Page:EB1911 - Volume 22.djvu/366

 in the production of many sumptuous books, the most celebrated of which was the Chaucer, a large folio volume, illustrated by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. The chief characteristics of the Albion are its lightness of build and its ease in running; the pull is short, the power great, and the means whereby it is attained so simple that the press does not readily get out of order. It is easily taken to pieces for cleaning, and readily re-erected. The power is obtained by pulling the bar-handle across, which causes an inclined piece of wedge-shaped steel, called the chill, to become perpendicular; in so doing the platen is forced down, and the impression takes place at the moment the chill is brought into a vertical position. On the return of the bar the platen is raised by a spiral spring, placed in a box and fixed at the head of the press. The larger sizes of these presses usually print a sheet of double crown, measuring 30 × 20 in.



Although the Columbian is not so much in demand as the Albion, it is still employed for heavy hand-work because of its greater stability and power. This power is acquired by a very massive lever, moving on a pivot bolt in the top of the near side of the staple, and passing across the press to the further side of the frame, at which end the power is applied through the coupling-bar by a bar-handle working from the near side. The platen is attached to the centre of the lever by a square bar of iron, and its vertical descent is assured by two projecting guides, one from each cheek; it is then raised from the type-forme, and the iron bar carried back by two levers—the one attached to and above the head and weighted with the eagle; the other behind the press, attached to the arm to which the coupling-bar is fixed, and which also has a weight at the end. The great power of this press adapts it to the working of large and solid formes in printing, but it is somewhat slower in action than the Albion press, which is both lighter in construction and quicker in working.

The average output of the modern hand-press, when all is made ready for running, is about two hundred and fifty impressions per hour. This number, it should be said, is the product of two men who work together as “partners.” One inks the type-forme and keeps a sharp look-out for any inequality of inking, and sees generally that the work is being turned out in a workmanlike manner. The other lays on the sheet to certain marks, runs the carriage in under the platen, and pulls the bar handle across to give the necessary impression. He then runs back the carriage and takes out the printed sheet, which he replaces by another sheet, and repeats the different operations for the next impression. During the interval between taking off the printed sheet and laying on the next one his partner inks

the type surface with a roller which carries just sufficient ink properly distributed to preserve uniformity of “colour.”

Having dealt with hand-presses, we must now go back to the end of the 18th century, when the first experiments were made to devise some mechanical means of producing larger printed sheets, and at a quicker rate. In England the broad distinction between “presses” and “machines” is generally considered to rest in the fact that the former are worked by hand, and the latter by steam, gas or electricity; and the men who work by these two methods are called respectively “pressmen” and “machine minders” or “machine managers.” But in America the terms “presses” and “pressmen” are universally applied to machines and the men who operate them. For the purposes of this article presses and machines are used as synonymous terms.

Various schemes had been propounded with a view of increasing the output of the hand-press, and in 1790 William

Nicholson (1753-1815) evolved his ideas on the subject, which were suggestions rather than definite inventions. Nicholson was not a printer, but, as he was an author and editor, it is presumed that he had some knowledge of printing. His proposals were to print from type placed either on a flat bed or a cylinder, and the impression was to be given by another cylinder covered with some suitable material, the paper being fed in between the type and the impression cylinder, and the ink applied by rollers covered with cloth or leather, or both. While Nicholson's schemes did not bear any practical result they certainly helped others later on. His suggestion to print from type made wedge-shaped (that is, smaller at the foot and wider at the top) to allow of its being so fixed on a cylinder that it would radiate from the centre and thus present an even printing surface, was adopted later by Applegath and others, and really was the first conception of printing on the rotary principle which has now been brought to such perfection.

It was left to Friedrich König (1774-1833), a German, to produce the first really practical printing machine. His invention was to print type placed on a flat bed, the impression being given by a large cylinder, under which the type passed, but his inking appliances were not satisfactory. He induced the proprietor of The Times (London) to take two of these machines, and in 1814 that newspaper was printed with steam power at the rate of 1100 impressions per hour, a great advance on the number produced up to that time. Both Nicholson's and König's machines printed only one side at a time—the second or backing printing being a separate and distinct operation—but they really embodied the general principles on which all other machines have been constructed or modelled.

It will be understood that Nicholson's theories were to print both from the flat and from type arranged in circular or cylinder form. These two principles are defined as reciprocating, for the flat bed which travels backwards and forwards; and rotary, for that which continuously revolves or rotates. König's invention was a reciprocating one.

Two other classes of presses of somewhat different design were largely in operation in the middle of the 10th century—the “double platen,” which still printed only one side at each impression from each end, and the “perfecting machine,” which was made with two large cylinders and printed from two type-formes placed on separate beds. Although the latter machine turned out sheets printed on both sides before it delivered them (hence its name), the second impression was still a distinct

operation. The double platen press was somewhat analogous to the hand-press, both the type beds and impressions being Hat. A machine of this kind, if it printed a sheet of double demy, which measures 35 × 22½ in., was about 13 ft. in length, and the platen itself, of very massive construction, was placed in the centre. This platen had a perpendicular motion, being guided in grooves and worked by a connecting rod fixed to a cross beam and crank, which acquired its motion from the main shaft. There were two type beds and two inking tables, which travelled backwards and forwards, and one platen only, situated in the middle of the machine,