Printing

It was about the same time as Mergenthaler placed his inven tion for a slug casting machine on a successful basis that Tolbert Lanston, a clerk in the Pensions Office at Washington, developed and perfected a method of casting type by means of a perforated sheet on the Jacquard principle. He applied for his patent in 1885, this being granted two years later, the year in which the first machine was produced.

The Practice of Printing.

As in all processes of printing, there are two main operations in letterpress printing: (I) The setting up of the type, reading, making up the type and blocks into pages, imposition and locking up. This embraces the work of a compositor and is done in the composing room. (2) Print ing, which includes the fixing of the forme on the machine, mak ing ready (a process whereby irregularities of pressure are re moved), getting position on the sheet, inking and the printing of the sheets. This work is done by the machine minder or the pressman, the latter being the American term.

Type.

The typefounder supplies type to the printer in founts which are of varying weights but made up in recognised propor tions of characters, i.e., letters (based upon the number of "A's" in the fount), signs and spaces, etc. Type is cast from an alloy of lead, tin and antimony and is made to a standard height (.958 in.) so that the faces may present a uniformly level surface.

Type characters or faces may be classified under three head ings: (I) Gothic ( Encyclopaedia Britannica ), (2) Roman (Encyclo paedia Britannica), (3) Italic (Encyclopcedia Britannica). Type is known by its size and character. Within the last quarter of a century, the designation of sizes has undergone a change. In some instances it is still known as nonpareil, brevier, pica, etc., but it is customary to give the sizes in "points." In this the verti cal thickness of the body determines the size, and what is known as the "point system" is now accepted as a standard measurement. There are 72 points to the inch. A point, therefore, is approxi mately .0138 inch. The sizes are graduated by points up to 12-point; those above i8-point are multiples of 6-point. There are types from 3- to 5-point but these are not in general use. being too small for ordinary purposes. The 52-point is used con siderably in American newspaper "want" advertisements.

The following are a few of the approximate sizes of type in general use for printing books:— The above table is set in 8 point : the body of this book is set in 9 point. In addition to these sizes there is a wide variety of display types, i.e., types used for advertisement purposes which

can be cast up to 144-point:-1 2 times the size of 12-point, or, to use an old term, i 2-line pica. However, it is deemed inadvisable to cast in metal much above 72-point or 6-line pica. There is no accepted standard for naming type faces. Similar characters of design bear the distinctive names which the different type found ing firms give it.

Composing.—The first work of a compositor when the type is received from the founder is to "lay" it in cases. A case may be described as a wooden tray about 321 in. long, 141 in. broad and about r2 in. deep. The case is divided by cross partitions into "boxes," each of which holds a different character. Generally, there are two kinds of cases, namely, the upper case (capitals) and the lower case (small letters). It is usual for the upper case to have 98 boxes, the capitals on one side and small capitals on the other, and the lower case 53. The divisions in the upper case are all of the same size while those in the lower case are of varying sizes according to the number of a particular letter contained in the fount. For instance, the box for the lower case "e" is about five times the size of that for the capital "E" in the upper case. The letters in the lower case are not placed in alphabetical order but in accordance with the frequency with which a particular letter is used in the English language, those most frequently used being nearest the hand of the compositor. When the compositor is given "copy" to set up, he places it in front of him on the upper case, and memorizing as many words as he can he proceeds to pick up from the various boxes in the case the particular letters required. These letters he places in a "composing stick" which in reality is a narrow metal tray (usually about io in. long and 2 in. wide) with flanges on the back and the right hand side, and on the left an adjustable slide which can be fixed to the particular "measure" or length of line required for the work in hand. On each type there is a "nick" (or "nicks"), i.e., a slight groove on the front of the "body" of the type, which is a guide to the correct placing of the type in the corn posing stick. At the completion of each word "a space" (a short piece of metal) is inserted, it be ing by this means that the words are separated. When the line is completed it is "justified" or made tight to the "measure" of the composing stick with spaces of varying widths, to make the lines of uniform length.