously. It would 

appear that the machine was originally 

supplied with an EIIR die. It has been 

suggested that the user requested a G VI R 

die for patriotic reasons! 

At Universal Postal Frankers their design 

team had been commissioned to redesign 

the multivalue machine. The new version 

was launched in 1958 with the name 

‘Automax’. 

Three-bank machines had the value 

range 1 ⁄2d. to 9s.11 1 ⁄2d. and four-bank either 

1 

⁄2d. to 29s.11 1 ⁄2d. or 1 ⁄2d. to 99s.11 1 ⁄2d. 

Hand-driven models could print up to 

40 items/minute and electrically-driven 

models up to 80 items/minute. The earliest 

recorded date for commercial use was 12 

November 1958, although Specimens with 

earlier dates are known (Fig 121). 

The prefixes used with Group E franks 

were A and AA, each prefix catered for 

numbers from 001 to 999. Fig 122 illustrates 

each of the prefixes. Some early 

machines had a small ‘=’ sign as the nil 

value in the first bank, also shown. 

Fig 118 A frank from the Neopost 305 

Fig 117 The 

electricallydriven 

version 

of the 

Neopost 

Frankmaster 



Fig 119 A specimen from 

the Neopost 305 showing 

the maximum possible 

value 

Fig 120 A frank from the 

Neopost 305 on a continuous 

piece of tape 

Fig 121 A specimen frank from the Universal Postal Frankers Automax machine 

Fig 122 The two prefixes, A and AA, used with the Automax machine 



Fig 123 Group F frank from a Frankopost 

Multivalue machine Fig 124 

Emblems 

Following the change of adhesive stamp 

design coinciding with the new reign, the 

postal authorities noted comment in the 

press and elsewhere that it was time to 

consider changing the design of meter 

franks. A major criticism was that they 

resembled an adhesive stamp. It should be 

remembered that 30 years previously, 

when the design was introduced, the main 

reason for change was that the original 

design was insufficiently like that of an 

adhesive stamp! The Post Office asked the 

two manufacturers (UPF and Neopost) to 

propose a new design. They, in turn, 

consulted the Council of Industrial Design, 

who nominated Stuart Rose, a well-known 

industrial artist. 

Stuart Rose prepared a design which was 

submitted to The Queen and approved by 

her. 

The new design embraced the floral 

emblems of the constituent parts of the 

United Kingdom; a rose for England, a 

thistle for Scotland, a daffodil for Wales 

and a shamrock for Northern Ireland. 

This design of frank—Group F—came 

into use in September 1959. Fig 123 shows 

the new frank fitted to a Frankopost Multivalue 

machine in use at Pitney Bowes’ 

Birmingham office. 

The following machine models were in 

use when Group F franks were introduced 

and were fitted with the new franks. Group 

F franks were in use up to decimalisation 

and the prefixes used by these machines 

until that time were: 

Neopost LV N 

Pitney Bowes CV P, PA, PC 

Simplex Junior S, SA, SB 

Simplex Junior SV 

Mmachines 

Mconverted to 

MSimplex Major SV 

Simplex Major SX to SZ then 

backwards 

SW to SG 

omitting SI, SO, 

and SQ 

UPF Multivalue U, UA to UK 

omitting UI 

Neopost NA to NX 

MFrankmaster omitting NI 

Pitney Bowes A, AA to AH 

MAutomax 

Machines not fitted with Group F dies 

were: Pitney Bowes Model H; UPF Midget; 

Universal NZ and Pitney Bowes A, B and F. 

Specimens from 

Model CV 

machines before 

and after the 

merger of UPF 

with Pitney 

Bowes 

Fig 127 Frank from a four-bank Pitney 

Bowes 5000 Series machine 

Fig 126 The Neopost Model 205 

machine 

Fig 128 Hand-driven 

(above) and 

electrically-driven 

(right) 5000 Series 

machines 

Fig 125 (below) 

Specimen mark 

on perforated 

adhesive tape 

from the 

Neopost 

Model 205 



Pitney Bowes and UPF 

become one 

It will be recalled that since 1929 UPF had 

been the agents for Pitney Bowes. By the 

late 1950s the embarrassing situation had 

arisen whereby Pitney Bowes and UPF 

were competing against each other in 

world markets. An International Division 

was created in Pitney Bowes and in 1959, 

by shareholding arrangements, UPF became 

a wholly owned subsidiary of Pitney 

Bowes. In January 1960 a new company, 

Pitney Bowes Ltd, was registered in the UK. 

In September a letter was sent to all customers 

and dealers stating that from 1 

October 1960 the name Universal Postal 

Frankers was being changed to Pitney Bowes 

Ltd. The two specimens from Model CV 

machines (Fig 124) illustrate the change. 

The resources available to the new company 

meant that Roneo-Neopost was faced 

with a very formidable competitor. New 

products, not only franking machines but 

other associated postroom equipment which 

had been developed by Pitney Bowes in 

USA, were now more readily available in 

the UK market. Roneo-Neopost decided 

that the only speedy solution was to associate 

with foreign manufacturers of equipment 

which would enhance their product 

range. The first of these was with the 

French franking machine maker Societe 

pour l’Affranchissement et le Timbrage 

Automatique (SATAS) to make their small 

multivalue machine in Romford. These 

appeared in the UK as Neopost Model 205 

in April 1963. The machine was small in 

size and electrically driven. It was a threebank 

machine with a value range 1 ⁄2d. to 

9s.11 1 ⁄2d. (actually, there was a smaller 

range model, 1 ⁄2d. to 4s.11 1 ⁄2d., but the 

marks are indistinguishable). The size of 

the frank was the smallest in Group F. A 

specimen mark made on perforated adhesive 

tape is shown in Fig 125 and the 

machine in Fig 126. 

The prefix in the specimen example is 

‘RN’ (presumably Roneo-Neopost) often 

used at this period for such specimens. 

The normal prefix in commercial franks 

was ‘J’, followed by a number of up to four 

figures. 

In 1959 it had been decided that Pitney 

Bowes’ British factory should be a main 

source of meter machines for the world 

market. Between 1961 and 1963 a new 

factory was built and equipped at Harlow, 

Essex. The first major project was the 5000 

Series of multivalue machines developed 

in the USA. By November 1963 the factory 

was ready for the official opening. The 

Assistant Postmaster General passed the 

first letter through a 5300 Postage Meter 

Machine. At that time the Post Office had 

not given its approval for commercial use. 

It was launched on 9 March 1964. 

There were two models, the three-bank 

5335 with a value range 0/0 1 ⁄2d. to 10s.11 1 ⁄2d. 

(‘10’ and ‘11’ in bank 2 and the ‘10’ in 

bank 3 were engraved as single characters. 

The nil value in bank 1 (halfpenny) was 

‘=’. The four-bank model, 5345, had a 

range ∼0/0 1 ⁄2d. to 99s.11 1 ⁄2d. The symbol ‘∼’ 

was printed by the fourth bank unless a 

button was depressed when it could print 

‘1’ to ‘9’. This was a safeguard against very 

high value franks being printed accidentally. 

Both hand-driven (Model 5400) and 

electrically-driven (Model 5500) bases were 

available. The meters were detachable 

from the bases for resetting at a post office. 

The machine numbers in the franks 

comprised a prefix ‘P.B.’ followed by a 

three-figure number and a suffix ‘A’ to ‘L’ 

(some letters were omitted, perhaps used 

on machines for abroad). Fig 127 shows the 

mark made by a four-bank model used at 

Pitney Bowes Harlow factory. Fig 128 

illustrates the machine fitted to hand- and 

electrically-driven bases. The 5000 Series 

of machines was a replacement for the 

Automax. 

Roneo-Neopost looks abroad 

Over the years the Neopost Limited Value 

machine had been very successful and it 

was obviously considered worthwhile to 

put some effort into a redesign. In 1964 

the improved version was introduced as 

the Neopost 105. This time there were ten 

values: 2 1 ⁄2d., 3d., 3 1 ⁄2d., 4d., 4 1 ⁄2d., 5d., 6d., 

Fig 130 Two marks from 

American-made Model RT 

machines modified to suit 

British currency 

7 1 ⁄2d., 9d. and 1s. The machine was smaller 

(footprint 9in×9in) than the previous 

model and was said to be the cheapest 

machine in the UK. Repeating franks was 

rapid and with a label dispenser could deal 

with parcels. The machine number in the 

frank had the pattern, prefix N, threefigure 

number, suffix ‘A’ to ‘L’ (omitting ‘I’). 

The mark made is shown in Fig 129. 

The changes in policy at Roneo-Neopost 

towards meter franking and postroom 

equipment from 1960 onwards meant 

more development activity at the Romford 

factory. Langdon, who had undertaken 

earlier development and who was still 

making the Model 305 in his factory, was 

aware of this and his future seemed uncertain. 

In 1964 Roneo made an offer for 

his business which he accepted and Langdon 

Precision Engineers became a subsidiary 

of Roneo-Neopost. 

Towards the end of 1965 Pitney Bowes 

Ltd modified some of the American-made 

Model RT machines to suit British currency. 

These multivalue machines were 

used on collating, sealing and franking 

machines similar to the Model AV which 

used the CV meter. The meter was similar 

to but smaller than the 5000 Series and 

had only two banks. 

The values ranged from 0/0 1 ⁄2d. to 9 1 ⁄2d.; 

being decimal, 9 1 ⁄2d. was the highest value. 

Fig 130 shows two examples of the mark. 

The ‘0/’ and ‘D’ were fixtures and part of 

the main frank die. The town mark (of 

varying style) was very close to the frank. 

The machine number had the Prefix ‘RT’ 

followed by a four-figure number. The ‘nil’ 

value symbol in the first bank was either ‘-’ 

or ‘=’. The date had an apostrophe before 

the year. 

Fig 129 Frank from the redesigned Neopost Limited Value machine— 

the Neopost 105 



Fig 132 The Model 605 

and its detachable 

meter 

Fig 131 Franks from 

Postalia Freistempler 

Gmbh’s Model P3, sold 

as the Roneo-Neopost 

Model 605, showing 

solidus and apostrophe 

Fig 133 Examples of franks from the 

Hasler Frankiermaschinen company’s 

Model F88. The frank design, similar 

to a Dutch frank (centre), was used 

only by this machine which could 

also accommodate a larger than 

normal slogan (bottom) 

Following the deal with SATAS, Roneo- 

Neopost made an arrangement with the 

German company, Postalia Freistempler 

Gmbh, for their Model P3 to be sold as the 

Roneo-Neopost Model 605. It was an 

advanced machine capable of automatically 

feeding, sealing, franking, stacking 

and counting up to 10,000 items per hour. 

Another feature was that the meter could 

be detached from the base and used by 

itself; ‘wiping’ it across the item to be 

franked. For countries with decimal currencies 

the machine was offered in threebank 

and four-bank models but in UK only 

one bank could be used, printing values ‘1’ 

to ‘9’ (no ‘ 1 ⁄2’). Characters to the left of the 

shilling solidus were either ‘∼0’ or ‘∼∼’. In 

some machines the solidus was replaced by 

an apostrophe (Fig 131). The Model 605 

entered the UK market early in 1967 and 

the machine number comprised prefix 

‘TN’ followed by a three-figure number. 

The complete machine and the detachable 

meter (arrowed) are illustrated (Fig 132).

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