MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 75 



superfluous ink that may attach to that side of the paper. By two dogs 

 and cog-wheels, with a sort of reel attached for the purpose, this blanket, 

 before the next sheet conies through, is moved slightly forward, (about 

 one-sixteenth of an inch,) by reeling it from one roller to another, suf- 

 ficiently to bring the next impression from the printed side of the sheet 

 upon a clean spot in the blanket. Two or three yards of cotton cloth 

 will serve as a blotter in this manner to print an edition of two or three 

 thousand, when it can be washed and used again ; or, a piece of some 

 thirty yards can be put on at once, and will last a year or so. There 

 aro some other distinctive characteristics about the press which are 

 difficult to describe, though they betoken much ingenuity on the part 

 of the inventor. N. Y. Farmer and Mechanic. 



IMPERIAL PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT AT VIENNA. 



THE Imperial Printing Establishment at Vienna contributed an in- 

 teresting collection of objects of graphic art to the Great Exhibition. 

 The machinery department of the Imperial Printing-office is supplied 

 with an engine of twenty horse-power, moving forty-eight printing, and 

 twenty-four copper-plate presses, and ten glazing-machines. There 

 are, moreover, thirty-six large and twelve small iron hand-presses, 

 twelve numbering and embossing machines, and thirty lithographic 

 presses. A fresh supply of types is constantly supplied by twelve cast- 

 ing-machines and nine ovens, and 3000 cwt. of type is kept on the 

 premises. According to a moderate computation, each cwt. contains 

 about 40,000 types, and the 3000 cwt. we mentioned make a total of 

 120,000,000 of types of various sizes and characters ; 500,000 sheets, or 

 1000 reams, of paper per diem are required for the consumption of the 

 establishment. The report of the Austrian Commissioners states, that 

 ten years ago but fifty persons were employed in the Imperial Printing- 

 office. Among the objects sent to the Exhibition, was a collection of 

 11,000 Steel Punches, including 104 different alphabets, from the hie- 

 roglyphic, hieratic, and Demotic, down to the Kionsa, Laos, Shyan, 

 Mandshah, and Formosan. There was a collection of gutta-percha and 

 galvanized copper matrixes and patrixes of woodcuts, fac-similes of 

 antique relievos ; and, as a specimen of the typographic strength of the 

 Imperial Printing-office, there was a copy of The Hall of Languages, 

 consisting of seventeen sheets in elephant folio, containing the Lord's 

 Prayer in 608 languages, printed with Roman letters, and in 200 lan- 

 guages, hi the characters peculiar to each language ; a work of vast 

 design and exquisite execution. Next was a collection of MS. writing 

 in the early ages from the sixth century to the days of Guttenburg, 

 and the invention of the ait of printing. There were, besides, orna- 

 mental letters of the Middle ages, reproduced from the documents of 

 the time , fac-similes of curious old woodcuts, chiefly taken from an old 

 and very rare book, entitled, Kaiser Maximilian's Ehrenpforte. There 

 wits also a Japanese novel, the first work of this kind ever printed with 

 movable type ; oil-color prints ; photography on paper, in its various 

 applications to objects of nature and art ; and a selection of ornamental 

 tools for book-binding. 



