PRINTING 



6338 



PRINTING 



machining. A glance at the dia- 

 grams of the early wooden hand- 

 press, and the iron Stanhope press, 

 invented by Earl Stanhope in 

 1800, will show how little change 

 in the mechanical equipment of 

 the printer took place between the 

 15th and the 19th centuries. Its 

 chief features are a flat bed on 

 w hich the frame or " forme " con- 

 taining the type is placed face up- 

 wards, and a folding leaf, holding 

 the paper to be printed, which 

 lowers it on to type that is inked 

 either with the old inking ball or 

 the more modern hand ink-roller. 

 Pressure is then applied by lever 

 and screw to a plate or platen of 

 metal, which forces the paper on 

 to the type, and so transfers the 

 impression. 



In the modern platen machine, 

 whether such is worked by treadle 

 or by mechanical power, the paper 

 is placed on the platen and carried 

 to and from the type forme, which 

 is in a vertical position. In these 

 types of machine both paper and 

 printing surface are flat. The 

 first radical mechanical innovation 

 affecting speed and cheapness, 

 and therefore the wider distribu- 

 tion of printing, was that of 

 Konig, in 1811. In Konig's ma- 

 chine the paper is applied to the 

 forme by means of a revolving 

 cylinder, which holds the paper in 

 its passage across the type. This is 

 the normal type of machine em- 

 ployed for the production of book 

 printing to-day. Modern machines 

 on this principle are fitted with an 

 auxiliary attachment which feeds 

 sheets into the machine automatic- 

 ally, and will produce 1,000 sheets 

 per hour, 65* X 45", in two 

 colours simultaneously ; many of 

 the coloured plates in this Encyclo- 

 pedia were so produced. The 

 introduction of the impression 

 cylinder developed the factor of 

 speed. The modern newspaper 

 press proceeds with that develop- 

 ment by the addition of a type or. 

 rather, plate-carrying cylinder. 

 Use o! " Make-Ready " 



When the forme comes from the 

 composing room to the machine 

 room, all matter in it, whether type 

 or blocks, is theoretically of equal 

 height ("type high"), but in 

 practice, so delicate is the printing 

 process that very minute adjust- 

 ments ("make-ready ") are neces- 

 sary before the formes can be 

 printed off on the machine. 



Make-ready embraces overlay 

 and underlay. In underlaying, the 

 machine minder pastes under the 

 forme thin strips of paper to adjust 

 accurately the general level of the 

 forme. Overlay, a more complex 

 process, concerns itself with the 

 still remaining inequalities of the 



printing surface. A rough copy is 

 taken of the matter, which re- 

 veals sundry patches, some too 

 light, some too dark, indicating in- 

 sufficiency or excess of pressure. 

 The parts of the sheet where excess 

 of pressure is shown are cut away, 

 and those where there is insuffi- 

 cient pressure are built up by 

 minute additions of tissue. The, 

 patched sheet is then accurately 

 adjusted to the tympan in hand- 

 presses, to the platen in platen 

 machines, to the impression cylin- 

 der in flat bed cylinder machines, 

 so that it touches the forme pre- 

 cisely where it did when first 

 printed, and therefore so that the 

 inequalities of pressure are re- 

 moved. Colour printing on a 

 letterpress machine is obviously 

 only a complication which involves 

 no new principle. 



It may be interesting, in con- 

 clusion, to recall in rapid survey 

 the various processes as they are 

 exemplified in the production of a 

 modern newspaper. 



Newspaper Production 



The " copy," passed by the sub- 

 editors to the composing room, is 

 distributed among the linotype 

 operators (very often a single short 

 article or paragraph will be broken 

 up among three or four operators), 

 whose work is then assembled and 

 put together by the " stone hands." 

 The " stone " is a large, flat, metal- 

 topped table, originally in early 

 printing practice a large, flat stone, 

 on which the formes are made up, 

 a forme for each page. This will 

 normally consist of news matter, 

 with probably some illustrations, 

 that is, a combination of types and 

 engraved plates. Of this flat forme 

 a mould is taken by laying a thin 

 sheet of a tough, clayey cardboard 

 ("dry flong") over the type, and 

 passing it through the mangle, 

 which under enormous pressure 

 takes an impression of the matter 

 in the forme. This is then dried 

 and fitted into a curved casting 

 box of the auto-plate machine, 

 which produces a replica of the 

 forme in the shape of a metal plate, 

 semi-cylindrical in form. This, 

 with similar plates of the other 

 pages, is attached to the type 

 cylinder, and the huge machines 

 are ready to be set in motion. 



In practice, a modern newspaper 

 press is a composite machine with 

 many replicas of the type matter 

 with cutting and folding apparatus, 

 producing completed copies at 

 several delivery points at from 

 60,000 copies per hour. The ink is 

 pressed into the ink ducts through 

 tubes connected with an ink 

 reservoir overhead. The paper 

 spool unwinds itself into the ma- 

 chine, the paper passing between 



the type and impression cylinders 

 (each pair printing one side of 

 the paper), and so through into the 

 cutting and folding gear. The 

 whole machine is electrically oper- 

 ated, being put in and out of 

 action by a system of control push- 

 buttons. The average newspaper 

 machine prints copies in black 

 only, but there are many running 

 of a very modern type which 

 turn out newspapers printed in 

 four colours. 



Bibliography. Typographical An- 

 tiquities, J. Ames and W. Herbert, 

 3 vols., 1785-90 ; Typographia.T. C. 

 Hansard, 1825 ; Annales de rimprim- 

 erie des Aides, 1834, and Annales de 

 1'imprimerie des Estiennes, 1843, 

 A. A. Renouard ; Dictionary of 

 Printers and Printing, C. H. Tim- 

 perley, 2nd od. 1842 ; Masterpieces 

 of the Early Printers ' and En- 

 gravers, H. N. Humphreys, 1870 ; 

 Early Typography, W. Skeen, 1872 ; 

 History of Printing in America, I. 

 Thomas, 2nd ed. 1874 ; Invention of 

 Printing, T. de Vinne, 2nd ed. 1878 ; 

 Literature of Printing, R. M. Hoe, 

 1877 ; Bibliography of Printing, 

 Bigmore and Wyman, 3 vols., 1880- 

 86 ; Biography and Typography of 

 W. Caxton.W. Blades, 2nded. 1882; 

 Illustrirte Encyclopadie der gra- 

 phischen Kunste, A. Waldow, 1880- 

 84 ; Historic Printing Types, T. de 

 Vinne, 1886 ; History of the Old 

 English Foundries, T. B. Reed. 

 1887 ; Annals of Scottish Printing, 

 R. Dickson and J. P. Edmond, 1890 ; 

 The Venetian Printing Press, H. R. 

 F. Brown, 1891 ; The Book, Its 

 Printers, etc., H. Bouchot, 1890 ; 

 Dictionary of Printing and Book- 

 making, Bigmore and Wyman, 1891 

 94 ; Printers' Marks, W. Roberts, 

 1893 ; Early Printed Books, E. G. 

 Duff, 1893 ; Early English Printing, 

 E. G. Duff, 1896 ; Books and Their 

 Makers During the Middle Ages, G. 

 H. Putnam, 2 vols., 1896; Christ- 

 ophe Plantin, M. Rooses, 1896 ; 

 Early Printing of Spain and Portu- 

 gal, K. Haebler, 1897 ; Histoire de 

 I'imprimerie en France, A. Claudin, 

 1900-4 ; Short Hist, of English Print- 

 ing, H. R. Plomer, 1900, 2nd ed. 



1915 ; Short Hist, of Printing Press, 

 R. Hoe, 1902 ; Gould's Letterpress 

 Printer, 6th ed. 1903 ; Practice of 

 Typography, T. de Vinne, 1904 ; 

 Printing, C. T. Jacobi, 3rd ed. 1904 ; 

 Practical Manual of Typography, 

 Oldfield, 3rd ed. 1906 ; Modern Press 

 Work, F. W. Gage, 1909 ; Notable 

 Printers of Italy during the 15th 

 Century, T. de Vinne, 1910 ; Art and 

 Practice of Typography, E. G. Gross, 



1910 ; Authors' and Printers' Dic- 

 tionary, F. H. Collins, 3rd ed. 1909 ; 

 Practical Printing, G. Sherman, 



1911 ; Printers' Dictionary of Tech- 

 nical Terms, A. A. Stewart, 1912 ; 

 The Times Printing Number, 1912 ; 

 The Art of the Book, Studio 

 Special Number, 1912 ; Modern 

 Printing, J. Southworth, 2 vols., 

 1914 ; The Printed Book, H. G. Aldis, 



1916 ; Printing for Business, Joseph 

 Thorp, 1919; also The British Printer 

 and other trade journals. 



