1978 Bell and Howell Machine Inserting, Stuffing, Sealing Envelopes

One of my favorite pieces of equipment to operate considering we used to stuff thousands of envelopes by hand. The old 1978 Bell and Howell/Phillipsburg envelope inserter does the trick and is mesmerizing to watch. Good old fashioned mechanical reliability and sure beats licking envelopes!

[@joankyer1277]

I was dream of a machine that stuffs envelopes and I googled it and there you were. Thanks for sharing this incredible machine on you tube

[@justaprinter]

You bet!

[@jessicabrown873]

For some reason the old basic swing arm inserters are my favorite machine to run. I would much rather run one of these than a big smart inserter. They were always my favorite machines in the shop..

[@justaprinter]

Absolutely. Something about an old simple machine rhythm.

[@beefchicken]

That thing looks like a lot of fun. I spent my childhood stuffing envelopes, one of these would have saved a lot of time!

[@justaprinter]

They sure do. This machines opened a lot of doors for my business.

[@hppyfngy]

I worked in the mail room for a bill collecting agency in the 80's. Well, I was the mail room! I spent those evenings with this machine and a folder and a Pitney Bowes postage machine. It was a lot of fun. 🙂

[@Ohanzeee]

omg i use to be a machine operator, back in he day from the year 1979 - 1991 for a company called Jones Direct Mail Scarborough, ON Canada ( made good money back then as well $10.95 HR ) I am so glad they still use these machines today

[@royalgirlone]

do you know where they purchased their envelopes in wholesale in toronto ?

[@user-nb7mz3fb5p]

I worked for RL Polk in the 80's in Toronto and Mailmarketing Corp. through the 90's and 2000's.... these were the workhorse machines of the industry for sure. I even did a few Continental shifts for Jones as well back in the day...Jack Jones was a good man.

[@MikeRthe1]

Beautiful example of a well maintained classic piece of machinery. Love to see it!!

[@justaprinter]

Couldn't agree more!

[@PatrickDKing]

That is just the coolest machine ever...I want one! Many years ago I was factory trained on some pre and post production equipment by the manufacturer, one being modern folder inserters like the formax, secap, neopost, pitney bowes, and all the rebranded versions and I can see now at least half a dozen reasons why these older mechanical styles are much more preferred and way more reliable. The less folding, curving, start/stop points, flipping etc. the better. And thank God for air feed.

[@justaprinter]

Yes, this is the most fun to watch. It is complex and simple all at the same time.

[@tonyrayhammons]

I used to setup and fix those machines I was the mechanic for a bulk mailing company we also had inkjet printing ,folder machines,Cheshire machines ,magnacraft machines … pretty cool seeing this video brings back memories I had fun working on them

[@tonyrayhammons]

I also remember the postage stamp machines you can attach to the end of some machines

[@justaprinter]

Glad you enjoyed! I bet you have some stories to tell!

[@judysoetedja]

Amazing machine....still remember that all of those independent mechanical movement originated from a single main motor connected to a gearbox and an indexer for insert chain & gripper chain..... (worked with B+H poststar & vitesse)

[@dannycruzer3249]

Your great...thanks you so much for always a very informative video. It is in your channel that I discover that there is such a machine like envelop inserter that exist......good job...👍👍

[@justaprinter]

You are so welcome!

[@MrAylas]

good ole swing arm easy to work on the newer ones are a pain in the ass

[@justaprinter]

Thats why I went with the good old iron. I like it!

[@MrAylas]

@@justaprinter oh yea there really easy to fix

[@J19Metallica82]

Agreed

[@kev.j.goodwin8612]

Worked as a B+H engineer for 15 years working on this type of kit. Rock solid and reliable, but the later automated selective read swing arm machines with maybe 12 stations needed a very good operator to run them fast without too many crashes. The temptation was for owners to ignore the specs and stuff too much in the envelope and still expect it to run at 10K/Hr.....happy days.

[@kengvang1330]

My company got rid of all of our swing arms and now we have blue crest Mailstream evolution. There will always be damages. Smh

[@nicselectronics81]

Loved tinkering/tuning these things.

[@justaprinter]

They are fun!

[@norrock1]

I work for a company that does this. When I first started we had even older versions of these. Had a couple Flowmasters at the time too. Now we just have Flowmasters and none of the old swing arms

[@user-nb7mz3fb5p]

Which Company?

[@norrock1]

@@user-nb7mz3fb5p well when I first started the company I worked for was called Mailing Services of Pittsburgh. Few years my location was bought by another company called Direct Marketing Solutions based out of Portland Oregon

[@ebonyqueen6932]

I remember doing this type of work at DST. Easy 12 hrs.

[@justaprinter]

Its a fun machine!

[@petec9686]

Which DST? I worked in South Windsor, first for Bell and Howell, then directly for DST maintaining them.

[@DeltaSierra181]

My father owned a mailing business and had five of these machines running constantly. One was able to do 10K envelopes an hour, so long as the operator kept up with it.

[@justaprinter]

Oh wow! They are amazing machines, and they certainly keep you on your toes id you speed them up!

[@scottmcdonald6201]

Didn't even know those were a thing until very recently!

[@justaprinter]

They are amazing!

[@DandyDon1]

TRW had a Bell and Howell unit in Space Park for among other things to stuff the payroll checks into envelopes in the 1980s.

[@justaprinter]

Oh cool!

[@mistercapitalm]

love this

[@justaprinter]

Thanks!

[@minhquantieu9173]

nice machine!!!

[@justaprinter]

Sure is!

[@switch158]

I use one of these at my job, and its such a cool machine :) I even use this to run merged mailings, which is kind of a pain when it jams up or pulls a double. I wish there was a way it could detect when it pulls two envelopes out of the #10 outsider envelope.

[@justaprinter]

They are mesmerizing machines, brilliant and simple. Oh man, I'm getting chest pains just thinking of running merges mailings through there. I do several mailing like that but only one piece is unique. You might be able to modify one of the double detectors to work on the #10's. It would be some work though to make it all work. Take care!

[@justaprinter]

@Insignificant Speck Of Dust I forget, however that job is coming up in 1-2 weeks for me again. I think it was probably 6-8 hours maybe?

[@ericthompson3402]

I'm rocking a Bell and Howell Mail Star 5000 at an insanely busy shop. I love getting a 100,000+ piece job and just spend the day with my old "swing arm"..and nothing else to worry about.

[@tassie7325]

I guess that one of the reasons that I am addicted to this channel is that I am fascinated in the ingenuity of machines that are designed to do multiple tasks that seem (before seeing them) impossible to be done by a machine. This was a great clip to be able to see exactly how it works, especially when I slowed it down to half speed. I was able to see clearly how everything works except for that very end section which is stacking the completed envelopes. Any chance of getting a close-up or description of what is happening there (or point me in the right direction if it has been covered in another clip, as I am working my way through the complete series).

[@justaprinter]

Great point, I'll do a full setup of this machine and will cover all the parts. Thanks Mick!

[@oujjlahcenol]

@@justaprinter merci de répondre en français

[@alnoiwangmuang8547]

Will this machine work with a non #10 window envelope. For instance, if the flap of the envelope in the back is not a typical triangle but a bigger rectangular shape.

[@jeffbanfieldsflwr3537]

We have converted to all high speed roll work.

[@justaprinter]

Some day I might need to consider this. Roll fed is a whole different ball game and it intimidates me. :)

[@pradnyanikam8844]

This is a time saver machine!! Very innovate!! How many envelopes can be formed in an hour?

[@justaprinter]

I'd say about 4000 an hour and a moderate speed. It is nice!

[@waynehenry2861]

Are you selling the machine ?

[@gunnerz7571]

How hard would it be for someone with only a digital neopost background to run one of these? I’m thinking it may be good for us

[@justaprinter]

They are nice and simple. I like it, but I like mechanical things. Now that I have it set up I do very little adjustments. It just runs.

[@russnussman7074]

How do you set the double detector? I just started an inserter job and would like to know as much as I can. Thanks. Great video.

[@justaprinter]

There are little black knobs on each arm that pulls the folded pieces in. You turn those to adjust for different thicknesses.

[@petec9686]

With nothing in the jaw and the jaw fully closed turn the miss knob until it just lights. Then stop it again at the same position with a single insert in the jaw. Set the double detect so it lights, then back it out a half turn. Really thin inserts and you’ll have to set it closer

[@cfl941]

How well does the machine run if the #10's flap starts in the open position?

[@justaprinter]

It wouldn't work, envelopes need to be closed in order to feed correctly.

[@xxxxxxJSxxxxxx]

Hi Is their a machine which inserts a6 flyers into a6 envelopes?

[@justaprinter]

Yes, I think you can actually run an A6 on this machine, you cannot do it with a square flap envelope though.

[@stevenweeks7322]

Buhrs bb300 inserter does C6 to C4 formats . Very well built machines and alot better than these swing arm machines.

[@DannZylman]

how does it grab those inserts ? looks like an interesting mechanism

[@justaprinter]

It is one of my favorite machines. There is a stationary finger, one that moves and a sucker. Then another grabber. I'll have to highlight in a future video.

[@DannZylman]

​@@justaprinter quite a complex movement. a video would be awesome. I work at a company where we have to do this by hand still

[@tyrenhoskins9158]

@@DannZylman If you want I can even send you a link to a quick explanation. I might be able to upload it tomorrow.

[@DannZylman]

@@tyrenhoskins9158 that be great

[@Jasper-Yeo]

Can this machine seal and glue the envelopes?

[@justaprinter]

Yes, it does seal the envelope.

[@Jasper-Yeo]

@@justaprinter cool..... this machine can insert 12,000 envelopes a day?

[@justaprinter]

@@Jasper-Yeo It inserts about 3,000+ an hour.

[@James-ze1ni]

so this is what tv licensing use. lol

[@justaprinter]

LOL, maybe, probably much newer and faster. :)

[@timdarcamper]

What does a machine like that cost?

[@justaprinter]

I bought this one for $1,700. I thought it was a steal!

[@justaprinter]

@Insignificant Speck Of Dust Thank you! They don't make them like this anymore! :)

[@bliss_fullness3218]

Hope one day I can afford this machine

[@stevenweeks7322]

@@justaprinter thank god !

[@matthewmorales9155]

Biden's favorite machine.

[@justaprinter]

LOL!