164 



PRINTING PRESSES. 



be found in The Origin of Printing, in two Essays, &c. 

 Loncl. 1774 ( , Svo. See also Chalmers's Life of Ruddi- 

 man, pp. 80, 81. Irving's Lives of the ticotish Puds, 

 vol. i. p. 75. Memoirs of Ged. (T. M.) 



PRINTING PRESS, is a well-known machine for 

 printing books, which at an early period of the art was 

 brought to a considerable degree of perfection. Al- 

 though the name of the inventor of the printing press 

 has not been handed down to us, yet it is known to 

 have received great improvements from William Jan- 

 son Blaew, who had been an assistant and instrument 

 maker to Tycho Brahe, and who established a printing 

 office at Amsterdam, where he printed several books of 

 maps from the observations of that celebrated astrono- 

 mer. Till within the last fifty years, the common 

 printing press remained in its original state ; but since 

 that time, the progress of improvement has been ex- 

 tremely rapid, and many most material additions and 

 changes have been made upon it. The introduction 

 of printing machinery, too, has formed a new era in 

 this art, and it is highly probable that, in very large 

 establishments, the use of the ordinary printing press 

 will be entirely superseded by that great invention. 

 In giving an account of these improvements, we shall 

 begin with the common printing press. 



Common Printing Press. 



A perspective representation of this press is given in 

 Plate CCCCLXVIlf. Fig. 1. The body of the press 

 consists of two cheeks, or strong vertical posts A, A, 

 bound together by four horizontal bars. The first of 



ccccLzvin* t nese bars B is called the cap, and merely keeps the the outer end of the plank is fixed the gallows MM, 

 parts at a proper distance. The second cross bar C, which sustains the tympans, when they are turned up 

 called the head, is fitted by tenons at the ends into 



Common 

 printing 

 press. 

 PLATE 



plattin is suspended from the spindle, and rises up 

 again with it, by means of a garter, or fillet of iron 

 screwed to the. hose, and entering into a groove round 

 the upper end of the spindle, to prevent the hose falling 

 down upon the spindle. The plattin is hung truly 

 level by four threads passing from its fou/ corners to 

 the. four corners of the lower part of the hose. 



The next important part of the printing press is the 

 carriage LL, the object of which is to bear the types, 

 and carry them below the plattin. The carriage is sup- 

 ported on a horizontal wooden frame, the fore part of 

 which is sustained by the forestay m, while the back 

 part rests on the winter. Beneath the plank of the 

 carriage, cramp irons, or short pieces of iron and steel, 

 are nailed, which slide upon two long iron bars, or 

 ribs, fixed upon the upper part of the horizontal wood- 

 en frame. In order to run the carriage in and out 

 upon the wooden frame, there is placed beneath the 

 carnage the spit, or a small spindle, having a double 

 wheel on the middle of it, round which leather belts 

 are fastened, the opposite ends of the belt being nailed 

 to each end of the plank of the carriage. On one of 

 the ends of the spit is fixed the winch, or handle n, by 

 turning which the pressman can run the carriage in 

 and out below the plattin at his pleasure. The car. 

 riage consists of a strong wooden plank, on which is 

 fixed a square wooden frame, forming the cell, in 

 which a polished stone is placed, to sustain the form 

 or frame of types. Stay-belts of leather are fixed to 

 this cell by one end, and by the other to the cheeks of 

 the press, so as to prevent the carriage from running 

 put too far, when drawn from under the plattin. On 



mortices between the cheeks; and the bar admits of a 

 small motion, or play, in consequence of the mortices 

 being filled up with pieces of pasteboard or soft wood. 

 The head C is suspended from the cap B by two strong 

 screw bolts s s, and in the centre of it is fixed, by two 

 short bolts, a brass nut, containing a female screw, or 

 worm, for receiving the upper end of the great vertical 

 spindle or screw S, by which the pressure is produced. 



to receive a new sheet of paper. These tympans, 

 shown at N, N, are light square frames covered with 

 parchment. They consist of three slips of thin wood, 

 with a head- band, or top-slip, of thin iron. The two 

 tympans are so constructed that the one is small 

 enough to lie within the other, and the exterior one is 

 fitted by iron hinges to the cell. Two or three folds of 

 blankets are placed between the two tympans, to equal- 

 ize the pressure of the plattin upon the surface of the 



The third bar D, called the shelf, or till, is intended to types. A square frame of very thin iron P, called the 

 guide and keep steady a part called the Jiose, which frisket, is fastened by hinges to the head-band of the 



contains the spindle and the screw. The next cross 

 bar E, called the winter, is placed between the cheeks, 

 in order to support the carriage; and it sustains the ef- 

 fort of the press below, in the same manner as the 

 head does above. The spindle, or screw, FF is a strong 

 vertical bar of iron, terminated at the lower end with 

 steel. Its upper end is formed into a small screw, 

 which works in the small screw in the brass nut of 

 the head ; and in the eye of the spindle, a little below 

 its upper end, is fixed the crooked bar or handle H, by 

 which the press is wrought. 



Beneath the lower end of the spindle is placed the 

 plattin GG, or the body which gives the pressure to the 

 paper. It is suspended from the point of the spindle 

 by the hose, a square frame or block of wood, shown 

 at K, which is guided by passing through the shelves. 

 The lower end of the spindle passes through the hose, 

 and rests by its point in the plug, fixed in a brass pan 

 supplied with oil, which is again fixed to an iron plate 

 let into the top of the plattin. When the pressman, 

 therefore, pulls the handle H, he turns the spindle, 

 the round end of which moves in its screw box, and, 

 by descending, brings down the plattin, which thus 

 presses upon the paper lying above the types. The 



exterior tympan. It is made to fall down upon the 

 tympan, to inclose the sheet of paper between them ; 

 and the frisket is covered with a sheet of paper, or 

 parchment, which is cut out so that the sheet, when 

 placed between the tympan and frisket, and folded 

 down together on the form of types, may receive the 

 ink from the surface of the types, while the frisket- 

 sheet preserves the margin from being soiled. When 

 the tympan and frisket are thus folded down, they lie 

 flat on the form of types. The carriage containing 

 them is then run beneath the plattin, so that when the 

 handle H is pulled, the plattin presses upon one-half 

 of the form of types ; the carriage is then run farther 

 in beneath the plattin, so that a second pull of the 

 handle causes the plattin to press upon the other half 

 of the form of types. In this way the impression of 

 the types is made upon the paper by two separate pulls. 

 By turning the winch H, the carriage is withdrawn 

 from beneath the plattin, and the tympan on being 

 lifted up round its hinges, rests obliquely against the 

 gallows. The frisket is then lifted up on its hinges, and 

 supported by a slip of wood descending from the ceil- 

 ing, till the printed sheet is taken out and a clean one 

 put in. 



