PRINTING. 



PRINTING. 



750 



reprinted most of (the information collected by Rowe Mores, together 

 with notices of more recent type-founders. In France the names of 

 Breitkopf and Didot attained high celebrity for improvements in type- 

 founding. The Imperial printing-office at Vienna, where punch-cutting 

 and type-founding are carried on, possesses probably the moat nume- 

 rous collection of foreign alphabets having distinct characters. 



The first and most important operation of a type-foundry is the 

 formation of the punches, which are well-tempered pieces of steel, each 

 of which bears on its face a single letter, formed with the greatest 

 possible accuracy by filing, cutting, and punching the hollows with 

 smaller punches. The face of the punch exactly resembles that of the 

 finished type : the letter being reversed, and in high relief. The 

 punch-cutter, in addition to the care and judgment required for 

 making the letter of precisely the right size, form, and thickness, so 

 that it may rang.; well with" other letters of the same fount or set, 

 must consider the best degree of slope for the sides of the letter, so 

 that, on the one hand, he may avoid making them so vertical that the 



v.ill be weak, and easily broken t>r battered; and, on the other, 

 that they may not, owing to too rapid an increase of thickness towards 

 the base, produce a thick blurred impression when printed from. 

 U'lii'ii the punch is completed and hardened, it is struck into a piece 



-per, which, when it has received the impression from the end of 

 the punch, is called a matrix, and forms a mould for the face of the 

 type. The striking of the matrix, like every other operation in the 

 formation of the mould, requires great nicety, because, if the punch be 



M perfectly vertical, the face of the type will not be at right 



with its sides, and the impression will consequently be uneven. 



The depth of the impression is also of consequence, as it affects the 



i of the type ; but this may be regulated by filing the face of the 



I. The sides and end of the matrix are then accurately squared ; 



t truth in this respect being necessary, in order that, when the 

 matrix i adjusted in the mould, the letter may be perfectly square 

 with that portion of it which is to form the shank, or body of the type, 

 aiirl may also have its proper position with reference to the top and 

 bottom of the body ; BO that when the types are set up together and 

 printed 'from, the letters may not only be upright, but may also range 

 in a perfectly straight line. The mould, of which a representation is 



annexed, consiaU of two halves, each of which is made of steel, and 

 attached, for convenience of holding, to a piece of wood. The two 

 halve* of the mould are so formed, with projecting blocks and recesses 

 to receive them, that they may be instantaneously fitted together, as 

 -hown in the cut, leaving a square funnel-shaped opening at the top, 

 Ijy whiuli the type-metal is poured in, and below it the actual mould 

 fnr the Vxxly of the type, with the matrix at the bottom to form tin- 

 letter or face of the type. The two halves of the mould are BO con- 

 structed that they will elide a little upon each other, laterally, so as to 

 vary the thickness of the body of the letter, that the same mould 

 may be uied, with different matrices, for casting every letter of a 

 fount, from i or 1, which have very narrow bodies, to m or w, which 

 have wide bodiei. The type-metal u usually melted in a small cast- 

 iron pot, set in brickwork with an enclosed fire under it, and is poured 

 into the mould by a very small ladle. The caster then jerks the mould 

 quickly upwards by a peculiar motion of his arm, and thereby expels 

 the air, and force* the fluid metal to enter the cavities of the matrix. 

 \Vlnnthe metal is set, the caster removes the pressure of the long 

 curved spring at the bottom of the mould, and thereby relieves the 

 matrix from the face of the type. The mould ia then separated, and 

 the type in removed by the application of one of the hooks attached to 

 Uw upper part of each half. Complicated as these operation* appear 



in description, the closing of the mould, casting the type, releasing the 

 spring, opening the mould, and removing the type, are all performed 

 in about the eighth part of a minute ; so that an expert workman will 

 cast 500 letters in an hour. 



When the types leave the caster, each of them has a small block of 

 metal attached to its shank, being that which filled the throat or 

 funnel of the mould. These are removed by a boy, who takes up the 

 types by their edges, or rather by the top and bottom of the body, and 

 breaks off the superfluous metal by a motion almost too quick to be 

 followed by the eye. The average number thus treated in an hour is 

 2000, but some boys can break off about 5000. The next operation is 

 rubbing the flat sides (but no_t the edges) of the types upon a piece of 

 gritatoue, the fingers of the rubber being protected by pieces of tarred 

 leather : this also is commonly done at the rate of 2000 per hour. The 

 types are then set up by boys in long rows or lines, and these are 

 firmly secured in long frames, which hold them together while the 

 dresser scrapes or polishes the flat surfaces which form the top and 

 bottom of the body, nnd cuts a groove or channel along their lower 

 ends by means of a small iron plane. While they are in the frame the 

 types are also bearded, an operation which consists in planing away to 

 a bevel the upjwr angle of the body at the feet of the letters. After 

 dressing the types are tied up in such lines as may be convenient, and 

 the proportionate numbers of every type of which a fount consists are 

 selected. All the types belonging to one fount are distinguished by 

 one or more grooves or nieta across the lower edge or bottom face of 

 the body, by which simple contrivance the compositor is enabled to 

 see, or even to feel, without looking at the face of the letter, when a 

 type is inverted. These nicks, which should be different in number or 

 position in each fount used in a printing-office, are formed by the 

 insertion of one or more wires in the mould, or they are cut by a plane 

 while they are in the long frames. 



Although the composition of type-metal varies greatly in different 

 countries, and even in the practice of different British founders, lead 

 almost invariably forms the principal ingredient. Some of the earliest 

 founders are supposed to have used iron to harden it ; but in modern 

 times regulus of antimony is commonly employed for the purpose. 

 Different founders use different alloys, and in different proportions, 

 and this frequently forma a trade secret. The size of the type also 

 occasions a difference, as a small type requires to be harder than a 

 large type. 



An invention has also been introduced 'by which a coating of copper 

 is given to the face of the type by an electro-galvanic process, render- 

 ing it much more durable at a moderate expense. 



Some letters, from their peculiar form, require more care than 

 others, owing to the projection of certain prominent points beyond 

 the shank or body of the type. Such are called kerned letters ; and, 

 from their greater liability to injury, rather more than a due propor- 

 tion of them ia cast with a fount. In the common Roman alphabet, 

 f and j are the only kerned letters; but in an italic fount, d,g,j, I, 

 and y are kerned on one side, and / on both sides, and some of the 

 capital* also. As the kerned f cannot bo placed close to another f, an 

 i, or an 1, it becomes necessary to cast what are called logo'ypcs, or 

 types containing two or more letters cast on one body. Those in 

 common use are ff, fl, fi, m, and tH. An attempt was made on a very 

 extensive scale hi the last century to introduce the use of types bear- 

 ing whole words or syllables, under the name of loi/oyraphy, or /u/"- 

 jirintiny, but although an edition of Anderson's ' History of 

 Commerce,' in four quarto volumes, 1 787-9, and some other works, 

 were printed in this way, the scheme was eventually abandoned. 



As the several letters of the alphabet are, in common printing, 

 required in very different proportions, the number cast of each letter 

 in a fount needs to be carefully regulated. The proportions vary in 

 different languages, and in different kinds of work ; but for ordinary 

 Knglish book-work they are about as follows : 



,1 

 b 

 c 

 d 

 e 

 f 



I 

 I 

 i 



i. 

 1 



8500 



1600 



3000 



4400 



12,000 



2500 



1700 



6400 



8000 



400 



800 



4000 



3000 



D 



q 



V 



w 



X 



y 



8000 

 8000 

 1700 



600 

 6200 

 8000 

 9000 

 3400 

 1200 

 2000 



400 

 2000 



200 



ff 

 fi 

 fl 

 ffi 

 ffl 



iC 

 O3 



400 

 500 

 200 

 150 

 100 

 100 

 GO 



4500 

 800 

 600 



2000 

 700 



To the above arc added accented and dotted letters, in numbers 

 ranging from 100 to 250 ; numerals 1 to 9, and 0, from 1000 to 1300 

 each ; and notes or marks of reference, parentheses, brackets, &c., in 

 number varying from 60 to 300. The number of CAPITALS sup- 

 plied with such a fount ranges from the lowest number, 80 (Z), to tho 

 highest, 800 (I), with 40 of M and 30 of CE. Of SMALL CAPITALS, the 

 nmuUT required in ordinary cases is about one-half that of large 

 capitals; and Italia are also supplied in small numbers. Spaces, 

 which are pieces of metal resembling the shanks or bodies of letters, 



