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..For collectors, the precancels produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing are known as Bureau Types (usually shortened to B u -reaus). Precancels that were produced by individual Post Offices are known as Local Types (usually shortened to Locals). Today, Locals and Bureaus continue to be primary collecting categories. Bureau Types were printed on large automated printing presses with all the stamps on full sheets precanceled at the same time. Over the years, The Bureau of Engraving and Printing used a variety of presses for precanceling. Early on, they used a flatbed press, but began using a Stickney Rotary Intaglio press in 1923. In 1955, they again used a flatbed press for some issues, but also utilized Huck and Huck-Cottrell web presses which used rolls of pregummed paper.There have been 24 different Bureau Type printing plates used to produce precanceled postage stamps in the United States. They were utilized by 770 cities and towns nationwide. Overall, When all the plate types and different stamp issues and denominations are taken into consideration there are approximately 9,500 variations. In Indiana, a total of 8 different Bureau Type plates were utilized, often with one or two different plates used by a particular city or town. Only Evansville, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Muncie, and South Bend used three different Bureau Type plates. Some Indiana towns used only a single Bureau Type precancel on a single postage-stamp denomination. Others used a single Bureau Type precancel on multiple different denominations, with larger cities offering more stamp issues of various denominations. There is a known, finite number of varieties of Bureau Type precancels. In Indiana it is 287, of which Indianapolis used 90 different Bureau-Type/stamp-issue/denomination variations. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing produced precanceled stamps in minimum quantities of 500,000 for sheet stamps and 250,000 for coils. The majority of Post Offices didn%u2019t require that many precanceled stamps, so they continued producing their own precanceled stamps L o -cally. In 1978, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing began producing precancels without the city and state, and only used lines. Because these could be utilized in any Post Office in the country, Local Type precancels were no longer needed. The Post Office also issued Service-Inscribed Precancels that indicated, right on the stamp, the specific postal service that the stamp was to be used for. Many individual Post Offices purchased their printing devices directly from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to precancel their Ten-subject handstamps such as this were developed after early 25-subject handstamps failed to give good impressions.An example of an electroplate type of Contracted Device with 100 precancel impressions. These were issued by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing beginning in 1913.