Popular Technology Volume II Part 6

5. The whole process is completed by setting up the types in a printer's composing-stick, and tying them up with packthread. Much of the work in the type-foundry is performed by boys and females. In the preceding cut are represented a man casting types at a furnace, and a boy breaking off the jets; also two females rubbing types on a large grindstone. The fumes arising from melted lead in the casting-room are considered deleterious to health.

6. Various sizes of the same kind of letter are extensively used, of which the following are most employed in printing books--Pica, Small Pica, Long Primer, Bourgeois, Brevier, Minion, Nonpareil, Pearl, and Diamond. A full a.s.sortment of any particular size is called a _fount_, which may consist of any amount, from five pounds to five hundred, or more. The master type-founder usually supplies the printer with all the materials of his art, embracing not only types, leads, bra.s.s rules, and ordinary ornaments, but also cases, composing-sticks, galleys, printing-presses, and other articles too numerous to be mentioned.

7. The inventor of the art of casting types was Peter Shoeffer, first servant or workman employed by Guttemburg and Faust. He privately cut a matrix for each letter of the alphabet, and cast a quant.i.ty of the types. Having shown the products of his ingenuity to Faust, the latter was so much delighted with the contrivance, that he made him a partner in the printing business, and gave him his only daughter, Christina, in marriage.

8. The character first employed was a rude old Gothic, mixed with secretary, designed on purpose to imitate the hand-writing of those times, and the first used in England were of this kind. To these succeeded what is termed _old English_, or _black letter_, which is still occasionally applied to some purposes; but Roman letter is now the national character not only of England, but of France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. In Germany, and in the states surrounding the Baltic, letters are used which owe their foundation to the Gothic, although works are occasionally printed for the learned in Roman.

9. The Roman letter owes its origin to the nation whence it derives its name, although the faces of the present and ancient Roman letters differ materially, on account of the improvements which they have undergone at various times. For the invention of the Italic character, we are indebted to Aldus Manutius, who set up a printing-office in Venice, in 1496, where he also introduced Roman types of a neater cut.

10. Before the American revolution, type-founding was carried on at Germantown, Pennsylvania, by Christopher Sower, at Boston by Mr.

Michelson, and in Connecticut by Mr. Buel; but there was too little demand for types, to afford these enterprising individuals much patronage. Soon after the close of the revolution, John Baine established a foundery in Philadelphia. The printers, however, were not supplied with every necessary material and implement of the art from American founderies, until 1796, when Messrs. Binny & Ronaldson commenced the business in the same city. Baine and Ronaldson were both from Edinburgh, Scotland. The first type-foundery was established in New-York, in 1809, by Robert Lothian, a Scotch clergyman, and father of the ingenious type-founder, George B. Lothian.

11. In the year 1827, William M. Johnson, of New-York, invented the machine for casting types now used by John T. White, and in 1838, David Bruce, Junr., produced another, which was purchased by George Bruce. George B. Lothian has also lately invented a machine for the same purpose, and likewise one for reducing types to an equal thickness. Both of these machines act with great accuracy. There are now in the United States sixteen type-founderies; viz., two in Boston, six in New-York, three in Philadelphia, one in Baltimore, one in Pittsburg, one in Cincinnati, one in Louisville, and one in St.

Louis.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STEREOTYPER.]

THE STEREOTYPER.

1. The word _stereotype_ is derived from two Greek words--_stereos_, solid, and _tupos_, a type. It is applied to pages of types in a single piece, which have been cast in moulds formed on common printing types or wood-cuts. They are composed of lead and antimony, in the proportion of about six parts of the former to one of the latter.

Sometimes a little tin is added.

2. The types are _set up_ by _compositors_, as usual in printing, and _imposed_, or locked up, one or several pages together, in an iron _chase_ of a suitable size. Having been sent to the _casting-room_, the types are slightly oiled, and surrounded with a frame of bra.s.s or type-metal. They are then covered with a thin mixture of finely pulverized plaster and water. In about ten minutes, the plaster becomes hard enough to be removed.

3. The mould, thus formed, having been baked in an oven, is placed in an iron pan of an oblong shape, and sunk into a kettle of the melted composition above mentioned, which is admitted at the four corners of the cover to the cavities of the mould beneath. The pan is then raised from the kettle, and placed over water. When the metal has become cool, the contents of the pan are removed, and the plaster is broken and washed from the plate.

4. As fast as the pages are cast, they are sent to the _finishing-room_. Here they are first planed on the back with a machine, for the purpose of making them level and of an equal thickness. The letters are then examined, and, when deficient, are rendered perfect by little steel instruments called _picks_.

Corrections and alterations are made by cutting out original lines, and inserting common printing types, or lines stereotyped for the purpose. The types are cut off close to the back with pincers, and fastened to the place with solder. The plates, when they are finished, are about one-sixth of an inch in thickness.

5. When all the pages of a work have been completed, they are packed in boxes, which are marked with certain letters of the alphabet, to indicate the form or pages which they contain. While the pages are applied in printing, they are fastened to blocks of solid wood, which, with the plates, are intended to be the same in height with common types.

6. The first stereotype plates were cast by J. Van der Mey, a Dutchman, who resided at Leyden about the year 1700. A quarto and folio Bible, and two or three small works, were printed from pages of his casting; but at his death, the art appears to have been lost, although the plates of these two Bibles are still extant, the former at Leyden, and the latter at Amsterdam.

7. In 1725, William Ged, of Edinburgh, without knowing what had been done in Holland by Van der Mey, began to make stereotype plates. But being unable to prosecute the business alone for want of funds, he united in partnership with three others. One of the partners being a type-founder, supposing that success in the enterprise would injure his business, employed men to compose and print the proposed works in a manner that he thought most likely to spoil them.

8. Accordingly, the compositors, while correcting one error in the proof, made intentionally several more; and the pressmen battered the letter, while printing the books. By these dishonest and malicious proceedings, the useful enterprise of Mr. Ged was defeated. He, however, afterwards printed, in an accurate manner, two or three works. The first of these was a Sall.u.s.t, the pages of which were set up by his son, James Ged, who was but an apprentice to the printing-business. This part of the work was performed in the night, when the workmen were absent from the office.

9. After the death of Mr. Ged, no attention was paid to the art, and a knowledge of it was lost at the decease of his son, which took place, about the year 1771: but it was a third time invented by Alexander Tilloch, Esq., who, in conjunction with Mr. Foulis, printer to the University of Glasgow, made many experiments, until plates were produced yielding impressions which could not be distinguished from those of the types from which they had been cast. But owing to circ.u.mstances unconnected with the real utility of the art, the business was not prosecuted to a great extent.

10. About the year 1804, the art was again revived by the late Earl Stanhope, a.s.sisted by Mr. A. Wilson, a printer, who turned his whole attention that way. In their efforts to complete the invention, they were a.s.sisted by Messrs. Tilloch and Foulis; and, although they succeeded after many experiments, they were strenuously opposed in their efforts to introduce the practice, the printers supposing, perhaps with some reason, that it would prove injurious to their business.

11. This useful art was introduced into the United States by J. Watts, an Englishman from London, who had acquired a knowledge of the process from A. Wilson. He entered into a partnership with Joseph D. Fay and Pierre C. Van Wyck, Esquires. They first stereotyped the Westminster Catechism, which was printed by J. Watts & Co., for Messrs. Whiting & Watson, in 1813. They also stereotyped a New Testament. But the business proving to be unproductive, Fay and Van Wyck retired from the concern. Watts afterwards stereotyped about one third of an octavo Bible. The moulding of all the plates produced in Watts's foundery was executed by Mrs. Watts. On the 21st of March, 1815, Watts sold all his plates, together with his materials and knowledge of the process, to B. S. and J. B. Collins, for $6500. The Messrs. Collins afterwards carried on the business successfully.

12. In 1812, David Bruce went to England for the express purpose of obtaining a knowledge of the art, as it was kept a profound secret by Watts; and having learned the method of one Nicholson, of Liverpool, and having also acquired some knowledge of Earl Stanhope's plan, he returned to New-York, and commenced stereotyping, in conjunction with his brother, George Bruce, in the year 1813. They soon completed two setts of 12mo plates for the New Testament, one of which they sold to Matthew Carey, Nov. 8, 1814. Soon afterwards, they finished the whole Bible. David Bruce invented the machine for planing the plates, in 1815.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

THE PAPER-MAKER, AND THE BOOKBINDER.

THE PAPER-MAKER.

1. The materials on which writing was executed, in the early days of the art, were the leaves and bark of trees and plants, stones, bricks, sheets of lead, copper, and bra.s.s, as well as plates of ivory, wooden tablets, and cotton and linen cloth.

2. The instruments with which writing was practised were adapted to the substance on which it was to be formed. The _stylus_, which the Romans employed in writing on metallic tablets covered with wax, was made of iron, acute at one end, for forming the letters, and flat or round at the other, for erasing what may have been erroneously written.

3. For writing with ink, the _calamus_, a kind of reed, sharpened at the point, and split like our pens was used. Some of the Eastern nations still write with bamboos and canes. The Chinese inscribe their characters with small brushes similar to camel's hair pencils. We have no certain evidence of the application of _quills_ to this purpose until the seventh century.

4. As the literature of antiquity advanced, a material adapted to works of magnitude became necessary, and this was found both in the skins of animals, and in the celebrated plant papyrus, of Egypt; but the time when they were first applied to this purpose cannot be determined, although it is probable that the former has the preference as regards priority.

5. The papyrus was an aquatic plant, which grew upon the banks of the Nile. In the manufacture of paper from this reed, it was divested of its outer covering, and the internal layers, or laminae, were separated with the point of a needle or knife. These layers were spread parallel to each other on a table, in sufficient numbers to form a sheet; a second layer was then laid with the strips crossing those of the first at right angles; and the whole having been moistened with water, was subjected to pressure between metallic surfaces. The pressure, aided by a glutinous substance in the plant, caused the several pieces to become one uniform sheet.

6. Parchment was manufactured from the skins of sheep and goats. In the preparation, these were first steeped in water impregnated with lime, and afterwards stretched upon frames, and reduced by sc.r.a.ping with sharp instruments. They were finished by the application of chalk, and by rubbing them with pumice-stone. The skins of very young calves, dressed in a similar manner, was called vellum. Parchment and vellum are still used for deeds and other important doc.u.ments.

7. When Attalus, about 200 years before Christ, was about to found a library at Pergamus, which should rival that of Alexandria, one of the Ptolemies, then king of Egypt, jealous of his success, prohibited the exportation of papyrus; but the spirited inhabitants of Pergamus manufactured parchment as a subst.i.tute, and formed their library princ.i.p.ally of ma.n.u.scripts on this material. From this fact, it received the name of _Pergamena_ among the Romans, who gave it also the appellation of _Membrana_.

8. The greatest quant.i.ty of paper was manufactured at Alexandria, and the commerce in this article greatly increased the wealth of that city. In the fifth century, paper was rendered very dear by taxation; and this probably was an inducement for an effort to produce a subst.i.tute. Accordingly, in the eighth century, it began to be superseded by cotton paper, although it continued in use in some parts of Europe, until three hundred years after the period last mentioned.

9. The manufacture of cotton paper was introduced into Spain, in the eleventh century, by the Arabians, who became acquainted with it in Bucharia as early as A.D. 704. About the year 1300, it was commenced in Italy, France, and Germany; and, in some of the paper-mills of these countries, paper was made from cotton rags. Linen paper is thought to have originated in Germany, about the year 1318.

10. The first paper-mill in England was erected by a German, named Spillman, in 1588; but no paper, except the coa.r.s.e brown sorts, was made in that country, until about the year 1690. The finer kinds, both for writing and printing, were, before that time, imported from the Continent. But the paper of English manufacture will now compare with that of any other country. The French also make very fine paper.

11. In the United States, this manufacture has rapidly increased in amount within a few years. According to an estimate made in 1829, it appears that the whole annual product of the mills is worth between five and seven millions of dollars, and that the rags collected in this country amount to about two millions. The number of hands employed in the business are ten or eleven thousand, of whom about one-half were females. The manufacture has since been considerably increased, although the number of operatives may have been diminished, on account of the introduction of improved machinery.

12. Nature has supplied us with a great variety of substances from which paper may be fabricated, as flax, hemp, cotton, straw, gra.s.s, and the bark of several kinds of trees; but the fibres of the three first productions, in the form of rags, are the most usual materials.

Most of these are primarily purchased from the people at large, by retail booksellers, country merchants, and pedlers, who in turn dispose of them to persons called rag-merchants, or directly to the paper-makers. When the rags come from the original collectors, all kinds are mixed together; but they are a.s.sorted according to their color and the nature of their original fibre, either by the rag-merchants, or by the paper-makers themselves.

13. In our attempts to afford the reader an idea of this manufacture in general, letter-paper has been selected, as affording the best means of ill.u.s.tration; since for this kind of paper, the best stock is employed, and the greatest skill is exerted in every stage of the process.

14. The process of the manufacture is commenced by cutting the rags into small pieces, by the aid of a sharp instrument, commonly a piece of a scythe, which is placed in a position nearly perpendicular before the operator. In the reduction of very coa.r.s.e rags, such as sail-cloth, a cutting machine is also employed. Then, with the view of sifting out the loose particles of dirt, the rags are deposited in a large octagonal sieve made of coa.r.s.e wire, and placed in a close box in a horizontal position. The sieve is moved by machinery, like the bolt of a flour-mill.

15. The second stage of the process consists chiefly in the reduction of the rags to a _pulp_. This is effected by the action of a cutting machine, the essential parts of which are two sets of blunt knives, the one stationary, and the other revolving. The machine is placed in a large elliptical tub, in which the rags are also deposited, with a suitable quant.i.ty of water. The liquid and fibrous contents of the tub are kept moving in a circle by the action of the machine, through which it pa.s.ses at one point of its revolution.

16. The maceration occupies from ten to twenty hours, according as the material is more or less rigid; and, during part of this time, water is permitted to run in at one side of the tub, and out at the other, to render the pulp perfectly clean. Towards the close of this process, the pulp, if necessary, is bleached by means of chloride of lime, and oil of vitriol. It is also sometimes colored by adding a quant.i.ty of dye-stuff. The bleaching and coloring are effected without interrupting the action of the machine. The rags having been thus reduced, the pulp, together with a suitable quant.i.ty of water, is let out into a reservoir, from which it is drawn off into a _vat_, as fast as it may be needed for the production of the paper.

17. With this vat is connected the paper-making machine; and the part of the latter which first comes in contact with the material is a hollow cylinder, surrounded with a fine web of wire-cloth. This cylinder being immersed in the contents of the vat more than one-half of its diameter, the water pa.s.ses off with a uniform rapidity, and the fibrous particles which had been suspended in it, settle with a remarkable uniformity on the outside of the brazen web. As the cylinder revolves, a continued sheet is produced, which is taken up by an endless web of woollen cloth, and carried round another cylinder of equal diameter, and then between two more, by which it is partially pressed.

18. From between these rollers, the paper pa.s.ses out, in a continued sheet, upon a large cylindrical reel, called the _lay-boy_; and when a certain quant.i.ty of it, which is determined by a gauge, has been acc.u.mulated, the lay-boy is removed to a low table. The paper is then cut, with a toothless handsaw, into sheets twice the size of letter-paper. This part of the operation is very quickly performed, as a workman can cut up and pile in heaps, to be pressed, twenty reams in half that number of minutes, and attend to the machine at the same time.

19. After the paper has been successively pressed, and handled by separating the sheets two or three times, it is hung up on small poles, in an airy room, to be dried; and having been again pressed, it is sized by holding a quant.i.ty of the sheets at a time in a thin solution of glue and alum, the former of which is prepared in the paper-mill for the purpose, from shreds and parings of raw hides. The paper is freed from superfluous portions of the size, by submitting it to the action of a press. It is again dried as before, and again pressed; after which, the several sheets are examined, and freed from lumps and other extraneous substances.

20. They are then severed in half with a cutting machine, and afterwards calendered, by pa.s.sing the sheets successively between rollers; or they are pressed between smooth pasteboards. In the latter case, hot metallic plates are sometimes interposed between every few quires of the sheets. The paper, when treated in this way, is called hot-pressed. It is next counted off into half-quires, put up into reams, pressed, trimmed, and finally enveloped in two thick sheets of paper, which completes the whole process of the manufacture.