HALFTONE SCREEN — KAINEN 425 



It is possible tliut the halftone screen will eventuallj^ be superseded 

 by oilier, more efficient, instrinnentalities for obtaining toned pictures 

 in the printing press. The rise of electronics is already responsible 

 for a device, in successful although limited commercial use, for ob- 

 taining coarse and moderately fine halftones without the use of a 

 screen. The Fairchild Photo-Electric Engraver, the Fairchild bro- 

 chure states, "is an electro-mechanical device for producing halftone 

 engravings on plastic material without recourse to photography or the 

 use of chemicals." It makes use of an amplifier system by means of 

 which the tonal details of the photograph to be reproduced are trans- 

 mitted from the electronic scanning assembly to the engraving assem- 

 bly. Fine dots are burned into the plastic plate by a heated stylus. 

 Halftones can be made corresponding to 65-, 85-, and 120-line screens. 

 At present the Fairchild machine is used chiefly in newspaper work, 

 where the comparative speed and simplicity of the process is a great 

 advantage. In any case, whatever the future may hold, the halftone 

 screen has played and is playing its part in creating a ceaseless flow 

 of pictorial material for a worldwide public. This piece of glass 

 marked by intersecting lines — this delicate screen to which the half- 

 tone owes its existence — has proved to be one of the truly important 

 contributions to industry and culture in the modern world. 



