126 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1921. 



Museum. The originals were made about 50 years earlier than mov- 

 able type are said to have been made in Europe. The type are con- 

 cave underneath and irregular in thickness, but this was of no con- 

 sequence. They were set up in wax and all pressed down, so that the 

 printing surface was level. 



Clay types were invented in China by a smith named Pi Shing, 

 between 1041-1049. He engraved a type in a very fine plastic clay 

 and burned it. He had no successor, and after his death the Chinese 

 returned to their ancient methods of using engraved blocks of wood, 

 which process is said to date back to 581 A. D. 



Electrotyping is a method used in graphic arts to duplicate print- 

 ing plates. Where large editions are wanted several plates are neces- 

 sary and duplicate plates may be made at very small cost, in com- 

 parison to the original engraved plate. The claim is made that the 

 metal deposit is harder in proportion to the hardness of the material 

 on which it is deposited, and therefore the electrotype deposit made 

 on lead is harder and tougher than that made on wax, so that larger 

 editions can be printed from lead-molded electrotypes. 



The Royal Electrotype Co., of Philadelphia, furnished an exhibit 

 showing the process of manufacture of lead-molding electrotypes 

 from a halftone- and- type original through the various steps to 

 the finished electrotype ; and also had it carried through the McKee 

 treatment which process puts the overlay and underlay in the plate 

 itself. 



At the present time a large percentage of the electrotype plates 

 are called "nickel-steel." This name is a misnomer because only 

 nickel and copper are used. A thin sheet of nickel three one-thou- 

 sandths of an inch in thickness is deposited first, then a thick layer 

 of copper. The smooth nickel surface prints with very little wear. 



The electrotype exhibit now consists of wax molding, lead molding, 

 and the McKee treatment of electrotype plate. 



Mr. Karl Arvidson and Mr. Charles Furth of the Photogravure 

 & Color Co., contributed several hundred specimens of photogelatine 

 and photogravure work extending over a period of 30 or 40 years, 

 with fine examples of the work they are doing at present in photo- 

 gravure, both in color and black and white. 



The Ketterlinus Lithographic Manufacturing Co., of Philadelphia, 

 gave 10 specimens of their work in lithographic color printing, which 

 presents an excellent idea of the results obtained by lithographic 

 printing. 



The three states of the etched plate Shoveller Drake, by Frank W. 

 Benson, of Salem, Mass., the well-known artist, together with the 

 original plate in its " destroyed " condition, show the methods used 

 by the artist in carrying the plate from the first state to the finished 



