1. The word _stereotype_ is derived from two Greek words--_stereos_,
solid, and _tupos_, a type. It is applied to pages of types in a
single piece, which have been cast in moulds formed on common printing
types or wood-cuts. They are composed of lead and antimony, in the
proportion of about six parts of the former to one of the latter.
Sometimes a little tin is added.
2. The types are _set up_ by _compositors_, as usual in printing, and
_imposed_, or locked up, one or several pages together, in an iron
_chase_ of a suitable size. Having been sent to the _casting-room_,
the types are slightly oiled, and surrounded with a frame of brass or
type-metal. They are then covered with a thin mixture of finely
pulverized plaster and water. In about ten minutes, the plaster
becomes hard enough to be removed.
3. The mould, thus formed, having been baked in an oven, is placed in
an iron pan of an oblong shape, and sunk into a kettle of the melted
composition above mentioned, which is admitted at the four corners of
the cover to the cavities of the mould beneath. The pan is then raised
from the kettle, and placed over water. When the metal has become
cool, the contents of the pan are removed, and the plaster is broken
and washed from the plate.
4. As fast as the pages are cast, they are sent to the
_finishing-room_. Here they are first planed on the back with a
machine, for the purpose of making them level and of an equal
thickness. The letters are then examined, and, when deficient, are
rendered perfect by little steel instruments called _picks_.
Corrections and alterations are made by cutting out original lines,
and inserting common printing types, or lines stereotyped for the
purpose. The types are cut off close to the back with pincers, and
fastened to the place with solder. The plates, when they are finished,
are about one-sixth of an inch in thickness.
5. When all the pages of a work have been completed, they are packed
in boxes, which are marked with certain letters of the alphabet, to
indicate the form or pages which they contain. While the pages are
applied in printing, they are fastened to blocks of solid wood, which,
with the plates, are intended to be the same in height with common
types.
6. The first stereotype plates were cast by J. Van der Mey, a
Dutchman, who resided at Leyden about the year 1700. A quarto and
folio Bible, and two or three small works, were printed from pages of
his casting; but at his death, the art appears to have been lost,
although the plates of these two Bibles are still extant, the former
at Leyden, and the latter at Amsterdam.
7. In 1725, William Ged, of Edinburgh, without knowing what had been
done in Holland by Van der Mey, began to make stereotype plates. But
being unable to prosecute the business alone for want of funds, he
united in partnership with three others. One of the partners being a
type-founder, supposing that success in the enterprise would injure
his business, employed men to compose and print the proposed works in
a manner that he thought most likely to spoil them.
8. Accordingly, the compositors, while correcting one error in the
proof, made intentionally several more; and the pressmen battered the
letter, while printing the books. By these dishonest and malicious
proceedings, the useful enterprise of Mr. Ged was defeated. He,
however, afterwards printed, in an accurate manner, two or three
works. The first of these was a Sallust, the pages of which were set
up by his son, James Ged, who was but an apprentice to the
printing-business. This part of the work was performed in the night,
when the workmen were absent from the office.
9. After the death of Mr. Ged, no attention was paid to the art, and a
knowledge of it was lost at the decease of his son, which took place,
about the year 1771: but it was a third time invented by Alexander
Tilloch, Esq., who, in conjunction with Mr. Foulis, printer to the
University of Glasgow, made many experiments, until plates were
produced yielding impressions which could not be distinguished from
those of the types from which they had been cast. But owing to
circumstances unconnected with the real utility of the art, the
business was not prosecuted to a great extent.
10. About the year 1804, the art was again revived by the late Earl
Stanhope, assisted by Mr. A. Wilson, a printer, who turned his whole
attention that way. In their efforts to complete the invention, they
were assisted by Messrs. Tilloch and Foulis; and, although they
succeeded after many experiments, they were strenuously opposed in
their efforts to introduce the practice, the printers supposing,
perhaps with some reason, that it would prove injurious to their
business.
11. This useful art was introduced into the United States by J. Watts,
an Englishman from London, who had acquired a knowledge of the process
from A. Wilson. He entered into a partnership with Joseph D. Fay and
Pierre C. Van Wyck, Esquires. They first stereotyped the Westminster
Catechism, which was printed by J. Watts & Co., for Messrs. Whiting &
Watson, in 1813. They also stereotyped a New Testament. But the
business proving to be unproductive, Fay and Van Wyck retired from the
concern. Watts afterwards stereotyped about one third of an octavo
Bible. The moulding of all the plates produced in Watts's foundery was
executed by Mrs. Watts. On the 21st of March, 1815, Watts sold all his
plates, together with his materials and knowledge of the process, to
B. S. and J. B. Collins, for $6500. The Messrs. Collins afterwards
carried on the business successfully.
12. In 1812, David Bruce went to England for the express purpose of
obtaining a knowledge of the art, as it was kept a profound secret by
Watts; and having learned the method of one Nicholson, of Liverpool,
and having also acquired some knowledge of Earl Stanhope's plan, he
returned to New-York, and commenced stereotyping, in conjunction with
his brother, George Bruce, in the year 1813. They soon completed two
setts of 12mo plates for the New Testament, one of which they sold to
Matthew Carey, Nov. 8, 1814. Soon afterwards, they finished the whole
Bible. David Bruce invented the machine for planing the plates, in
1815.
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