PRINTING. 



knocked up, as it is termed, they are dip. 

 ped in urine, and scraped with a blunt 

 knife, until they are perfectly clean ; they 

 are then dried with a clean sheet of stout 

 paper, and patted with the hand until no 

 moisture remains on the surface. The 

 balls, when they are completed, have 

 much the shape and appearance of a very 

 large mallet, used by stone masons, ex- 

 cept that their surface is much broader 

 and rounder. 



The press is a curious and complex 

 machine : it consists oftwo upright beams, 

 called cheeks ; they are generally about 

 six feet one inch long, eight inches and a 

 half broad, and five inches thick, with a 

 tenon at each end. The tenon at the up- 

 per end of the cheek is cut across the 

 breadth, and enters the cap within half 

 an inch of the top. The cap is a piece 

 of solid timber, three feet long, eleven 

 inches wide, and four inches thick. The 

 lower tenon of the cheek enters the feet, 

 which is a square wooden frame made 

 very thick and strong. The head, which 

 is moveable, is sustained by two iron bolts 

 that pass through the cap. The spindle 

 is an upright piece of iron, pointed with 

 steel, having a male screw, which goes 

 into the female one in the head about 

 four inches. This spindle is so contrived, 

 tiiat when the pressman pulls a lever, 

 which is attached to it, the pointed end 

 of it works in a steel pan or cup, supplied 

 with oil, which is fixed to an iron plate, 

 let into the top of a broad thick piece of 

 mahogany, with a perfectly plane surface, 

 called the platten. This platten is made 

 to rise and fall as the pressman pulls or 

 lets go the lever or bar. When the plat- 

 ten fulls, it presses upon a blanket, by 

 which the paper is covered when it lies 

 upon the form, from which the impres- 

 sion is intended to be taken. The form 

 is laid upon a broad flat stone, or thick 

 marble slab, which is let into a wooden 

 frame, called the- coffin, and which is 

 iruule to move backwards or forwards, by 

 the turning- of a wince, or rounce. At the 

 end of the coffin are three frames, two of 

 which are called tympans, and the re- 

 maining one a frisket. 



The tympans arc square, and are made 

 of three slips of very thin wood, and at 

 the top apiece of iron, still thinner ; that 

 railed the outer tympan is fastened with 

 lunges to the coffin ; they are both co- 

 vered with parchment, and between the 

 two are placed blanket.-*, which are ne- 

 cessary to lake nff the impression of the 

 letters upon the paper Tii- ?,} -'-otis a 

 square frame of iljin iron, fust': IK u Avi'.h 

 VOL. V. 



hinges to the tympan ; it is covered with 

 paper, cut in the' necessary places, that 

 the sheet, which is put between the i'ris- 

 ket and the outer tympan, may receive 

 the ink, and that nothing may hurt the 

 margins. To regulate the margins, a 

 sheet of paper is fastened upon this tym- 

 pan, which is called the tympan sheet, 

 and which ought to be changed whenever 

 it becomes wet with the paper to be 

 printed upon. On each side is fixed an 

 iron point, which makes two holes in the 

 sheet, which is to be placed on the same 

 points when the impression is to be made 

 on the other side. In preparing the press 

 for working, or, as it is called by press- 

 men, making ready a form, great cure 

 and attention is requisite, that the printed 

 sheets may be in proper register, i. e. that 

 the lines on one side may exactly fall up- 

 on the backs of the other. That the im- 

 pression may be equable, the parchment 

 which covers the outer tympan is wetted 

 till it is very soft; the blankets are then 

 put in, and secured from slipping by the 

 outer tympan. When the form 'is made 

 ready, and every thing is prepared for 

 working, one man beats tiie letters with 

 the ink balls, another places a sheet of 

 paper on the tympan sheet, turns down 

 the frisket upon it, to keep the paper 

 clean and prevent its slipping, then bring- 

 ing the tympan upon the form, and turn- 

 ing 1 the rouncc, by which the carriage, 

 holding the coffin, stone, and form, is 

 moved, he brings the form, with the 

 stone, &c. under the pktten ; pulls with 

 the bar, by which the platten presses the 

 blankets and paper close upon the letter, 

 whereby half the form is printed, then 

 easing the bar, he draws the form still 

 forward, gives a second pull, and letting 

 go the bar, turns back' the carriage, &.c. 

 raises the tympans and frisket, takes out 

 the printed sheet, and lays oh a fresh 

 one ; and this is repeated till he has ta- 

 ken off the impression upon the full num- 

 ber of sheets of which the edition is to 

 consist. One side of every sheet being 

 thus printed, the form for the other side 

 is laid on the press/ and worked off in the 

 same manner. 



Mr. Stower very justly remarks, " that 

 this, the common press, is constructed on 

 the true principles of mechanism." It 

 does not, however, he allows, produce an 

 adequate impression from heavy works ia 

 small letter, without great labour and at- 

 tention. It was therefore a great ac- 

 quisition to gain an accession of power, 

 with, at the same time, a diminution of 

 labour. 



3 P 



