Dahlke said he was offered $1 million for the patent of his airmail envelope by a New York City brokerage firm but he had to refuse the offer and turn the patent over to the US Government citing that ownership of such a patent by a stationery manufacturer would have violated Federal anti-monopoly laws: Later still, in 1958, when the Buffalo, NY area was promoting the 40th Anniversary of Airmail Service in the United States, a related article included the comment that Mr. Dahlke apparently gave a Lions Club speech in which he mentioned the "difficulty he ran into when securing his 'Airmail Envelope Patent' which is now used today by Uncle Sam." It is again mentioned in this subsequent newspaper article:Īlthough other news outlets apparently dropped any reference to Mr. Dahlke is "not permitted to patent his design.": Dahlke is quoted as being the "designer" but the article went on to indicate that Mr. When the newly designed (and USPOD approved) envelope was announced in period newspaper articles, Mr.
#Airmail envelope manual
Dahlke has autographed it while making mention that he was the "originator and designer" of the envelope:Īs alluded to in some of the previously posted designs, the US Post Office Department approved the use of this type of Airmail Envelope in their Postal Manual of 1928, excerpted below: What makes this example particularly interesting is the front, where Mr. Co., Buffalo, NY:Īnd most interesting is this 1928 example on either a #9 or #10 airmail envelope where the same caption is used: In this 1929 example, the caption is again changed to "Manufactured by Dahlke Stationery & Mfg. Subsequent variations of his envelopes include this "odd" example of a side-opening air mail envelope used in 1935 (note the tab on the left side) and the change to include the caption "Designed by Dahlke Co., Buffalo, NY": The reverse side of this 1928 air mail envelope includes the caption "Designed by Ben Dahlke, Buffalo, NY" and was apparently in use before his patent was granted: Dahlke's early air mail envelope examples are shown below. It is noteworthy that his patent was filed on Octobut was not granted until a year and a half later on as US Patent No. red and blue lozenges or parallelograms surrounding the envelope). Dahlke apparently took out the first patent on the style of airmail envelopes we are most familiar with (i.e. Note in particular the highlighted paragraph where he did not consider himself a "collector of stamps" but was nevertheless a member of the American and International Philatelic Associations and contributed a number of air mail stamps and covers to them. Dahlke may be found in this 1929 newspaper article. (The internet has several articles he wrote on these themes for trade journals during the 1910s through the 1920s.)Ī biographical sketch of Mr. Dahlke's early career involved much salesmanship within his stationery business which naturally led into a keen interest in how the business community could take better advantage of the US Mail to advance their profit margin. Benjamin A Dahlke (1883-1958) was born in Reserve, NY and made his home in Buffalo for most of his adult life, eventually becoming proprietor of the Dahlke Stationery and Manufacturing Company. Nonetheless, I share what I do know and hopefully others can help fill in some of the blanks. Granted, there are a lot of loose ends to the story which requires more research than I am able to give to the subject. What I am going to share is what I have been able to find on the internet when reviewing period publications and newspaper articles on Mr.
#Airmail envelope free
red and blue lozenges or parallelograms surrounding the envelope.) If you're bored with such history, you can move on to other threads if not feel free to read on. Dahlke), the first individual to have obtained a patent on the air mail envelope we are most familiar with today (i.e.
As I promised the other day, I'm creating this specific thread covering some online research I did on Benjamin A.
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