Theodore Low DeVinne and Charles Shattuck Hill

“ Stereotyping is a process by which the composed types of a page are founded in one piece. The object is to preserve composition so that it cannot be distributed, to cheapen cost, and save wear of type. ”

“ Sheets of thin tissue paper, pasted together and backed with damp unsized thicker paper, constitute the mold or matrix for the papier-maché process. They are firmly and evenly impressed on the page of type, which may be flat or curved, and are then dried upon the page. When dry the matrix is removed, and adjusted to an iron mold on which melted type metal is poured from several openings. The plate so made is then cooled, planed, and beveled to fit the press. All the operations, aided by machinery, are made with great speed. Ten minutes is the ordinary time. ”

“ Proofs are taken from the type in galley and in page form, which are read for errors, so that corrections may be made before the type is sent to press. At least two proofs of the type—a galley proof and a page proof—are always taken and read for errors, and very often in careful work several proofs of each kind are ‘pulled’ and read by different persons. See Proof-Reading.
The printer's form may consist of any number of pages from 2 to 128. ‘Imposition’ is a method of arranging pages so that they will follow one another upon the printed paper in the proper consecutive order. ”

“ The Lanston machine by different apparatus casts and composes isolated types with nearly equal speed. Either machine, in the hands of a skilled operator, can produce as much composed type in one hour as was done in a day by the hand compositor. See Type-Setting Machines.
Paper. Improvements in paper-making have been great aids in the development of printing. In 1827 the Fourdrinier paper machine, that produced paper in the so-called endless roll needed for rapid newspaper printing, was introduced in the United States. ”

“ The earliest engraving of a printing press shows a stout framework of wood posts, firmly braced against the ceiling to resist upward pressure, a bed plate of stone as a rest for the form of type, which could be exposed to receive ink, and then be slid upon ways under the platen or pressing surface. ”

“ The last two mentioned are yet in daily use in many printing houses of the United States. Cylinder printing machines, the first made, although indispensable to early newspapers, were damaging to type, and for that reason were rejected after fair trial by all book–printers. The old publishing house of Harper & Brothers used hand presses only in 1835, but soon after introduced the Adams power press. A prominent firm of law-book publishers in New York had all their work done on hand presses as late as 1849. The preference for hand-press work has been more marked in Great Britain. ”

“ This Gordon press, with some modifications and under various names, is still preferred in all printing countries for small jobs. Cylinderpresses, impressing types upon a flat bed with a reciprocating movement, are made of many different constructions: (1) The drum cylinder, that makes one revolution and one impression to the forward and backward movement of the bed of type, is still in use for small job work; (2) the two-revolution cylinder, that rotates at greater speed, and gives impression at every other rotation, is much used for book work ”

“ The perfecting cylinder last mentioned is the only construction of flatbed press that attempts to print both sides at once, but its movement is relatively slow. The high speed required by daily newspapers can be had only by the full use of the rotary principle for the pressed and the pressing surfaces. ”

“ Modern Printing Types. Types of metal are manufactured by a process of founding. (See Type-Founding.) The earliest types used were of the style known as Gothic or black-letter, which was afterwards superseded, except in Germany, Russia and Greece, by the Roman letter. (See Black-Letter.) Printers have a distinct name for each size of type, and use about 16 sizes in different descriptions of book-work ”

“ Other machines succeeded, and many had merit. The Mergenthaler or linotype, a complex mechanism that casts composed types in solid lines, is the approved machine for daily newspapers, and is used to some extent for book composition. ”

“ About 1804, Earl Stanhope, of London, made great improvements on the large iron press of Pierres, adding many clever devices of his own for the lightening of labor. In 1806 Koenig, of Saxony, went to London with the model of an improved platen press, which he failed to introduce. ”

“ In addition to the eight rolls of paper already mentioned eight other rolls are in position, so that when any of the rolls run out the roll-carrier may be turned on a turntable, and the new roll of paper quickly pasted to the end of the depleted roll. ”