About every five or six sheets a small quantity of ink should be taken;
yet this rule is subject to some variation from the nature of the work
and quality of the ink. A form of large type or solid matter will require
ink to be taken more frequently, and a light form of small type less
frequently. During the intervals in which the roller-boy is not employed
in brayering out or taking ink, he should be almost constantly engaged in
distributing or changing his rollers. He should invariably take ink on
the back roller, as it will the sooner be conveyed to the other roller,
and, consequently, save time in distributing. When, through carelessness,
too much ink has been taken, it should be removed by laying a piece of
clean waste paper on one of the rollers, and working it off till the ink
is reduced to the proper quantity.
If letters, quadrates, or furniture rise up and black the paper, they
should be put down, and the quarter locked up tighter.
If any letters are battered, the quarter they are in must be unlocked,
and perfect ones put in by the compositor.
When bearers become too thin by long working, they should be replaced by
thicker ones.
When the form gets out of register,—which will often happen by the
starting of the quoins which secure the chase,—it must be immediately put
in again, as there can scarcely be a greater defect in a book than the
want of uniformity in this particular.
If picks, produced by bits of paper, composition, or film of ink and
grease or filth, get into the form, they must be removed with the point
of a pin or needle; but if the form is much clogged with them, it should
be well rubbed over with clean ley, or taken off and washed: in either
case, before the pressman goes on again, it should be made perfectly dry
by pulling several waste sheets upon it, in order to suck up the water
deposited in the cavities of the letter.
The pressman should accustom himself to look over every sheet as he takes
it off the tympan: he will thus be enabled not only to observe any want
of uniformity in the colour, but also to detect imperfections which might
otherwise escape notice.
In order to make perfect uniformity in the colour, the roller-boy
should keep his ink well brayered out with the small roller, in proper
quantities for the work in hand, and also should change his rollers well
after taking ink, and at other times. The rollers are changed by moving
the roller-handle slowly to the right and left, while the crank is being
turned briskly with the left hand.
Torn or stained sheets met with in the course of work are thrown out and
placed under the bank. Creases and wrinkles will frequently appear in the
sheets when the paper has been carelessly wet: these should be carefully
removed by smoothing them out with the back of the nails of the right
hand.
If the frame of the tympan rub against the platen, it will inevitably
cause a slur or mackle: this can easily be remedied by moving the tympan
so as to clear the platen. The joints or hinges of the tympan should
be kept well screwed up, or slurring will be the consequence. When the
thumb-piece of the frisket is too long, it always produces a slur: this
can be prevented by filing off a part of it. Loose tympans will at all
times slur the work, and great care must therefore be observed in drawing
them perfectly tight. The paper drying at the edges will also cause a
slur: this may be remedied by wetting the edges frequently with a sponge.
Slurring and mackling will sometimes happen from other causes: it will be
well in such cases to paste corks on the frisket, or to tie as many cords
as possible across it, to keep the sheet close to the tympan.
The pressman should make the boy roll slowly, or the rollers will be
apt to jump, and cause a _friar_. To prevent the rollers from jumping
or bounding, bridges or springs made of thin steel, to reach across the
gutters, may be used: these springs should taper off at the ends, and
having an oblong hole in each end, through which they may be tacked to
the gutter-sticks. In very open forms, it may be necessary to put bearers
or pieces of reglet where the blank pages occur at the end of the form,
to prevent one end of the roller from falling down and leaving a friar
at the opposite end. This difficulty may be obviated in a great measure
by imposing the form in such a manner as to bring the blank pages in the
centre. This mode should always be adopted for title-pages and other
light matter.
Before the pressman leaves his work, he covers the heap of paper by first
turning down a sheet like a token-sheet, to show where he left off, and
then putting a quantity of the worked-off sheets on it, and a paper-board
if convenient. Laying the blanket on the heap after leaving off work is
a bad custom. If the paper be rather dry, it will be well to put wet
wrappers on it, after damping the edges well. If the form be clean, he
puts a sheet of waste paper between the tympan and frisket, and lays them
down on the form; if it be dirty, it must be rubbed over with clean ley,
and several waste sheets pulled on it, as before directed, to suck the
dirty ley out of the cavities of the letter. On his return to work in the
morning, he takes care to wet the tympan, provided the type be worn. If
there should be any pages in the form particularly open, the parts of the
tympan where they fall must not be wetted.