410 



P HINTING 



compartment*, an ingenious arrangement for saving 

 liilxmr. Tin* arrangement nf the lower CAM varies 

 slightly in different places, lint the principle in the 

 name in all. The pr<>|x>rti<m of the different letteis 

 of the Kn-lUli languag^! in a fount of ty|K-H is rather 

 curious, and ia shown in the following table : 



8,600 



b 1,000 



e. ','.'.'..','. siooo 



d 4,400 



12,000 



f 2,600 



g 1,700 



6,400 



8,000 



400 



800 



4,000 



S.OOO 



D. 8,000 



8,000 



1,700 



600 



,00 



8,000 



,000 



S.400 



1,200 



J.OOO 

 400 



*% 



Provided with a metal instrument called a 

 setting-' stick,' shown half-filled with type in fig. 

 3, and with his 'copy' before him, the compositor 

 picks up the necessary letters, &c. one by one, 

 arranging them in lines in the stick, which may be 



Fig. 3. Setting-stick. 



regulated to any width of line ; each line is carefully 

 spaced put to fit accurately into the stick before 

 proceeding to the next, any italics or other sorts 

 required neing got from other cases. When the 

 stick is full the matter is carefully lifted with 

 the fingers, aided by the setting-rule, a piece of 

 brass rule used in setting the lines, ami shown 

 in fig. 3, and put into a galley a brass tray 

 with wooden sides, about 18 or 20 inches long as 

 used in setting such a book as the present work. 

 This galley when filled contains about a page of 

 matter in one long column, which is kept together 

 by wedges driven in against the sides. A proof 

 is taken at a hand-press, and this is read by a 

 trained reader to correct any errors which the 

 coin|>ositor may have made. These corrections 

 are marked on the margin of the proof, and 

 most of the signs and marks used are shown in 

 the specimen given in the article PROOFS. When 

 the printer's errors have been corrected by the 

 compositor a ' clean ' proof is taken for the author, 

 and when his alterations are given effect to, the 

 type is made into page*. If a short number of the 

 book is required, say only a few hundreds, it is 

 usually printed direct from the type ; but where large 

 numbers are required, or future editions expected, it 

 is generally either stereotyped (see STEREOTYPING ) 

 or electrotyped (see ELECTRO-METALLURGY), in 

 either of which cases the type is not used for 

 actual printing. In any case the type is taken 

 from the galleys and arranged in pages, and the 

 skill displayed by compositors in handling them 

 without allowing any to drop out is very wonderful. 

 Tin- pages are ' locked ' up by means of wedges in 

 iron frames called ' chases ( Fr. chAsse, ' a frame '), 



Fig. 4. Ch*s. 



one of which with four pages is shown in fig. 4. 

 Books are generally printed in sheets of sixteen 

 pages, or multiples of sixteen (32, 64, or 128) ; in 

 the latter case, however, they are cut into sheets 



of sixteen after being printed. In making up the 

 page- to print a sixteen-page sheet, two formes, as t ho 

 chases containing the type are called, are required, 

 one for each side of the slieet. If a printed Kheet of 

 sixteen pages lie opened out, the pages will be seen 

 to be arranged in the following order : 



Insi.l* of Sheet. 



And the pages in the chase must be so arranged, or 

 ' imposed ' as it is called, that, when printed, they 

 will so appear. When ready for printing or stereo- 

 typing, as the case may be, another proof is read 

 for linal correction. In some cases where great 

 accuracy is required, such as in the present work, as 

 many as six or eight proofs are ' read ' at different 

 stages. 



\\lirn the types have been printed or electrotyped 

 and returned to the caseroom they are distributed by 

 the compositors into the cases again for further use ; 

 and this can In- done with wonderful rapidity, 

 though great care must be used to avoid putting 

 the letters into the wrong boxes. Several very 

 ingenious machines have been invented for setting 

 type (see TYPE-SETTING MACHINES) which have 

 been more or less successful. They are worked some- 

 thing after the manner of type-writing machines 

 (see TYPE-WRITER), but are too complicated to be 

 described in detail within our limits. Several of 

 the latest of these cast and set the type by one 

 movement. This Haves the labour of re-distributing 

 the types, as when done with they are melted again. 

 These machines are used for newspaper work. 



In most printing-offices the men govern themselves 

 by a voluntary association called a 'chapel,' which, 

 although often (but not necessarily) connecir.l 

 with the printers' society, is independent so far as 

 the individual affairs of the office are concerned. 

 The officebearers are called the ' father ' and 

 ' clerk ' to the chapel, and it has elalKirate set* of 

 rules for regulating trade and personal affairs 

 within the office. 



Letterpress printing surfaces are coated with 

 ink (see INK) by means of ' composition rollers.' 

 These consist of cylinders of small diameter covered 

 with composition made according to various recipes. 

 Amongst them are glue, treacle, and Paris white; 

 glue, sugar, and glycerine; glue, glycerine, sugar, 

 and india-rubber, &c. These are melted, mixed 

 together, and cast in cylindrical moulds of various 

 diameters, according to the requirements of the 

 machine or press. The glue and treacle composi- 

 tion was first used for printing by the engineers 

 Donkin and Hacon in 1813 ; up to this time 

 the types having been inked by pell balls. The 

 present system of inking on machines was in 

 vented by Mr Kdward Cowper in 1818. Leather 

 and other substance* were tried at first, and the 

 machines in which they were used were discarded 

 owing to the unsatisfactorineas of their rolling or 

 inking arrangements. A good roller must be 

 tenacious of ink, semi-elastic, and retain its 

 suction. It must not shrink, become hard in cold 

 weather or soft in hot weather. The recipe for 

 making it is varied according to the machine for 

 which it is required whether working on fine 

 surfaces such as engravings, or at a high speed, as 

 for newspaper work. 



The earliest known representation of a printing- 

 press is dated 1507, and it pictures an apparatus 

 which is little more than a modification of the 

 ancient wine-press. The essential feature is a flat 



