From the telegraph, to printing, and the printing-press, is but a step;
and one that is naturally suggested. The origin of printing is involved
in mystery. Some think it was practiced as far back as the building of
Babylon. The Romans, we know, had metal stamps with which they marked
words and names on their various articles; but having no paper, they
could hardly be said to _print_. Printing from engraved blocks of wood,
was practiced by the Chinese nearly fifty years before the Christian
era. But the credit of first introducing movable types, is commonly
attributed to John Fust, or Faust, of Mentz, who is represented, in the
cut on the next page, as looking, with his associates, at the first
proof taken from movable types. This was supposed to be not far from the
year 1450. Between 1450 and 1455, the celebrated “Mentz Bible” appeared,
without date; and this was the occasion of the art being discovered by
the public. Next followed the “Psalter,” in 1457; and from this time,
printing rapidly spread throughout Europe. William Caxton was the first
to introduce printing into England, about 1474. The first book in which
Greek types appear, was printed in 1465; and the first using the Roman
character, in 1467.
[Illustration: FAUST TAKING FIRST PROOF FROM MOVABLE TYPES.]
Printing-presses were gradually improved. The old-fashioned press was
made of wood, with an iron screw that had a bar fitted in it; and to the
lower end of this screw was attached, horizontally, a flat piece of
wood, called the _platen_, which was brought down by means of the screw,
and pressed the paper on the face of the types, and thus the impression
was given. This kind of presses, however, soon gave place to those made
of iron. The Stanhope press was a great improvement on anything that had
gone before it; and the Caledonian press, invented by George Clymer, an
American, was a great improvement, in many respects, on the latter. The
press represented in the cut on the following page, on which Franklin
printed, was one of these old-fashioned hand-presses, on which it would
have been a hard day’s work to print twenty-five hundred impressions, or
twelve hundred and fifty sheets on both sides, in a day. After a time, a
plan was devised of obtaining impressions from types by means of
cylinders; and in 1804, the idea was started, of applying steam-power to
printing-presses. It was not, however, till after years of experiments,
and an immense outlay of capital, that the invention was brought to a
successful issue, so as to be advantageously applied in practice. When,
however, in 1814, the machine was completed, it was adopted in the
office of the London Times newspaper, and was thus spoken of in the
papers of the day.
[Illustration: FRANKLIN’S PRINTING-PRESS.]
“A new printing-press, or printing-engine, has recently excited the
attention of the typographical world. It is wrought by the power of
steam, and, with the aid of three boys, perfects nearly a thousand
sheets per hour. A common press, worked by two men, takes off but two
hundred and fifty impressions on one side, and requires eight hours to
_perfect_ a thousand sheets. Hence, three boys in one hour are enabled,
by this new application of the power of steam, to perform the labor of
two men for eight hours. Such are the present capabilities of this
engine: but as there is no limit to its required powers, and the size of
the _form_ is no obstacle to its perfect performance, it is proposed to
take impressions on double-demy, in which case three boys will, in one
hour, perform the labor of thirty-two men. This engine is now at work at
the printing-office of Bensley & Sons, near Fleet street, and another on
a similar (but less perfect) construction, has for some time past been
employed on a morning newspaper. In its general analogy, this press is
not unlike the rolling-press of copper-plate printers. The forms being
fixed on the _carriage_, are drawn under a cylinder, on which the sheet
being laid, and the ink distributed by an arrangement of rollers, the
impression is taken on one side. The sheet is then conveyed off by bands
to a second cylinder, around which it is conveyed on the _second form_,
and the _reiteration_ is produced in _perfect register_, without the aid
of _points_. All the manual labor is performed by a boy, who lays the
sheet of paper on the first cylinder, by one who takes it off from the
second cylinder, and by a third, who lays the sheets even on the _bank_.
As a further instance of economy in the materials, we may mention, that
the waste steam from the copper is carried in tubes round the entire
suit of offices, with a view to warm them.”
Passing on, over various improvements, we come, last of all, to what
thus far is the perfection of all printing-machines, _viz._, _Hoe’s
eight-cylinder power-press_, a view of which is given in the cut on the
following page. This immense printing-machine is thirty-three feet long,
fourteen feet and eight inches high, and six feet wide. It has one large
central cylinder on which the type is secured, and eight smaller
cylinders arranged around it, at convenient distances. Eight persons
supply the eight small cylinders with the sheets, and at each revolution
of the large cylinder, eight impressions are given off, the sheets being
delivered in neat order by the machine itself. The limit to the speed is
in the ability of the eight persons to supply the sheets. At the rate of
twenty-five hundred sheets to each, the press would give off the
unparalleled number of twenty thousand printed impressions per hour. The
press is thus far used exclusively for newspaper and similar printing.
What it may next be applied to, or what will be the next stride in the
rapidity and perfection of printing, only the future can reveal.
[Illustration: HOE’S EIGHT-CYLINDER POWER-PRESS.]
Before leaving the subject of printing, it may not be uninteresting to
mention, that a _composing_, or type-setting machine, is said to have
been recently invented, in Denmark. One who has seen it in operation,
says: “It is now in actual operation in the office of the Fædrelandet.
Instead of the usual cases and composing-sticks, and the compositor
standing at his work, we see a person sitting before a machine with keys
like a piano, which he plays on incessantly, and every touch on the
tangent is followed by a click; the letter already in its place in the
long mahogany channel prepared for it. The whole is excessively
ingenious. In fact it is fairy work. The most wonderful part is that it
distributes the already used types at the same time that it sets the new
page, and with an exactness perfectly sure. No mistake can ever occur.
The compositor, by this machine, does four times as much work as another
workman; but as he requires an assistant to line and page the set type,
this brings it to twice the amount of type set. The whole is so clean
and pleasant, that it will probably soon be a favorite employment for
women. The machine occupies a very small space, not more than a large
chair, and is beautifully made of hard woods, brass and steel. Its
success is now beyond all doubt. The proprietors of the Fædrelandet are
so gratified by the one they now have, that they have ordered another.
The price is twenty-four hundred Danish dollars. It will last,
apparently, for a century or two without repair. Mr. Sorenson, the
inventor, himself a compositor all his life, kindly shows the machine to
any visitor. Of course, a compositor can not set with this machine at
once; it will take a short time, a few days, for him to become familiar
with the details, but he is then a gentleman compared to his old
comrades.”