LIRR Dater Stamper

[nyandw]

Anyone with any idea of the usage era of these? I have this info thus far (from Brad Phillips): 'The wording on the side of the dater identifies the manufacturer and does not indicate that the dater was used on the LIRR or in Jamaica ticket. In my years of hanging around and eventually working at Jamaica ticket I don’t recall ever seeing this style of dater being used. It’s POSSIBLE that such a machine was used in Jamaica prior to 1960 of course. I have several LIRR dies that fit this style of machine but they’re very old and are from line stations.'

Thanks!

[fender52]

Die Plates used with the Aurora dater. From Woodmere Ticket Office
Die Plates.jpg (309.74 KiB) Viewed 2891 times

Cosmo Dater circa 1990
Dater.jpg (450.73 KiB) Viewed 2891 times

The dater (validator) that is shown is an old Aurora model that was used from the early 1900s up till the late 70s or early 80s. The photo I have attached is of the later Cosmo dater that replaced the Ajax daters. The Ajax daters were purchased to replace the Auroras when the year wheel couldn't hit the new dates. The Ajax daters had a slide insert for your IBM number. They were crap and didn't hold up. The worse part was an auditor won the suggestion award for the Ajaxs. They were a pain to work with.

The time-line I believe was:
Aurora - 1900s to 1970/80s
Ajax - 1980s to 1990s
Cosmos - 1990 to TOM introduction in 2001/2

[fender52]

I forgot one thing. The lettering "Long Island Stamp" on the side was the company that they were purchased from, not the manufacturer. I saw the daters in use at some airlines at one time and several railroads.

[MACTRAXX]

Steve and F52 :

I have a collection of LIRR tickets that I put together primarily in the 1980s.
What I tried to do is get at least one from each station and dater if possible. To me the best
examples for this were the large strip tickets issued from the early 70s into the early 90s.

For example RMLI has a couple of these stampers in their collection - the next time I go
out there I am going to look and see which types that they have.

From what I remember the Ajax stampers did not last long - 1980 to 1982 was the period.
I do recall that some stamps included the seller's IBM number in that short time span and
I believe that some did not want their employee number openly used in that manner.

The LIRR went with the electric Cosmo stampers beginning in 1995 resulting from a suit by an
employee that got carpal tunnel in their forearms from repeated motion of stamping tickets.
The Cosmo stamps had the MTA logo and did not have LIRR as all previous stamps had.
RMLI has one of these stampers along with a few of the die stamp plates used.

The pictured Woodmere date dies show the older one on the right and newer one on the left.
The newer die could be from as recent as the early 90s.

In my opinion each "generation" of LIRR tickets is more interesting then the one that replaced
them - it is especially true today with the sameness of the TOM/TVM tickets used since the
early 2000s...

MACTRAXX

[fender52]

Here is a validator I missed. This is the last one and was replaced by the TOMs. (Posted on Facebook, LIRR Historic photos)

The order now should be:
Aurora
Ajax
Cosmo
Electric (unknown manufacturer)

[MACTRAXX]

F52:

Thanks for adding the picture of the Cosmo date stamper. Which station are the two dater insert
plates from? In the picture - even though I can zoom close up - I can not read the station name
on the insert plates due to the ink staining. RMLI has one of these Cosmo stampers along with
some insert plates - when they are stained in this manner Brillo pads can be used to clean off
accumulated ink and not damage the raised metal dies on the insert plates. Brillo pads can be
used to clean square die blocks from the older stampers provided that they are not overused
and wear down further the raised characters while cleaning accumulated ink away. MACTRAXX

[fender52]

The 2 die plates are from Woodmere. One just says Woodmere and the other says 1 Woodmere 1. I don't ever remember more than one ticket case at Woodmere. It might have been just ordered that way as a replacement.

Both of these die plates do not fit the Cosmo dater. The set holes in them do not match the Cosmo frame. I believe they were used with the Auroras. As an aside, if I remember correctly, the Cosmo die plates had a thin strip that ran across them separating the opening between the dates on the wheel. They were wound up breaking off after a bit. I do know someone that has an Aurora. I will have try them on that.

I always used a toothbrush when cleaning the die plates and most ticket offices had one in the drawer for that use. We sprayed the bathroom cleaner on the plate and then scrubbed it. I haven't touched these die plates however. I left them as is.

[MACTRAXX]

F52:

My question was about the two insert plates at the bottom of the automatic stamper picture:
Are they both also from Woodmere Station? The trouble is that enlarging the photo to look
at the insert plates does not work for me to make them readable.

Good idea to use a toothbrush and bathroom cleaner to clean accumulated ink off die blocks
and insert plates - using Brillo pads could cause unwanted wear to the raised dies.

I am going to RMLI in the coming week and will look at what they have in their collection
concerning items or this type. I have many older tickets but no hardware myself.

MACTRAXX

[fender52]

They are both Woodmere die plates.

I was at a retirement last night and happen to see a Cosmo die plates. They did have a separator running across the face between the date wheels. My photo is of Aurora die plates.

[fender52]

Here are some Agent's stubs from Greenlawn that I had found. They are from March & April 1913.

I never saw a validator that did something like this, probably a made up round date stamp was used. Maybe someone else has seen one?

[nyandw]

Here is a validator I missed. This is the last one and was replaced by the TOMs. (Posted on Facebook, LIRR Historic photos)

The order now should be:
Aurora
Ajax
Cosmo
Electric (unknown manufacturer)

Is the electric one an electric Cosmo stamper beginning in 1995? As per the attached photo posted previous?

What is 'was replaced by the TOMs'? Thanks.

[nyandw]

F52:

My question was about the two insert plates at the bottom of the automatic stamper picture:
Are they both also from Woodmere Station? The trouble is that enlarging the photo to look
at the insert plates does not work for me to make them readable. MACTRAXX

Mike perhaps this helps!

Woodmere 1 : A backup, replacement, used both when busy traffic hours, different clerks, or? thanks. Best, Steve

[MACTRAXX]

Steve - Allow me to further clarify:

The insert plates I was asking about was the two small ones at the bottom of the electric (Cosmo?)
dater picture which were the 1995-early 2000s "MTA" type - the only ones that did not use LIRR.
F52 says that those two were also from Woodmere. Those were tough to read because of the ink
staining that was evident and my not being able to enlarge the photo enough to decipher them.

The new picture above posted of the two die blocks is adequate as was the previous picture.
The older one is on the left and the newer one on the right. Again that newer one could be from
as recent as the early 1990s noting the WOODMERE letter dies. These die blocks are tooled brass.

I have seen older tickets and paperwork that were stamped with round LIRR dater dies.
F52's Greenlawn find makes me want to take a look and see what examples RMLI may have.

MACTRAXX

[fender52]

Let me try to clarify my previous posts.

1 - The 2nd photo of the one validator I posted was made by Cosmo and is a manual dater (validator). See new photos.
2. The 2 die plates shown with the "Electric" validator contained the ticket agent/clerk's IBM No.. I don't remember who made the electric validator. These were replaced by the Ticket Office Machines (TOMs) in 2001/2002.
3. The 2 Woodmere die plates are from different times. They were both used in the Aurora daters. Mac is probably right that one was a replacement. In later years the die plates always said which ticket case they were used with. In multiple case stations, IE. Penn, you could see a die plate that said "24 Penn Station 24", signifying that it belonged to Case 24 in Penn.

[fender52]

Interior shot of Cosmo