Part 2

It requires considerable care and skill to tie up a mass of type properly. The form is in the lower right hand corner of the galley. The compositor takes a cotton string and beginning at the upper left hand corner, he starts to wrapping the twine around the form from left to right, drawing it taut just before turning a corner. When the starting point has been reached, he pulls the twine down across the original end thus binding it firmly against the metal. After wrapping from three to six times about the form, a loop is left in the twine, which is forced by means of a composing rule, Fig. 13, or a lead, down between the type and the strands. This leaves a small piece of the end projecting as a convenience in untying. The next step is to take a proof. The galley is laid on the stone or a table, or the form may be slid from the galley to the stone, Fig. 18.

_Taking a Proof._ When the tied form has been placed upon the stone or proof press, it is inked by rolling a small rubber roller (Fig. 14) over it, the roller having been first well inked by rolling it over an inked piece of marble, slate or glass. Then the type is covered with a moist paper, the sponged side up, or a regular proof paper. If there is no proof press the proof planer, a smooth faced block of hard wood, with face covered with felt, Fig. 15, is laid on the top of the paper, and tapped squarely and firmly with the mallet. If the proof planer does not cover the form, its position is changed and the mallet used again. The impression left on the paper is the first proof. See proof marks, page 27. In school, it is wise to have the pupils read their own proofs.

_To correct a galley._ Then with the marked proof before him, the compositor proceeds to correct. If only slight changes are to be made, such as turning an inverted letter or taking out a capital and putting in a lower case letter, such changes may be made without lifting the type into the stick. Often lines or words are transposed, or omissions or repetitions are discovered. Such errors necessitate respacing and overrunning, by which is meant the going over several lines respacing them and crowding a word out of one line into another in order to correct an error. In such cases, it is well to lift out into the stick, the lines involved. In the matter of taking out a letter, it is necessary only to press lightly at both ends of the line with the thumb and finger of one hand, raising the line about half way out of the form, and with the other hand to remove the desired letter and allow the line to slide back into its original position. Bodkins and tweezers are dangerous and useless instruments in most instances. After the changes indicated in the first proof have been made, a second proof is taken to make sure that all corrections have been made, and that no new errors have crept in. This proof should be submitted to the instructor for approval. It may be necessary to make a number of proofs before a perfect impression is gotten. In case of a sufficient quantity of matter to necessitate its division into pages or columns, the proof is taken in the galley without tying up, Fig. 16. The form is locked tightly in the galley by means of furniture and quoins, Fig. 16. This is somewhat like the lockup described on page 32, except that furniture is placed only on one side of the mass of type.

_Making up._ When the corrections are made, the matter is properly divided, the page numbers and headings are placed, and the pages or columns are tied up. This process is called making up. Fig. 17. When the printer begins to make up, he has before him a long mass of type, as at Fig. 16. The length of the page is determined. It includes the page number, the running head, if there be one, and a nonpareil, or six point, slug at each end.

A page 18 ems wide might properly be 30 ems long. In this case, the measure would be 31 ems and a 31 em reglet, (see furniture page 31) answers well for a measure, as will any long piece of furniture on which the desired length may be marked. An accurate ruler may be used to advantage. The length of the first page is usually less than the full measure and is somewhat arbitrarily determined. It is generally sunken about one-fourth of the page. After this page is tied up and moved aside, the page number, the running head and the slug are added to the remaining column of type and the measure applied for the next page. This is repeated until the final page is reached, which is usually somewhat less than the full measure.

RULES OF COMPOSITION

1. Spacing between words should appear as nearly uniform as possible, not only throughout the line but throughout the entire piece of work.

2. For solid, or unleaded matter, the em quad is used to indent the paragraph, and to follow a period except at the end of a line; the 3 to em space, between words in the absence of marks of punctuation other than the comma; the en quad, after a semi-colon and also after a colon when followed by a lower case letter, but when followed by a capital letter, the space should be slightly larger, perhaps two 3 to em spaces.

3. The indentation and spaces between words should vary according to the spaces between the lines. In case of two point leaded matter, the en quad should be used instead of the 3 to em space and other spaces should be correspondingly larger.

4. In justifying a line after the spacing has been done _according_ to the above rules, spaces may be increased at kern letters, f, y, etc., between long words, and after semi-colons and colons; or reduced at slanting letters, at commas, and at the sides of small words. Spaces should be the same on both sides of very small words, and there should never be a greater variation in the spacing between ordinary words than the difference between an en quad and a 3 to em space.

5. Type should stand squarely on foot.

6. Divisions of words at the ends of the lines should be avoided wherever possible but when divided, the proper division of syllables should always be made.

7. Avoid dividing short words, or dividing words by cutting off short syllables at the first or last.

8. Do not loosen the clamp of the stick in order to make it possible to insert a space.

9. When in doubt about spelling, punctuation, capitalization, or syllabication, consult authority.

10. Save endless time and trouble by producing a clean proof the first time.

11. In making up, it is good form to have the first and last lines of a page full lines. So it is best not to have a paragraph begin with the first line or end with the last line of a page.

PROOF MARKS

IMPOSITION

Imposition is the arranging of the type masses in proper order on the stone, and the fastening of them into the chase.

The imposing stone, Fig. 18, is a smooth marble slab on which the forms are placed for locking up ready for the press. The stone may be laid upon a box, bench or table, but both stands and cabinets are made for this purpose. It is properly bedded in its “coffin” by placing putty along the edges of the bed and along any cross supports which may run under the stone. Then when the stone is placed into this receptacle, it remains solid and level and free from strain. It should project a short distance above the frame of the bed in order to render easy the removal of the forms to and from the galley.

The chase, Fig. 19, is a steel or cast-iron frame, into which the forms are locked to be put into the press. The size of a press is based upon the inside dimensions of the chase. A 10 × 15 press is one that accommodates a 10 × 15 chase. The skeleton chase is a steel chase with a very narrow frame. This makes the inside considerably larger. A skeleton chase for a 10 × 15 press is practically 11 × 16, making a clear gain of almost an inch each way.

When the type has been proofed, corrected, made up, and tied, the form is slipped from the galley to the stone, and is then ready for the lockup, Fig. 20.

A chase is put upon the stone in such a position as to form a frame about the type, which as a rule should occupy the central part of the space enclosed by the frame. A roller supporter, a, Fig. 20, is placed in each end of the chase and pieces of furniture are built out solidly from the type form to one side and one end of the chase.

Furniture, Fig. 21, and b, c, Fig. 20, is the name given to pieces of wood and metal, which are used to build around the forms in the process of locking them into the chase. Furniture varies by the em in width and by 5 to 10 ems in length when cut labor saving. Metal furniture is more modern and makes possible more accurate work; but for beginners, it has its disadvantages. The metal is soft and of considerable weight, making heavier forms; and if a piece is dropped upon the stone or even upon the floor, which frequently happens, it probably has a corner or an edge battered. In the lockup, occasionally this small defect may cause the “pi” of the whole form. Reglets are a kind of wood furniture similar in size and use to leads and slugs but are largely used as furniture in locking up forms. In leaded forms which have to be kept for sometime, reglets are substituted for the leads and slugs. They are very much cheaper, and they relieve the necessity for large quantities of the more expensive leads and slugs. Wood furniture, which comes by the case or by number of pieces, is cheap, durable, not easily injured, and on the whole, quite satisfactory for school use. A small amount of metal furniture, which is sold by weight, is desirable in every printshop.

When the furniture has been built in at one side and one end of the form as indicated above, quoins are placed at the other side and the other end about midway between the type and the chase.

Quoins, Fig. 22, are devices for locking the forms into the chases. There are two chief kinds, one consisting of two separate wedge shaped pieces of hard metal with notched sides, which by the use of a key are made to slide in opposite directions against each other. The danger of these quoins in the hands of schoolboys is that, not realizing how easily good forms are held, they persist in trying to screw the quoin to the last notch, frequently endangering the chase and ruining the quoins. The other kind is constructed of two pieces of metal joined by springs and opened by the use of a key operating a nut which, after a slight expansion of the quoin, releases its hold and allows the parts to spring back together. This quoin is safe for the form and for the chase, and is itself not battered in the process of locking up.

After the quoins have been put into proper position, pieces of furniture are fitted in on both sides of the quoins.

The pieces of furniture are usually a little longer than the sides of the form against which they fit. They are always placed around the form in such a way that they can not bind against each other so as to prevent the pressure from striking the type squarely, Fig. 20.

With the key, Fig. 22, the quoins are very slightly and uniformly tightened. Then the planer is used.

The planer, Fig. 23, is a smooth faced block of hard wood similar to the proof planer, but is usually smaller and not covered with felt. This is laid on the face of the form on the stone and tapped lightly with a mallet, in order to make sure that the faces of all the type are at the same level—no letters projecting so as to be broken or to injure the rollers, or, at best, to ruin the impressions.

After this, the printer tightens the quoins gradually, giving a slight turn to each quoin in succession. There is danger of the beginner’s getting the lockup too tight, causing the form to spring up from the stone and the chase to spring and even to break. If the composition is good and the furniture is properly placed, it does not require a very tight lockup to hold. Before removing the chase from the stone, the lockup should be tested by raising one side of the chase very slightly and tapping the furniture to see if any of the type are loose. If the form holds, it is ready for the press.

_Forms for Four and More Pages._ When there are a number of pages instead of one to be dealt with, the imposition is considerably more complicated.

Any piece of printing of four or more pages has an outside and an inside section. Page one and all the pages that are printed on the same side of the paper with it constitute the outside section. Page two and all the pages that are printed on the same side with it are the inside section. A four page printed sheet is called a sheet folio. The best way to handle such a four page form is by the work-and-turn method, provided the press is large enough to accommodate the four pages at one time. By this method, the pages are arranged as in Fig. 24. Note that in this form as in any other outside form, page one is at the lower left hand corner with the foot of the page toward the printer. Margins are determined by measuring from the front of type pages one and two the width of the page plus twice the desired margin to the backs of pages three and four. Then the length of the page plus twice the margin is measured from the foot of pages one and four to the head of pages two and three.

In this case, the stock is cut double the length of the finished job. When it has been printed on one side, and the ink has dried, it is turned and given the same impression on the other side. Of course, in printing this second side, care must be taken to reverse the paper so that pages two and three back up one and four at one end, and one and four back up two and three at the other end. When the ink of this impression is dry, the sheet is cut at line XX making two complete folios from one sheet.

With school boys working on a small press, the four pages are often handled in two separate forms of two pages each.

When so divided, each pair may be imposed in exactly the same order as in the four page form. In this case the paper is cut to exact size and pages one and four are printed on one side. When the ink dries, it is run through the press again and pages two and three are printed on the other side, completing the work.

An eight page form, or a sheet quarto, for a sufficiently large press, may be imposed after the work-and-turn method as in the case of the four page form. The numbered rectangles in Fig. 25 show the arrangement of pages in the work-and-turn method of imposing an eight page form. It will be observed that pages in the outside section of an eight page form are in the same order as those of a four page form. For a press that can accommodate only four pages, the inside and outside sections are imposed exactly in the same order as in Fig. 25, but are used as separate forms.

When we undertake the imposition of an eight page job, we meet the problem of margin for trim, which has not been encountered in the previous forms. In an eight page piece of work, there must be two folds and since the sheets are folded after they are printed and before they are cut, it is evident that some allowance must be made for trimming the fold at the top of the pages. Since in folding, the edges are probably not even, it is necessary to trim them also. Thus it is clear that allowance must be made for trim around each pair of leaves. Fig. 25 represents a half sheet of standard 25 × 38 paper laid on the eight page form imposed by the work-and-turn method. The line XX indicates where the printed half sheet is cut before folding. The dotted lines indicate the margins allowed for trim after folding. The method of measuring for the imposition is as follows: Suppose the type pages to be four by seven inches and centered in the pages, and the margin, after trim, to be one inch all around each page.

It is apparent then that the backs of type pages 8 and 5 are two inches from the backs of pages 1 and 4. The location of pages 7 and 6 is determined by measuring half the length of the half sheet, or 12½ inches in this case, from the front edges of type pages 1 and 4. The distance then from 8 to 7 and from 5 to 6 is 2½ inches or 15 ems pica, making ½ inch for trim. One-half of 19 inches, or the other dimension of the half sheet, measured from the foot of type page 1 to the head of 4, places the distance of 2½ inches between 1 and 4. This allows ½ inch here also for trim.

In this work, some prefer simply to fold the paper and use it for measurement, but in any case when the margins are determined, they are built in with appropriate furniture and the form is locked up. It is well to remember that, viewed from the foot of the pages in a form, odd numbered pages are always at the left of even numbered pages.

In most of the work of this character, the pages are so large that only two may be accommodated by a small press. In this case, the eight pages are imposed in pairs as follows: One and eight, two and seven, three and six, and four and five. It will be observed that the sum of the page numbers of any pair is always one greater than the whole number of pages.

PRESSWORK

The first thing in the matter of handling a press, Fig. 26, is to have a clear idea in mind as to the method of its operation; the next is to make sure that the press is well oiled, well cleaned and the bed and platen clean of all grit, paper, gauge pins, quadrats, etc.

The throw off, a, Fig. 26, is a lever by use of which the press can be prevented from printing. This should always be in such position as to hold the platen, b, away from the bed, c, until the press is ready for an impression.

An essential part of the press which needs to be mentioned separately is the rollers, d.

They are a kind of rubbery composition moulded around steel rods or cores; and when placed on the press, they distribute the ink over the plate, e, and carry it down upon the type. Of course, they are soft and pliable and need proper attention to keep them so. There are summer rollers and winter rollers and neither can be used to advantage out of season. Winter rollers become too soft for summer, while the reverse is true of summer rollers used in winter. Seventy degrees is about the right temperature to insure the proper working of rollers. When they become permanently hard enough to retain, for a considerable time, the type impressions, rollers are said to be dead. Much can be told about rollers by observing the color and the shine of the surface. A dead roller has a dead, lusterless surface. When rollers are worn out, they are simply sent to the factory where the old composition is removed and new composition molded upon the same cores. The chief constituents of rollers are molasses, glycerine and glue.

_Make-ready._ In preparing the make-ready, a hard surfaced piece of pressboard is placed on the platen. On top of this, should be from three to five pieces of book paper for “packing,” covered finally with a “drawsheet” of tough manila. Now the press is inked by putting upon the plate, e, a small quantity of ink and allowing the press to run until the rollers have thoroughly distributed it over the plate. Then the form is put into the press at c, and care is used to see that the grippers, f, are properly adjusted so that they do not strike the form and at the same time, are not far enough out to strike the roller supporters. In case of interference of grippers, one or both may be removed. When everything is ready, an impression is taken on the draw sheet and is examined to see if any type are high, or to discover and correct any other defect. Then the lower clamp, g, is loosened and while the draw sheet is thrown back, an impression is taken on the top sheet of the packing. If a portion of the impression is indistinct, a thin piece of paper is pasted upon the indistinct parts to give them a slightly heavier impression. This is known as the overlay. In patching up the make-ready in this manner, it is very important that the overlay shall not reach beyond the parts which need building up. If an indistinctness in an impression is due to worn type or a low cut, it may be remedied by an underlay. This is the pasting of bits of paper or cardboard to the foot of the type, or to the back of the cut. In case a portion shows too heavy an impression, that particular part is cut out of the top sheet of the packing. Then the draw sheet is clamped down again and a device is arranged for holding the stock for printing.

For locating the positions of the gauge pins, Fig. 27, or quadrats, the stock is laid straight across the impression allowing the ends to project equally over the ends of the impression, and with a sharp pencil, a mark is made on the draw sheet along the left end of the stock. Then the stock is slipped down across the impression in such a way as to allow the edges of the stock to project the distance of the desired margins above and below the impression on the drawsheet. A mark is then placed along the lower edge of the stock. The gauge pins or quads are placed on these two lines, two on the horizontal and one on the vertical, in such a position as will best hold the stock on the platen. If quads are used, they are glued to the drawsheet. It usually takes several impressions on the cut stock to get a perfect adjustment. In order to prevent the stock from being lifted from the platen by the ink, a small cord is tied about the ends of the grippers in such a position as that it strikes the stock above the impression of the type.

Constant care must be exercised to keep the grippers from getting in the way of the roller supporters and causing considerable injury.

The pupils in school begin operating the press very slowly and by foot power. The process of feeding is largely a matter of cultivating a certain ambidexterity and a rhythmic movement of the hands, the right to place the blank sheet upon the platen, and the left to remove it after it is printed. Great care must be taken to avoid soiling the stock or smearing the ink on removing the freshly printed sheets. As skill is acquired, speed should be increased. Finally the boys are able safely to feed a motor driven press. When the matter is printed, it is carefully scattered over the letter boards, table, or shelves to dry, and the chase is removed to the stone.

CLEANING AND DISTRIBUTING

After finishing the job of printing proper, there are still some very important things to do. The form must be cleaned, the ink thoroughly removed from the press, and the type thrown back into the proper cases, or distributed.