Samuel Smiles

“ It may be easy to conceive a printing machine, or even to make a model of one; but to construct an actual working printing press, that must be sure and unfailing in its operations, is a matter surrounded with difficulties. ”

“ The new Walter Press does not in the least resemble any existing printing machine, unless it be the calendering machine which furnished its type. At the printing end it looks like a collection of small cylinders or rollers. The first thing to be observed is the continuous roll of paper four miles long, tightly mounted on a reel, which, when the machine is going, flies round with immense rapidity. The web of paper taken up by the first roller is led into a series of small hollow cylinders filled with water and steam, perforated with thousands of minute holes. ”

“ Thus the head of the inventor is kept in a state of constant turmoil. Sometimes the whole machine has to be remodelled from beginning to end. One step is gained by degrees, then another; and at last, after years of labour, the new invention comes before the world in the form of a practical working machine.
In 1862 Mr. Walter began in The Times office, with tools and machinery of his own, experiments for constructing a perfecting press which should print the paper from rolls of paper instead of from sheets. ”

“ Much of the ingenuity exercised both in the Applegath and Hoe Machines was directed to the "chase," which had to hold securely upon its curved face the mass of movable type required to form a page. And now the enterprise of the proprietor of The Times again came to the front. The change effected in the art of newspaper-printing, by the process of stereotypes, is scarcely inferior to that by which the late Mr. Walter applied steam-power to the printing press, and certainly equal to that by which the rotary press superseded the reciprocatory action of the flat machine. ”

“ The machine is almost entirely self-acting, from the pumping-up of the ink into the ink-box out of the cistern below stairs, to the registering of the numbers as they are printed in the manager's room above. It is always difficult to describe a machine in words. Nothing but a series of sections and diagrams could give the reader an idea of the construction of this unrivalled instrument. The time to see it and wonder at it is when the press is in full work. ”

“ It is perhaps unnecessary to add more as to the merits of Mr. Walter as a man of enterprise in business, or as a public man and a Member of Parliament. The great work of his life was the development of his journal, the history of which forms the best monument to his merits and his powers.
The progressive improvement of steam printing machinery was not affected by Mr. Walter's death, which occurred in 1847. ”

“ Printers in those days were a rather refractory class of work men, and not unfrequently took advantage of their position to impose hard terms on their employers, especially in the daily press, where everything must be promptly done within a very limited time. Thus on one occasion, in 1810, the pressmen made a sudden demand upon the proprietor for an increase of wages, and insisted upon a uniform rate being paid to all hands, whether good or bad. ”

“ While each of the ten-feeder Hoe Machines occupies a large and lofty room, and requires eighteen men to feed and work it, the new Walter Machine occupies a space of only about 14 feet by 5, or less than any newspaper machine yet introduced; and it requires only three lads to take away, with half the attention of an overseer, who easily superintends two of the machines while at work. The Hoe Machine turns out 7000 impressions printed on both sides in the hour, whereas the Walter Machine turns out 12,000 impressions completed in the same time. ”

“ Walter was at first disposed to make concessions to the men; but having been privately informed that a combination was already entered into by the compositors, as well as by the pressmen, to leave his employment suddenly, under circumstances that would have stopped the publication of the paper, and inflicted on him the most serious injury, he determined to run all risks, rather than submit to what now appeared to him in the light of an extortion. ”

“ The machine of 1814 was described in The Times of the 29th November in that year, and the account given of it closed in these words: 'The whole of these complicated acts is performed with such a velocity and simultaneonsness of movement that no less than 1100 sheets are impressed in one hour.' Mirabile dictu! And the Walter Press of to-day can run off 17,000 copies an hour printed on both sides. This is not bad work for one man's lifetime. ”

“ Walter are fully related; as well as the announcement made in The Times on the 29th of November, 1814 — the day on which the first newspaper printed by steam was given to the world.
But Koenig's printing machine was but the beginning of a great new branch of industry. After he had left this country in disgust, it remained for others to perfect the invention; although the ingenious German was entitled to the greatest credit for having made the first satisfactory beginning. Great inventions are not brought forth at a heat. ”

“ Only about 300 copies could be printed in the hour, with one man to ink the types and another to work the press, while the labour was very severe. Thus it took a long time to get out the daily impression, and very often the evening papers were out before The Times had half supplied the demand.
Mr. Walter could not brook the tedium of this irksome and laborious process. To increase the number of impressions, he resorted to various expedients. The type was set up in duplicate, and even in triplicate; several Stanhope presses were kept constantly at work ”

“ Applegath patented certain important improvements in the steam press. The general disposition of his new machine was that of a vertical cylinder 200 inches in circumference, holding on it the type and distributing surfaces, and surrounded alternately by inking rollers and pressing cylinders. Mr. Applegath estimated in his specification that in his new vertical system the machine, with eight cylinders, would print about 10,000 sheets per hour. The new printing press came into use in 1848, and completely justified the anticipations of its projector. ”

“ Life has time enough for both, and its happiness will be increased by the union." — SHARON TURNER.
"I have beheld with most respect the man Who knew himself, and knew the ways before him, And from among them chose considerately, With a clear foresight, not a blindfold courage; And, having chosen, with a steadfast mind Pursued his purpose." HENRY TAYLOR — Philip van Artevelde.
The late John Walter, who adopted Koenig's steam printing press in printing The Times, was virtually the inventor of the modern newspaper. ”

“ He thus conferred the greatest public service upon literature, the drama, and the fine arts, by protecting them against the evil influences of venal panegyric on the one hand, and of prejudiced hostility on the other. ”

“ At this juncture, John Walter, junior, who had been taken into the business as a partner, entreated his father to entrust him with the sole conduct of the paper, and to give it "one more trial." This was at the beginning of 1803. The new editor and conductor was then only twenty-seven years of age. He had been trained to the manual work of a printer "at case," and passed through nearly every department in the office, literary and mechanical. ”

“ They are begun by one man, improved by another, and perfected by a whole host of mechanical inventors. Numerous patents were taken out for the mechanical improvement of printing. Donkin and Bacon contrived a machine in 1813, in which the types were placed on a revolving prism. ”