will be produced by the least lateral movement of the tympan after
it is turned down--if the ear of the frisket touches the inside of
the cheek in running in, it will cause it--if the press runs close,
so that the inner tympan touches the face of the platen, it is very
likely to slur; and I have often observed this in wooden presses that
had been altered to obtain the additional power, for the platen was
brought so low and near to the face of the letter in the form, as
not to allow room to run in clear. In presses where the tympans are
large, if the slur pin does not act, that corner of the tympan will
come in contact with the form first, and cause a slur, particularly
if the tympans are in any way rickety, or twisted by drawing on the
parchment. Where the winter has been justified with cards, to produce
a greater spring in the pull, it has been known to produce slurring.
The first step towards curing this defect is to ascertain from what
cause it arises; and then it is not difficult: but it has often
caused great trouble to discover the cause.
The following are my old Pressman’s directions “To prevent Slurring
and Maculing;” and though it will be perceived that some of them
apply only to wooden presses, yet the whole may be useful.
“1. Keep the face of the inner tympan and platen clean and dry.
“2. Be sure that the parchments are tight both on the inner and outer
tympans; also that the tympans are not rickety, nor the joints slack.
“3. Guide cramps are a great preventive to slurring and maculing.
“4. The tenons in the head and winter must exactly fit the mortises
in the cheeks.
“5. The short bolts must be screwed tightly up, to fix the nut or box
firmly in the head, and must not have the least play.
“6. The garter must fit the spindle and hose, and the spindle must
fit the hose, as exactly as possible.
“7. The hose must work perpendicularly, and steady in the shelves.
“8. The platen must be tightly and properly tied, or otherwise fixed,
so that it shall come down upon the face of all the types in the form
at the same moment.
“9. The wheel must be well justified on the spit.
“10. The railing of the inner tympan must not rub against the platen,
in running in or out.
“11. The shanks of the points must not be so far over the outer part
of the tympan as to rub against the cheeks of the press.
“12. If a clumsy smith has made the joints of the frisket so thick as
to cause the tympan to rub against the face of the platen, he must
alter them at his own expense.
“13. The shelves must be quite steady.
“14. The press stone must be worked down with hard pulling until it
becomes a fixture.
“15. The frisket must be quite even, and fall flat on the form; and
the paper which is pasted on it must not bag.
“16. Fix the winter as solid as possible.
“17. Let the tympans fall easily on the form, neither driving them
from you, nor pulling them to you in letting them down; neither let
the platen touch them till they are quite run in, nor run them out
till the platen is quite clear of them.
“Exclusively of the aforesaid, there may be many other causes of
slurring, which the pressman can only discover by close attention. I
have often found cork bearers a great preventive.
“I have heard many complaints of the middle pages of a twelves form
maculing at a two-pull press; but this is not always the fault of
the press. The cause frequently is owing to blankets being in the
tympan which have been used for folios, quartos, octavos, &c. &c.;
and instead of its being a macule, it is nothing more than that part
of the blanket which had covered the short cross of other work, and
in the twelves form caused a deep and ugly impression, looking like a
macule: this evil can only be remedied by new blankets, or confining
the use of them to 12mo. forms.”
SLUR PIN.
--A flat-headed screw, that goes through the off side of the outer
tympan, near the head band, so as to rest on the chase or furniture.
Its use is to prevent the off corner of the tympan from coming down
on the types before the other parts, which when it happens causes
slurring.
SMALL CAPITALS.
--Capitals of a smaller size than the regular capitals of a fount,
but cast on the same body; thus the small capitals of Double Pica are
about the same height as English capitals. They bear off more from
each other, and are stouter, in proportion to their size, than the
capitals of the same fount. They are used for running titles; for
heads of chapters; for emphatic words; and for subordinate lines in
titles and jobs. Till of late years small capitals were only cast in
England to founts of Roman letter; the type founders cast them now
occasionally to Italic letter, and they form a useful sort.
Moxon does not mention small capitals; nor are they in the plan of
the cases of Roman letter which he gives in his work. _See_ SORTS.
SMALL NUMBERS.
--Under 1500 laid on, is accounted a small number. _See_ GREAT
NUMBERS; and _see_ LAY ON.--_M._ We now look on all numbers under 500
to be small numbers.
SMALL PICA.
--The name of a type, one size larger than Long Primer and one
smaller than Pica. It is half the body of Double Pica in depth. Moxon
does not enumerate it in his Table of the sizes of each body; but,
after giving the names of the different types, he says, “These are
the bodies most of use in England; but the Dutch have several other
bodies: which because there is little and almost no perceivable
difference from some of these mentioned, I think they are not worth
naming. Yet we have one body more which is sometimes used in England;
that is a Small Pica, but I account it no great discretion in a
master printer to provide it: because it differs so little from the
Pica, that unless the workmen be carefuller than they sometimes are,
it may be mingled with the Pica, and so the beauty of both founts may
be spoiled.” _See_ TYPES.
This was published in 1683, and opinion has changed so much
respecting this size, that at the present day there are perhaps more
works printed with it than with any other size.
SMOUT.
Workmen when they are out of constant work, do sometimes accept of a
day or two’s work, or a week’s work at another printing house: this
by-work they call _Smouting_.--_M._ In fact we only term it smouting
when the business of a house is slack, or, in other words, when work
is insufficient to employ fully the workmen regularly employed, and
they go to some other house for temporary employment, till such time
as there is sufficient for them in their own house, when they return.
SOAKING PULL. _See_ EASY PULL.--_M._
SOCKETS FOR THE GALLOWS. _See_ GALLOWS SOCKETS.
SOFT INK.
Ink or varnish moderately boiled.--_M._ It is now generally termed
Weak Ink.
The varnish of soft or weak ink is not so strong as that for fine
ink; it does not require so much time and labour to distribute it
on the balls and rollers, and it more readily covers the face of
the type: on these accounts, as well as the expense, it is used for
common work, as it enables the pressman to make more riddance; it is
also used for machine printing, as the rollers passing rapidly over
the forms with their own weight only, are found not competent to coat
the face of the type with strong ink.
SOFT PULL. _See_ EASY PULL.--M.
SOLACE. _See_ ANCIENT CUSTOMS.--_M._
SOLID DIG. _See_ BAD WORK.
SOLID MATTER.
Matter that is composed without any leads between the lines, is
termed solid matter; in the scale of prices of 1810 it is designated
‘_without space lines_.’ Previously to that time it was paid the same
price as leaded matter, but then there was an advance allowed on it.
_See_ SCALE.
SOP THE BALLS.
When a pressman has taken too much ink, he is said to sop the
balls.--_M._
SORTS.
The letters that lie in every box of the case are separately called
_Sorts_ in Printers and Founders language; thus, a is a sort, b is a
sort, c is a sort, &c.--_M._
In houses that have more founts than one of the same sized letter,
it would preserve uniformity in the appearance of their work, if
the following sorts were all of the same fount in the same sized
type, particularly in lists of names, indexes, and articles that run
on sorts, as by that means all the sorts in the office might be
brought into use, when necessary, which would frequently be of great
advantage, both for the convenience of the printer and the appearance
of the work: under the present plan, where every fount varies in its
proportions and appearance, the printer, in the before-mentioned
cases, is put to a great inconvenience and expense, or else has to
spoil the appearance of his work by mixing the founts. The adoption
of this plan would also be of advantage to the type founder.
Capitals and small capitals.
Figures and fractions.
Metal rules and braces.
Points-- , ; : . ! ? ( [ and references * † ‡ § ‖ ¶.
Superiors, and the pound £.
The following additional sorts would also be found useful, and
conduce to the more regular appearance of printing.
Accented capitals and small capitals.
Capital and small capital Ç ç.
Points to superiors-- , ; : . ’
The Spanish ñ.
SOUNDINGS.
When a pressman has got near the bottom of his heap, and, rapping his
knuckles on it, the boards of the horse sound nearly as if he had
struck the wood, he says, he is in soundings.
SPACE LINES,
generally called Leads by printers. Thin pieces of type metal, cast
to different thicknesses, and different lengths, quadrat high, to
put between the lines of matter to make it more open; they are also
used to branch out titles, small jobs, and parts of a work where
necessary.
SPACE RULES.
Fine lines, cast type high, in short thin pieces, to answer the
purpose of brass rule in table work where a number of short pieces of
a precise length are required. Two of them are generally equal to a
pearl body.
SPACING.
The adjustment of the distance between the words in a line, so that
there shall not be any glaring disproportion; also extending a word
or a line of capitals by putting spaces between the letters. _See_
COMPOSING.
SPANISH.
Ñ has a peculiar nasal sound, like the French _gn_: the English
have no sound like it, except in the last four letters of the word
_minion_, which bear some resemblance to the last three of the word
_riñon_, in Spanish: as _niño_, _piña_.
The note of interrogation is not only used at the conclusion of an
interrogatory, but also placed, inverted, at the beginning, in order
to warn the reader, unless the preceding words convey a sufficient
warning; as _¿ Que es lo que vm. acostumbra? preguntó al enfermo._
The note of admiration is also inverted at the beginning of
ejaculations, when the preceding words are not sufficient to prepare
the reader; as _¡ Pastas dulces y viandas suculentas! exclamó
suspenso y admirado el doctor.--M‘Henry’s Grammar._
SPANISH. [Query, Span-hitch.]
A slight kind of pull at a common wood-press.--_Hansard._
SPECIMEN PAGE.
When a new work is put in hand, a specimen page, that is, a page
of the proposed size and letter, is composed, and pulled in a neat
manner on paper similar to that which is meant to be used. This is to
show the effect of the work when printed. It sometimes occurs, that
two or three pages are required, of different sizes, and of different
letter, before the author or publisher decides in what way the work
shall be done. These are called Specimen Pages.
If the work be not proceeded with, these specimen pages are charged
by the master printer to his employer; if it goes on, they are
included in the general charge.
SPELLING. _See_ ORTHOGRAPHY.
SPINDLE.
The screw to which the bar of the press is affixed, and which
produces the pressure on the platen.
The upper part of the spindle is round, on which a screw is cut, that
works in the nut fixed in the head; the next part lower is square,
with a square hole in it to receive the end of the bar; the lower
part is round and tapering and goes through the hose, to which it
is attached by the garter, the spindle having a groove cut round
it, into which the two semicircular ends of the garter enter and
encircle it, by which contrivance the platen is raised on the return
of the bar; the lowest end of the spindle is called the toe, which is
hardened steel, and works in the stud of the platen.
SPIRIT.
_See_ DEVIL.--_M._ Every chapel is haunted by a spirit, called Ralph.
When any man resists the decision of the chapel, and it is determined
to enforce it, Ralph, or the spirit, is said to walk; and whatever
mischief is done to the resisting party to enforce submission, which
is always performed secretly, is invariably imputed to Ralph, or the
spirit. _See_ CHAPEL.
SPIT.
The iron spindle on which the drum or wheel and the rounce are fixed,
to run the carriage in and out with. It is square in the middle part,
where the wheel is fixed, and has a square end for the rounce to fit
on: it works in two pieces of iron, screwed to the outsides of the
frame of the wooden ribs.
SPONGE.
Sponge is used both by compositors and pressmen--by compositors,
to wet matter that is tied up previous to distributing it--to wet
matter that is not tied up, to prevent it going into pie--and in
correcting to wet matter, particularly if it be small letter, when it
is necessary to transpose it: by pressmen, to wet their tympans with.
SPOTTISWOODE PRESS.
This is a beautiful contrivance, and was, as I understand, the
invention of Andrew Spottiswoode, Esq., who has several of them in
action in his extensive establishment. It is moved by steam, and
prints two forms at the same time, which pass alternately under
the platen, producing at its average rate of working seven hundred
impressions of each form in the hour.
The frisket is attached to the tympan at the bottom near the tympan
joints, so that when the tympan is lifted from the form by the
machinery they open at the upper end, contrary to the usual way in
presses worked by manual labour, and the printed sheet is left by the
tympan resting on the frisket, where the paper was previously laid on.
I believe this is the first successful application of steam, as a
motive power, to printing presses with a platen and a perpendicular
pressure. I heard the late Alexander Tilloch, Esq., say that he
intended to apply it to the presses with which the Star newspaper was
printed, but he never carried it into effect; and Mr. Koenig came
to England solely for this purpose; but after some years passed in
making experiments, assisted by English capital, he was completely
foiled in the attempt, and afterwards worked upon Mr. Nicholson’s
plan, and produced a machine to print with cylinders.--_See_ MACHINE.
SPRING OF A FORM.
When a form has a great quantity of furniture in it, and is locked up
very tight, it frequently springs up in the middle, so as to endanger
its bursting upward; it is then said, the form springs, or it is
termed the spring of the form.
In this case it is advisable to examine the furniture, for some
pieces may not be planed square by the joiner, and to change them for
others of the same size that appear perfect, and do not lock up very
tight; tighten the quoins gradually, and frequently plane down while
you are locking up; these measures will generally remedy the evil.
SPUR.
The point that pricks the hole in the paper at press, to make
register with.
SQUABBLE.
A page or form is squabbled when the letters of one or more lines are
got into any of the adjacent lines; or that the letter or letters are
twisted about out of their square position.--_M._
STACK OF BOOKS. _See_ PILE OF BOOKS.
STACK OF PAPER.
When paper is received into the warehouse from the stationer, it is
piled up in tiers of four, five, six, or eight bundles in each tier,
and is called a stack of paper, or a pile of paper.
The warehouseman in piling his paper considers the height of his
room, that he may not take up more of the floor than is absolutely
necessary, to enable him to stow as much as possible: thus, if he
receive one hundred reams, and has height, he will make a stack of
six in preference to two or four or five. He crosses the joinings
of the bundles in each tier to bind them together, as a bricklayer
does in building a square pillar; and I have always found the stack
strengthened by laying on every third or fourth tier a number of
stout wrappers spread over the bundles.
Paper should never be stacked without interposing something between
the bottom of it and the floor, to prevent any water that might
accidentally be spilled coming in contact with it, which would
certainly mildew and spoil it if it were not perceived at the first;
and even then it would require a great deal of trouble to prevent it:
where there are not regular stages made, some short pieces of old
poling laid a little distance from each other upon the floor will
answer very well.
STAGE.
A platform raised a few inches from the floor, to pile books or paper
upon, for the purpose of preserving the bottom of the pile from
injury, in case of water being spilt in the warehouse.
Where there are no regular stages in a warehouse, substitutes, which
answer the purpose very well, may be easily provided, by taking an
old paper board, or any pieces of board, and putting three pieces of
an old pole under each of them on which to pile the books.
STAINING OF PAPER.
The master printers of the metropolis, till within a few years, dined
together annually at some good coffee house or tea gardens in the
vicinity of London; and one of the regular toasts after dinner was,
“_The well-staining of Paper_.”
STAMPS.
3 & 4 W. 4. c. 97. s. 12. It is among other things enacted,
That * * * * “if any Person shall fraudulently use, join, fix,
or place for, with, or upon any Vellum, Parchment, or Paper any
Stamp, Mark, or Impression which shall have been cut, torn, or
gotten off or removed from any other Vellum, Parchment, or Paper;
* * * * then and in every such Case every Person so offending,
and every Person knowingly and wilfully aiding, abetting, or
assisting any Person in committing any such Offence, and being
thereof lawfully convicted, shall be adjudged guilty of Felony,
and shall be liable, at the Discretion of the Court, to be
transported beyond the Seas for Life, or for any term not less
than seven Years, or to be imprisoned for any Term not exceeding
four Years nor less than two Years.”
STAND STILL.
A compositor is said to stand still, if he be out of copy, or out of
letter: a pressman, if he has not a form to lay on, or is prevented
working by any other cause. A compositor says he is standing still
for copy, or for letter--a pressman says he is standing still for a
form, &c.
STANHOPE PRESS.
The merits of the Stanhope press, and its superiority, are so well
established in the minds of printers, from long experience of its
valuable properties, that any additional praise from me would be an
act of supererogation; I shall therefore confine myself to giving
engravings of it, and a rather full description.
[Illustration: _Fig._ 1. _Fig._ 2.
_Fig._ 3. _Fig._ 4.]
_Figs._ 1. and 2. are elevations, _fig._ 3. a plan, and _fig._ 4. a
section. A A is a massive frame of cast iron, formed in one piece:
this is the body of the press, in the upper part of which a nut is
fixed for the reception of the screw _b_, and its point operates
upon the upper end of a slider, _d_, which is fitted into a dovetail
groove formed between two vertical bars, _e, e_, of the frame. The
slider has the platen, D D, firmly attached to the lower end of it;
and being accurately fitted between the guides _e, e_, the platen
must rise and fall parallel to itself when the screw, _b_, is turned.
The weight of the platen and slider are counterbalanced by a heavy
weight, E, behind the press, which is suspended from a lever, F, and
this acts upon the slider to lift it up, and keep it always bearing
against the point of the screw. At G G are two projecting pieces,
cast all in one with the main frame, to support the carriage when the
pull is made; to these the rails, H H, are screwed, and placed truly
horizontal for the carriage, I, to run upon them, when it is carried
under the press to receive the impression, or drawn out to remove the
printed sheet. The carriage is moved by the rounce or handle K, with
a spit and leather girths, very similar to the wooden press. Upon
the spit, or axle of the handle K, a wheel, L, is fixed, and round
this leather girths are passed, one extending to the back of the
carriage to draw it in, and the other, which passes round the wheel
in an opposite direction, to draw it out. By this means, when the
handle is turned one way it draws out the carriage, and by reversing
the motion it is carried in. There is likewise a check strap, _f_,
from the wheel down to the wooden base, M M, of the frame, and this
limits the motion of the wheel, and consequently the excursion of the
carriage. The principal improvement of Earl Stanhope’s press consists
in the manner of giving motion to the screw, _b_, of it, which is
not done simply by a bar or lever attached to the screw, but by a
second lever; _e. gr._ the screw, _b_, has a short lever, _g_, fixed
upon the upper end of it, and this communicates by an iron bar, or
link, _h_, to another lever, _i_, of rather shorter radius, which
is fixed upon the upper end of a second spindle, _l_, and to this
the bar or handle, _k_, is fixed. Now when the workman pulls this
handle, he turns round the spindle, _l_, and by the connexion of the
rod, _h_, the screw, _b_, turns with it, and causes the platen to
descend and produce the pressure. But it is not simply this alone,
for the power of the lever, _k_, is transmitted to the screw in a
ratio proportioned to the effect required at the different parts of
the pull; thus at first, when the pressman takes the bar, _k_, it
lies in a direction parallel to the frame, or across the press, and
the short lever, _i_, (being nearly perpendicular thereto,) is also
nearly at right angles to the connecting rod _h_; but the lever, _g_,
of the screw makes a considerable angle with the rod, which therefore
acts upon a shorter radius to turn the screw; because the real power
exerted by any action upon a lever, is not to be considered as acting
with the full length of the lever between its centres, but with the
distance in a perpendicular drawn from the line in which the action
is applied to the centre of the lever. Therefore, when the pressman
first takes the handle, _k_, the lever, _i_, acts with its full
length upon a shorter length of leverage, _g_, on the screw, which
will consequently be turned more rapidly than if the bar itself was
attached to it; but on continuing the pull, the situation of the
levers change, that of the screw, _g_, continually increasing in its
acting length, because it comes nearer to a perpendicular with the
connecting rod, and at the same time the lever, _i_, diminishes its
acting length, because, by the obliquity of the lever, the rod, _h_,
approaches the centre, and the perpendicular distance diminishes; the
bar or handle also comes to a more favourable position for the man
to pull, because he draws nearly at right angles to its length. All
these causes combined have the best effect in producing an immense
pressure, without loss of time; because, in the first instance, the
lever acts with an increased motion upon the screw, and brings the
platen down very quickly upon the paper, but by that time the levers
have assumed such a position as to exert a more powerful action upon
each other, and this action continues to increase as the bar is drawn
forwards, until the lever, _i_, and the connecting rod are brought
nearly into a straight line, and then the power is immensely great,
and capable of producing any requisite pressure which the parts of
the press will sustain without yielding. The handle is sometimes made
to come to rest against a stop, which prevents it moving further,
and therefore regulates the degree of pressure given upon the work;
but to give the means of increasing or diminishing this pressure for
different kinds of work, the stop is made moveable to a small extent.
Another plan is adopted by some makers of the Stanhope press, viz.
to have a screw adjustment at the end of the connecting rod, _h_,
by which it can be shortened; it is done by fitting the centre pin
which unites it to the lever, _g_, in a bearing piece, which slides
in a groove formed in the rod, and is regulated by the screw. This
shortening of the connecting rod produces a greater or less descent
of the platen, when the handle is brought to the stop.