matter and is ready for distribution. To prepare the type for
distribution, a sponge is saturated with soapy water and the top of the
form thoroughly wet, so that the water makes its way down into the small
crevices between the type. If the form is put into a galley, it is
placed in the same position as for tying up. Then the printer takes upon
a slug the last two, three, or four lines and holds them in his left
hand as in Fig. 28, so that the lines occupy the same position as when
in the stick. With the right hand, he picks up one or more words from
the right end of the top line. Standing before his case in the same
position as when setting type, he spells the words back into the case.
It is very important that type be properly distributed, that the
letters, characters, and spaces be put into their proper boxes. This is
interesting work, and beginners delight in it; besides, it is a work in
which considerable skill can quite readily be acquired.
[Illustration:
Fig. 28.
]
The proper time to rescue a letter from the floor or from a wrong box
into which it has been dropped, is immediately after it has been so
misplaced. Leads, slugs, furniture, and rule should be put at once in
proper positions into their respective places.
WHAT TO PRINT AND HOW TO PROCEED
In discussing the matter of the proper printing for the public schools,
let us not forget this general proposition, i. e., that the claim of
printing to a place as a school art must rest upon its force as an
educational factor and not upon the fact that, by a species of child
labor, money may be made or saved.
There may be done some work of a commercial nature, of course, as in any
kind of so-called industrial work, and thereby money be saved for the
institution or the community. But the fact that some of the work results
in financial gain or saving is incidental, although it may help to add
interest and reality to the work. However, the work of the school print
shop should be largely such as, in the absence of the school shop, would
not be printed.
School printing may be grouped loosely into three classes:
1. Material whose content appeals to the pupils and whose merit
justifies permanent form. It is always a happy condition when the matter
which we ask the boys and girls to print appeals to them on its own
merit as something that deserves to be perpetuated. The book idea
presupposes permanency of content. So the book, printed and bound by the
pupils and containing their favorite selections, makes a strong appeal.
Literature classes collect ballads, lyrics, and other forms of
literature for such work. Books of ballads suited to the various grades
might profitably be prepared. The broadsheet idea may be taken advantage
of to popularize national airs, patriotic songs, crisp maxims, rare bits
of humor, etc.
2. Such temporary material as connects intimately with the school work
and does a genuine service. An abundance of valuable material may be
found in connection with elementary reading, nature study, geography,
gardening, constructive work, etc. Stories relating to these subjects
and written by the children may be printed and furnished to the children
for reading matter. The development of dramatization in the schools
offers material for the printshop. A story like “Treasure Island” or
“Kinmont Willie” is read by the boys and girls, who set themselves to
the task of putting it into dramatic form. Pupils take up the work of
printing such a production with the greatest of interest whether it is
the work of their own or of another class. The school paper is a
valuable thing from every point of view. Spelling lists, binders’ notes
inserted in rebound books, programs of school entertainments, Xmas and
Easter cards, etc., come under this second division.
3. This class includes such work as would ordinarily be sent to the
commercial printer. Letter heads, office blanks, report cards, business
notices, official announcements, etc., come under this head. Some of
this can be handled to the profit of both the boys and the school and
without injustice to the commercial printer.
In beginning printing with a class, it is believed to be best to take
advantage of the wide-eyed curiosity and intense interest of the pupils,
simply to make them familiar with the locations of the various parts of
the equipment and the names of the various tools of the printer. Just
the pointing out and reciting of the names of the leads, slugs,
furniture, etc., are sufficient to hold the rapt attention of the class.
During the early period is a good time for investigations by the pupils
as to the origin and development of printing, the story of movable type,
the evolution of the press, the relation of printing to progress, etc.
This plan of having the pupils get as much relevant information as
possible concerning their new activity, under the impulse of this first
enthusiasm, proves to be an effective method of teaching as well as
valuable and timely work for the boys and girls. The same eagerness to
become familiar with the work makes the lay of the cases an easy matter
to get before the class. Almost without exception the boys ask for the
privilege of making individual diagrams of the cases, for pocket
reference. The very irregularity and confusion of the lower case somehow
appeal to the boys, and they take great pride in mastering what seems at
first glance almost a puzzle.
The explanation that j and u were the last letters added to the alphabet
and that they occupy positions in the capital case corresponding to the
time of their additions, makes the lay of the capital case easy to
remember.
Considerable time may well be devoted to just this kind of work.
In familiarizing themselves with the case, the pupils may well begin the
use of the job stick and the practice of properly holding it, by the use
of large type, in setting up their names and such simple matter as they
care to attempt, putting the type back again into the proper boxes. When
simple composition is begun, it is thought best that each piece of work
should run through the typical processes, setting up the type, emptying
the stick, proofing, correcting, tying up, removing to the stone,
locking up, and printing. The presswork for these first efforts may be
done by the teacher by way of demonstrations, so that the pupils become
familiar with the methods of handling a press.
The class should be kept for a considerable time on such work as labels,
name cards, spelling lists, etc., gradually working into the longer
compositions of plain, straight matter.
When it comes to the larger jobs, one piece of work may be divided among
several pupils or even the whole class.
Of course, in all this work, there must be constant reference and
attention to the various rules of composition, such as justification,
spacing, margins, etc.
As the class advances, it is well to have each boy do a little press
work by himself. He will prepare the make-ready, which the instructor
has previously demonstrated, ink the press, set the gauge pins, and run
off the job, under the close scrutiny of the teacher. In handling jobs
of two or more pages, the pupils have experience in proofing, making up
the matter into page forms, and of imposing or locking it up. It is well
to have the list of proof marks conspicuously on the board and to insist
upon the pupils’ use of them in a correct and intelligent way.
At the close of the eighth year and in the high school, the handling of
cuts, tabular work, and the more difficult processes all along the line
is expected.
Not only must the boys use the cuts in printing but they ought to make
the wood cuts, zinc etchings, and copper plates as frequently as
possible from designs and illustrations prepared by themselves.
During the work in printing, the teacher should not overlook or neglect
any illustrative material that may be available, and which may be of
value in setting standards, arousing ambitions, and offering suggestions
for improvement. Visits to commercial print shops are an excellent thing
from the standpoint of all these considerations. In studying the
arrangements of the parts of a broken page, or of an advertisement, it
has proved interesting and profitable to cut out the parts of the
printed matter collected for study, and to reassemble them by pasting
them to another page. The variety in the matter of margins, spacing, and
grouping that can be had by such a treatment, is often really
surprising. Then when there are added the possibilities of different
sizes and kinds of type, the colors of ink, and the colors and textures
of paper, the effects that may be produced are without limit.
METHOD OF TEACHING THE LOWER CASE
Each boy has a case before him. The class is told that there are three
little groups of letters to be learned first: _ar_, _is_, _jk_. These
groups are learned first, because they are not consecutive and do not
readily fall into the grouping which is to follow.
After these first groups have been fixed in the mind, it is explained
that the left half of the lower case is made up, for the most part, of
groups of letters which are consecutive in the alphabet. These groups
are: _bcde_, _lmn_ (_h_) _o_, _tuv_. Besides _jk_ on the left side there
is another nonconsecutive group, _qxz_. These groups are repeatedly
pointed out during the explanation. When we come to the group _lmn_
(_h_) _o_, we say “_lmn_ over _h_ to _o_.”
Beginning with _a_, the class repeats several times these groups:
_bcde_, _lmn_ (_h_) _o_, _tuv_, _qxz_. Then it is pointed out that there
are only two groups remaining, and that they are on the right hand side
of the case. They are _fg_ and _ypw_.
When the boys have located the groups a few times, they are tested on
the entire alphabet in order. They begin, _a_, _bcde_, _fg_, and then
they remember the “over _h_ to _o_” expression, which locates _h_ for
them. The next letters, _i_ and _jk_, are in the first groups learned
and hence are easily recalled. Then follows the group _lmno_. If they do
not readily locate _p_, the group _ypw_ is repeated by the teacher. The
letter _q_ is in the corner group, _qxz_, _r_ is in the first group
learned, _ar_, and _s_ is in the second group learned, _is_. The next
letters, _tuv_, are in a group by themselves, and the remaining letters
of the alphabet, _w_, _x_, _y_, _z_, are in the two remaining groups,
_ypw_ and _qxz_.
If at any time, a boy cannot locate a letter, he can be immediately
assisted if the teacher will simply repeat the group in which the letter
is to be found. For instance, if he cannot find _x_, the teacher should
simply say “qxz.”
The location of quads, spaces, numerals, and “points” is only a matter
of a short time, and may be learned at the time the letter boxes are
learned, but can just as well be taught when an explanation of the quads
and spaces is made.
It will be observed that by this plan, instead of learning the positions
of twenty-six separate boxes, the boys learn the positions of the
following nine groups: _ar_, _is_, _jk_, _bcde_, _lmn_ (_h_) _o_, _tuv_,
_qxz_, _fg_, _ypw_, which include the twenty-six.
WOOD CUTS AND METAL PLATES
The making of wood cuts and metal plate etchings has proved one of the
greatest sources of interest and educational profit to the boys and
girls. It vitalizes and lends motive to design and illustration, it
requires very little equipment and is a perfectly feasible scheme even
for the seventh and eighth grades.
It is perhaps as well to illustrate the idea with a concrete problem. A
book is being made for instance, by each pupil. He plans a cover design,
a bookplate or an illustration. After the design or illustration is
carefully worked out, it is traced in reverse by means of carbon paper
upon a piece of wood, copper, or zinc. If it is to be a wood cut, the
block is squared up to the proper thickness, about seven-eights of an
inch. Birch, maple, and black walnut have proved very satisfactory for
this work. Of course, in commercial work, boxwood is extensively used
and the design cut on the end grain; but it is very satisfactory and
much easier for the school work, to cut the figure on the side of a
piece of ordinary board. With a small veining tool, such as is used in
wood carving, the design is outlined, care being taken to leave the
edges of the parts to be left in relief sharp and distinct. Then with a
small gouge, chisel or knife, the background is cut away to the depth of
about one-sixteenth of an inch. No care need be taken to make the
background smooth.
Of course, the open grained woods do not give a solid, uniform
impression. This is not at all objectionable as one may see by examining
the wood cuts of the old masters. However, if a dense impression is
desired, this experiment has been tried with good results: After the
design is cut, the face of the block is gone over with a heavy coat of
thick woodfiller. When the filler is dry, it is carefully scraped from
the face of the design. By this simple method, a dense, clear, and
uniform impression is made possible.
If it is to be a metal plate, the pupil simply takes a thick, smooth
piece of copper or zinc, traces the design, and with a water color
brush, he paints with asphaltum varnish the parts of the design to be
left in relief. The back of the metal plate is also covered with a thin
coat of the varnish. Careful examination is made to see whether air
bubbles have caused small holes in the varnish, or anything else has
caused any portion of the design to be left uncovered. When dry, the
acid bath is prepared. Commercial nitric acid is the safest solution. It
is diluted by adding about an equal volume of water to it, making it
from 15% to 20% strong. The diluted acid is poured into a glass or
porcelain tray and the plate put into it. If the acid can be kept moving
by frequently rocking the tray, the etching will be very materially
hastened. It takes from three to five hours to etch deeply a piece of
copper, depending upon the strength and amount of the solution and the
amount of exposed surface to be eaten away. If large surfaces are to be
etched, quite a large quantity of acid is desirable, or else a changing
or strengthening of the solution during the process. As soon as the acid
becomes somewhat burdened with the metal, it ceases to act at all
freely, and even begins to deposit a blue nitrate upon the metal. In
such a case, it is best to put the plate into a fresh solution.
[Illustration:
Fig. 29.
]
Care must be taken that the acid is not too strong, as the heat
generated by its rapid action softens the varnish and lets the acid
under to play havoc with the design. Numerous bubbles and yellow-green
fumes indicate that the acid should be weakened by the addition of a
small quantity of water.
By observing the progress of the etching occasionally, it can be told
when the proper depth has been reached. Then the plate is heated
sufficiently to soften the varnish, soaked in kerosene or turpentine,
and rubbed clean with a cloth. Or the warm varnish can be removed by
simply saturating the cloth with kerosene, turpentine, or benzine and
rubbing over it.
A block of wood is then prepared for a base so that the mounted plate is
slightly less in thickness than the height of the type. Then with a
punch or a small drill, holes are put into the lower, or background,
part of the metal. Through these holes the plate is fastened to the
block by small tacks or escutcheon pins, the heads being sunken below
the surface of the background. Large surfaces of background should be
sawed out before the metal is mounted upon the block. When the cut is
used in printing, it is brought up to the proper height by the
underlaying of paper or cardboard.
This work is used extensively in connection with such work as cards and
programs for Xmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and other special occasions.
Fig. 29.
THE EQUIPMENT—ITS SELECTION AND COST
In planning an equipment for a print shop, as for any other shop, the
more specific the conditions and limitations under which one is placed,
the more intelligently one can go about the undertaking. In the first
place, the following things should be as definitely decided upon as
possible:
1. The grade and number of pupils who are going to handle the equipment.
2. The nature of the work anticipated.
3. Amount of money to be expended.
This is only another way of saying that a school printshop must meet
school conditions. There are a number of points in which the school
print shop differs materially from the commercial job shop. The number
that must be kept at work is an illustrative point.
From the standpoint of durability and of quality of the work to be done,
it is safer, of course, to buy as large a part of the equipment as
possible, new. In other lines of the Manual Arts work, very little
disposition is shown to buy second hand machinery and tools; but there
seems to be a decided tendency to look for old equipment for the
printshop. This, perhaps, arises out of the misapprehension that even a
very small printing plant is very expensive. On the contrary, it will be
seen by reference to the lists on page 58, that a printing equipment is
comparatively inexpensive. Unless one is an expert, or is familiar with
the time and kind of use the goods have been subjected to, it is unsafe
to buy such used goods as type, leads, slugs, rule, furniture, and type
cases, for these may be regarded as perishable; besides, they are
comparatively cheap. So, from the financial standpoint, as well as that
of good work, it is unwise to buy such used material. And when it comes
to the larger, more expensive articles, like the press and the cutter,
it must be considered that they are probably not soon, if ever, to be
replaced, that imperfections are difficult to detect, and that not a
very large reduction, can be had on machines in good repair. But if it
is a question of getting a start in printing by the use of old equipment
or doing without the printshop, by all means let’s have the old
equipment. There are a good many items that can be safely and cheaply
bought second hand. Among these are cabinets, stones and frames, case
stands, lead cases, etc.
It is wise to buy only such staple articles as in a good printer’s
judgment the conditions demand. There is some temptation to buy, out of
a scanty allowance, articles which are not absolutely necessary, or
which may easily be improvised. It is wise to buy the essentials and
such quantities and accessories as make what one buys available to its
full capacity. To illustrate, it is not uncommon to find quite a liberal
quantity of type with an insufficient supply of quads and spaces. This
simply means that the type is available for use only to the extent of
the quad and space supply. This illustration is only typical of a number
that might be made. For school purpose, it is much more satisfactory to
have generous quantities of a few sizes of type of one series, than to
have small quantities of several sizes and series. If the specific
purposes of the shop are clearly in mind, the selection of faces,
quantities, and sizes of type is greatly facilitated.
If it is planned to do very much of the supplementary reading work for
the elementary grades, good quantities of 12 point type should be
provided, including such a special supply of sorts, especially in
capitals, as seems necessary to meet the needs. For instance, it has
been found that in the language and reading work of the lower grades,
the personal pronouns, I and we, are used with great extravagance in
beginning sentences; so the I and W boxes are soon empty. In case some
prominence is to be given to arithmetic work, then larger quantities of
figures, fractions, etc., should be bought than come in the regular
fonts. For general work, there can be no wiser selection than a large
quantity of 10 point type. Of course, where the allowance permits, it is
extremely nice to have small fonts of two or three different faces,
which may be used for variety, initials, display, etc.
It has been found very satisfactory to have large quantities of a few
sizes of body type as previously suggested, and in addition, a few fonts
of a heavier face, duplicating the body type in sizes but with some
larger sizes, and also a small assortment of some nice simple text
letters. In selecting type, a wide, clear, readable face is desirable,
and it is best to select those faces which do not contain hair lines or
complications which make it difficult to get a distinct impression, and
which render the type less durable. It is rather unusual to see a shop
sufficiently supplied with quads and spaces, and especially is this so
where much of the work is widely spaced and where each line is treated
as a paragraph, as in elementary matter.
In order to provide for the small font display type which, of course,
comes in straight letter work, it has been found a good plan to add, in
addition to the regular 20%, 5 pounds each of quads and spaces for each
50 pounds, and 2½ pounds for each 25 pounds of body type.
Everything considered, the 10 × 15 press is preferable for the school as
well as other work. It accommodates large forms, which fact is often
urged against it; but for the smaller work, like the most of the school
work, it is practically as easily handled as an 8 × 12. It is
considerably more expensive but it has a much greater capacity for work
of the more advanced kind.
[Illustration:
Fig. 30.
]
Of course, cabinets are preferable to open case stands. They are
compact, free from dust and dirt, and of good appearance. However, they
are more expensive than stands, if the matter must be determined by the
question of cost. If one goes to the expense of getting a cutter, Fig.
30, it is the part of good judgment to get one that will be of the
greatest service. So it is advisable to get a 25 or 26 inch cutter. The
difference in cost above that of a twenty-two inch is overbalanced by
the economy and convenience in cutting large stock. In case a large
cutter cannot be bought, small table cutters, which give good service,
may be had at various low prices. The stone mentioned in the $800 list
on this page is practically ideal for the small printshop. It is a 26 ×
44 marble, mounted upon a cabinet which contains a large quantity of
wood furniture, and a number of drawers and letter boards. This stone is
not so much more expensive after all, if one considers the cost of the
furniture and case and the other conveniences.
Probably the general method of selecting equipment for any line of work
is to take an ideal list and by elimination reduce it to within the
limits of the appropriation. The following $800 equipment is the one
selected by the author for his own classes, after several years of
planning and investigation. During this time, a great many school men
who have had to deal with the same problem, and a number of expert
printers were consulted and asked for criticism of the proposed list
under the conditions which the equipment has to meet: