BEATING AND ROLLING.
The object of beating or rolling is to make the book as solid as
possible. For beating, a stone or iron slab, used as a bed, and a heavy
hammer, are necessary. The stone or iron must be perfectly smooth, and
should be bedded with great solidity. I have in use an iron bed about
two feet square, fitted into a strongly-made box, filled with sand,
with a wooden cover to the iron when not in use. The hammer should be
somewhat bell-shaped, and weigh about ten pounds, with a short handle,
made to _fit the hand_. The face of the hammer and stone (it is called
a beating-stone whether it be stone or iron), must be kept perfectly
clean, and it is advisable always to have a piece of paper at the top
and bottom of the sections when beating, or the repeated concussion
will glaze them.
[Illustration: Beating Hammer.]
The book should be divided into lots or sections of about half an inch
thick, that will be about fifteen to twenty sheets, according to the
thickness of paper. A section is now to be held on the stone between
the fingers and thumb of the left hand; then the hammer, grasped firmly
in the right hand, is raised, and brought down with rather more than
its own weight on the sheets, which must be continually moved round,
turned over and changed about, in order that they may be equally beaten
all over. |10| By passing the section between the finger and thumb, it
can be felt at once, if it has been beaten properly and evenly. Great
care must be taken that in each blow of the hammer it shall have the
face fairly on the body of the section, for if the hammer is so used
that the greatest portion of the weight should fall outside the edge
of the sheets the concussion will break away the paper as if cut with
a knife. It is perhaps better for a beginner to practise on some waste
paper before attempting to beat a book; and he should always rest when
the wrist becomes tired. When each section has been beaten, supposing
a book has been divided into four sections, the whole four should be
beaten again, but together.
I do not profess a preference to beating over rolling because I
have placed it first. The rolling machine is one of the greatest
improvements in the trade, but _all books should not be rolled_, and a
bookbinder, I mean a practical bookbinder, not one who has been nearly
the whole of his lifetime upon a cutting machine, or at a blocking
press, and who calls himself one, but a competent bookbinder, should
know how and when to use the beating hammer and when the rolling
machine.
There are some books, old ones for instance, that should on no account
be rolled. The clumsy presses used in printing at an early date gave
such an amount of pressure on the type that the paper round their
margins has sometimes two or three times the thickness of the printed
portion. At the present time each sheet after having been printed is
pressed, and thus the leaf is made flat or nearly so, and for such work
the rolling machine is certainly better than the hammer.
To roll a book, it is divided into sections as in beating, only not so
many sheets are taken—from six upwards, according to the quality of
the work to be executed. The sheets are then placed between tins, and
the whole passed |11| between the rollers, which are regulated by a
screw, according to the thickness of sections and power required. The
workman, technically called “Roller,” has to be very careful in passing
his books through, that his hand be not drawn in as well, for accidents
have from time to time occurred through the inattention of the Roller
himself, or of the individual who has the pleasure of applying his
strength to turning the handle.
[Illustration: Rolling Machine.]
I never pass or hear a rolling machine revolving very rapidly without
having vividly brought to my mind a very serious accident that happened
to my father. He was feeling for a flaw on one of the rollers, and
whilst his hands |12| were at the edge of the rollers the man turned
the handle, drawing the whole hand between the heavy cylinders. The
accident cost him many months in the hospital, and he never regained
complete use of his right hand.
Great care must be used not to pass too many sheets through the machine
at one time; the same applies to the regulating screw. The amount
of damage that can be done to the paper by too heavy a pressure is
astonishing, as the paper becomes quite brittle, and may perhaps even
be cut as with a knife.
Another caution respecting new work. Recently printed books, if
submitted to heavy pressure, either by the beating hammer or machine,
are very likely to “set off,” that is, the ink from one side of the
page will be imprinted to its opposite neighbour; indeed, under very
heavy pressure, some ink, perhaps many years old, will “set off;” this
is due in a great measure to the ink not being properly prepared.
_Machines._—Of the many rolling machines in the market the principle
is in all the same. A powerful frame, carrying two heavy rollers or
cylinders, which are set in motion, revolving in the same direction,
by means of steam or by hand. In many, extra power is supplied by the
use of extra cog-wheels; the power is, however, gained at an expense of
speed. The pressure is regulated by screws at the top.
[Illustration]
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