First. The set-off of the first side.
Devices were used to overcome this and the ink-makers were induced
to pay special attention to the manufacture of rapid-drying or
non-setting-off inks.
Second. The difficulties in obtaining paper in the roll of uniform
perfection and strength. The paper-makers were led to make a study of
producing large rolls of paper meeting these requirements, and became
much more experienced in its manufacture. The “Walter” press in the
“Times” office had necessitated a very strong and expensive paper,
which could not be afforded by the cheap daily press.
Third. The difficulty of the rapid severing of the sheets after
printing.
Fourth. A reliable and accurate delivery of the printed papers.
These last two operations were not accomplished satisfactorily
until the appearance of the Hoe machine. In this press the sheets
were not entirely severed by the cutters, but simply perforated after
the printing. They were then drawn by accelerating tapes, which
completely separated them, onto a gathering cylinder so constructed
that six perfect papers, or any other desired number, could be
gathered one over the other. These, by means of a switch, were at
the proper moment turned off onto one sheet flier, which deposited
them on the receiving board. This gathering and delivery cylinder,
patented by Stephen D. Tucker, a member of the firm of R. Hoe &
Co., solved the problem of rapid flat delivery. The first of these
machines was placed in the office of “Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper,” in
London, and the first one used in the United States in the “Tribune”
office in New York. There was no limit to their capacity for printing
excepting the ability of the paper to stand the strain of passing
through the press, which produced, when put to its speed, 18,000
perfect papers an hour, delivered accurately on one feed-board. The
average speed, however, in printing offices was 12,000, although in
some offices they were run at about 14,000 per hour.
The “Walter” press, made by the London “Times,” was used by it, and
also by the London “Daily News” and by the New York “Times.” Further
than that it made no progress and has now gone entirely out of use,
the presses of this kind in the London “Times” office having been
replaced by machines made by R. Hoe & Co. Meantime their machines
were adopted by most of the large newspapers in the United States and
Great Britain.
These new methods, of course, entirely superseded the “Hoe Type
Revolving Machine,” which had reigned supreme in the newspaper world
for over twenty years, and of which one hundred and seventy-five had
been made, almost all of which have now disappeared.
Up to the middle of the last century the paper had been made from
rags, but as these became unobtainable in sufficient quantity some
substitute had to be found. First straw and afterwards wood pulp
was successfully employed, and paper made from the latter is now in
universal use. Its cheapness (averaging now about three cents per
pound) materially aided the newspapers, and stimulated the printing
machine manufacturers to renewed efforts in devising presses of still
greater speed and efficiency.
It was desirable also that the papers should be delivered folded
ready for the carrier or mail. The first apparatus to accomplish this
was similar in design to the hand-fed folding machine in common use
in printing offices. The sheets, fed separately into these machines,
were carried by tapes running upon pulleys under striking blades,
which forced them between pairs of folding rollers. After the first
fold they were again carried in a similar manner under striking
blades, placed at right angles to the first, and again struck down
between rollers to receive a second fold. This action was continued
until the desired number of folds had been secured. Folders of this
description were attached to the fast presses, but none made could
be worked at a greater speed than about 8,000 per hour, until in
1875 Stephen D. Tucker patented a rotating folding cylinder which
folded papers as fast as they came from the press, or 15,000 in the
hour. The striking blade folders were used in the “Bullock” press, in
machines made by C. Potter, Jr., & Co. and others. Andrew Campbell,
a printing press manufacturer, also constructed a rotary perfecting
press, but his devices were not original. Four or five machines were
made by him, and these soon went out of use.
[Illustration: FIRST HOE WEB PRESS]
The first folders made by Hoe & Co. consisted of the combination
of a “gathering cylinder” with a rotary folding cylinder and tapes
conveying the printed sheets under horizontal folding blades,
somewhat similar to those before described, which thrust them at the
proper moment between folding rollers placed at alternate angles,
finally delivering them on travelling belts by a small flier. The
first of these folding machines were put upon the presses made for
the Philadelphia “Times” and operated in the Centennial Exhibition,
in 1876.
These folders, however, were only the commencement of a long series
of experiments undertaken by the makers in the development of still
faster printing and folding mechanisms, and from this time forward
the progress made has been phenomenal. With great ingenuity, added
to long experience, and by the acquisition and adaptation of every
device which should aid them in their efforts, Hoe & Co. succeeded in
providing machines of unrivalled designs, efficiency and speed.
About 1876 Messrs. Anthony & Taylor of England (the former one of
the owners of a newspaper in Hereford) took out patents for devices
by which the webs of paper could be turned over after printing on
one side and the opposite or reversed side presented to the printing
cylinder. Mr. Hoe, who was in England at the time, appreciating the
possible use and development of these patents, became possessed of
them for England and the United States.
E. L. Ford, engaged in the publication of a newspaper in New
York, patented the uniting of the product of two or more printing
mechanisms and thus producing (in restricted form) a multiple number
of pages at one time. He was unable, however, to develop his plans to
any practical result; but deserves the credit of being the first to
patent, if not to conceive, the idea of the association of printed
sheets for this purpose.
[Illustration: DOUBLE SUPPLEMENT PRESS]
In the various experiments of Hoe & Co. bearing upon the manipulation
of webs of paper some of their devices appeared to encroach upon
patents secured by Luther C. Crowell, inventor, of Boston, who had
made an ingenious machine for forming paper bags. These patents were
immediately secured by purchase and the experimental work proceeded
with the view of adapting some of them to the requirements of the
printing press. After many efforts, and the failure and destruction
of several machines which had been constructed at great expense, the
Hoe “Double Supplement” machine was produced, the first one being
purchased by James Gordon Bennett of the New York “Herald” and put
to work in his office. The result of these efforts has been, for a
third time, a complete revolution of the methods of fast newspaper
printing. The most remarkable features of this machine are: Its
extreme simplicity, considering the varied work it performs, and its
great speed, accuracy and efficiency. It turns out either four, six,
eight, ten or twelve page papers at 24,000 per hour, and sixteen
page papers at 12,000 per hour; the odd pages being in every case
accurately inserted and pasted in, and the papers cut at top and
delivered folded. This machine is constructed in two parts, the
cylinders in one portion being twice the length of those in the
other; the short cylinders being used for the supplements of the
paper when it is desired to print more than eight pages. The plates
being secured on the cylinders, the paper enters from the two rolls
into the two portions of the machine, through each of which it is
carried between the two pairs of type and impression cylinders, and
printed on both sides, after which the two broad ribbons or “webs”
pass over turning bars and other devices, by which they are laid
evenly one over the other, and pasted together. The webs of paper
then pass down upon a triangular “former,” which folds them along
the center margin. They are then taken over a cylinder, from which
they receive the final fold, a revolving blade within this cylinder
projecting and thrusting the paper between folding rollers, while at
the same moment a knife in the same cylinder severs the sheet, and
a rapidly revolving mechanism, resembling in its motion the fingers
of a hand, causes their accurate disposal upon traveling belts,
which convey them on for final removal. From this rather summary
description it will be apparent that the principle of retaining the
paper in the web, or unsevered form, up to the final fold and
delivery, and performing all the operations without retarding the
onward run of the paper, effectually prevents chokes or stoppages
through any miscarriage of sheets severed before the folding. Several
hundred of these machines have been made and put in operation by
the United States; and in offices of the large newspapers in Great
Britain and other countries.
Previous to the introduction of the “Double Supplement” press,
however, Hoe & Co. had made what is known as the “Double Perfecting”
machine. The success of this press, which embraces substantially the
printing and folding devices embodied in the “Double Supplement”
machine, was the connecting link between the ordinary “single” or
two-page-wide press and the “Double Supplement” machine.
[Illustration: QUADRUPLE PRESS]
The next improvement in fast presses was the construction of the
machine known as the “Quadruple” Newspaper Press. This was a
step in advance of anything heretofore attempted. The first one
was constructed in 1887 and placed in the office of the New York
“World.” The same principles were embraced in this as in the “Double
Supplement,” but developed to a greater extent. The supplement
portion of the press was increased in width. By means of ingenious
arrangements and manipulation of the webs of paper this press was
made to produce eight-page papers at a running speed of 48,000 per
hour; also 24,000 per hour of either ten, twelve, fourteen or sixteen
page papers; all delivered with great exactness and perfection; cut
at the top, pasted and folded ready for the carrier or the mails.
[Illustration: STRAIGHT-LINE PRESS]
Another form of the Double Supplement and Quadruple machines,
embodying substantially the same principles, is what has been termed
the “straight-line” press. In this form of construction the cylinders
are arranged in horizontal rows, or tiers, one above the other, there
being two pairs of cylinders in each tier, with the folding and
delivery apparatus at the end of the machine. Some of these presses,
made under the patent of Joseph L. Firm, and which belong to R. Hoe &
Co., have been constructed.
[Illustration: SEXTUPLE PRESS]
It was thought that the limit of printing capacity in one machine
had been reached in this new invention, but in 1889 the same firm
undertook the task of constructing a machine for Mr. Bennett of the
“New York Herald,” which would even eclipse the “Quadruple” machine,
which had, together with the “Double Supplement” press, superseded
almost all others in the large offices of the United States, as well
as in Great Britain and Australia. The press made for the “New York
Herald” and known as the “Sextuple” machine, occupied about eighteen
months in construction. It is composed of about sixteen thousand
pieces. The general arrangement differs entirely from that of the
“Quadruple” machine. The form and impression cylinders are all placed
parallel, instead of any being at right angles as in the “Quadruple”
and “Double Supplement” Presses. To give an idea of this machine, we
cannot do better than to quote the description of it in the “New York
Herald” of May 10th, 1891.
“The new Hoe press which is being set up in the ‘Herald,’ Building
is nothing less than a miracle of mechanism. To say that it is the
only one of the kind ever built and that it throws all previous
inventions into the background are facts which the following
figures abundantly prove.
“Its consumption of white paper is so astounding that even the
imagination grows tired and sits down to catch its breath. It is
fed from three rolls, each being more than five feet wide. When
it settles down to show its best work it will use up in one hour
nearly twenty-six miles of this paper, or to make the matter more
significant, it will use up about fifty-two miles of paper the
ordinary width of the ‘Herald’ every sixty minutes.
“Our readers will be startled to learn that it can print and
fold ninety thousand four-page ‘Heralds’ in an hour. This is,
to the mind, which is not versed in the problem of rapid printing,
a feat which makes Aladdin’s lamp an old woman’s fable. Ninety
thousand per hour means fifteen hundred copies per minute, or
twenty-five copies for every second of time ticked by the clock in
Trinity’s steeple.
“It is, of course, the last and best result of modern
invention--the highest attainment of genius at the present time.
“This new press will print, cut, paste, fold, count and deliver
72,000 eight-page ‘Heralds’ in one hour, which is equivalent to
1,200 a minute and 20 a second.
“It will print, cut, paste, fold, count and deliver complete 48,000
ten or twelve-page ‘Heralds’ in one hour, which is equivalent to
800 a minute and a fraction over 13 a second.
“It will print, cut, paste, fold, count and deliver complete 36,000
sixteen-page ‘Heralds’ an hour, which is at the rate of 600 a
minute or 10 a second.
“It will print, cut, paste, fold, count and deliver complete 24,000
fourteen, twenty or twenty-four page ‘Heralds’ an hour, which is at
the rate of 400 a minute, or very nearly seven a second.
“This is lightning work with a vengeance and yet it is possible
that there may be some who read this who will live to call it slow.
That will probably be when they have found out all about how to put
a harness on electricity. No one can predict when inventive genius
will reach its limit in the printing press. But for the present
this new press marks high water mark.
“Before this press was built the fastest presses in the world were
Hoe’s ‘Quadruple’ Presses, of which the ‘Herald’ has two. These
presses turn out 48,000 four, six or eight-page papers an hour,
24,000 ten, twelve, fourteen or sixteen-page papers an hour, and
12,000 twenty or twenty-four-page papers an hour, all cut, pasted
and folded.
“This new press has a well-nigh insatiable appetite for white
paper. To satisfy it, it is fed from three rolls at the same time,
one roll being attached at either end of the press and the third
suspended near the center. It is the only press that has ever been
able to accomplish that feat. Each roll is sixty-three inches wide,
or twice the width of the ‘Herald.’ When doing its best this press
will consume 25⅞ miles of sixty-three-inch-wide paper--equivalent
to 51¾ miles of paper the width of the ‘Herald’--in one hour, and
eject it at the two deliveries in the shape of ‘Heralds,’ each copy
containing an epitome of the news of the world for the preceding
twenty-four hours, and each copy cut, pasted and folded ready for
delivery to the ‘Herald’ readers. It is a sight worth seeing to see
it done. Certainly we know of nothing else which affords such a
striking example of the triumph of mechanical genius.
“A man turns a lever, shafts and cylinders begin to revolve, the
whirring noise settles into a steady roar, you see three streams
of white paper pouring into the machine from the three huge rolls,
and you pass around to the other side--it is literally snowing
newspapers at each of the two delivery outlets. So fast does one
paper follow the other that you catch only a momentary glitter from
the deft steel fingers that seize the papers and cast them out.
“The machine weighs about fifty-eight tons. It is massive and
strong, with the strength of a thousand giants. And yet though its
arms are of steel and its motions are all as rapid as lightning,
its touch is as tender as that of a woman when she carries her
babe. How else does the machine avoid tearing the paper? It tears
very readily, as you often ascertain accidentally when turning over
the leaves. Truly wonderful it is, and mysterious to anybody but an
expert, how this huge machine can make newspapers at the rate of
twenty-five a second without rending the paper all to shreds.
“It has six plate cylinders, each cylinder carrying eight
stereotype plates, which represent eight pages of the ‘Herald,’
and six impression cylinders. These cylinders, when the press is
working at full speed make 200 revolutions a minute. The period
of contact between the paper and the plate cylinders is therefore
inconceivably brief, and how in that fractional space of time a
perfect impression is made, even to the reproduction of such fine
lines as are shown in these illustrations, is one of those things
which, to the man who is not ‘up’ in mechanics, must forever remain
a mystery. But that it does it you know, because you have the
evidence of your own eyes.
“A double folder forms part of this machine. A single folder would
not be equal to the task imposed upon it. As it is, this double
folder has to exercise such celerity to keep up with the streams
of printed paper that descend upon it that its operations are too
quick for the eye to follow.
“The press has two delivery outlets. At each the papers are
automatically counted in piles of fifty. No matter how rapidly
the papers come out, there is never a mistake in the count. It is
as sure as fate. By an ingenious contrivance--if I should attempt
to describe it more definitely most people would be none the
wiser--each fiftieth paper is shoved out an inch beyond the others
that have been dropped onto the receiving tapes, thus serving as a
sort of tally mark.
“Truly it is a marvelous machine--this Sextuple press. Nowhere
will you find a more perfect adaption of means to ends; nowhere in
any branch of industry a piece of mechanism which offers a finer
example of what human skill and ingenuity is capable of. And it
is free from that reproach which is sometimes brought against the
greatest triumph of inventive genius in other departments of human
activity--that they make mere automatons out of human beings.
“The printing press is synonymous with progress, with the
diffusion of knowledge and the spread of ideas. Without the great
improvements that have been made in it within the memory of many
men now living the modern newspaper, the best friend of liberty,
and the greatest foe of tyranny, would be an impossibility. It
has more than kept pace with the advancement in other departments
of industry. In 1829 the Washington Hand Press was introduced and
regarded as quite a mechanical triumph. At its best it printed 250
impressions an hour on one side, or 125 complete newspapers of
insignificant dimensions. Now, a little over sixty years later, a
machine is brought out which, when the number of papers alone is
compared, does 150 times as much work in the same time, and which,
if the comparison is extended to the actual amount of printing
done, does over 2,000 times as much work.”
[Illustration: APPLETON ROTARY BOOK PRESS]
About 1871 a machine called the “Prestonian” was made by Foster, a
machinist of Preston, England, and two or three were set to work, but
did not enjoy any great degree of favor. They embodied a combination
of the “Hoe Type Revolving Machine” with the “endless sheet
perfecting press.” The form of type for one side of the paper was
placed upon one cylinder, with impression cylinders around it, in the
manner of the Hoe press, and the form for the other side on another
cylinder, and the paper passed from one set of impression cylinders
to the other. The principal objection to this machine was its lack of
speed. The same principle, however, had been developed years before
in the “type revolving perfecting” presses (made by Hoe & Co.) which
have two sets of type forms on separate large cylinders, the sheets
being fed in by hand and conveyed from one impression cylinder to
the other and against the forms by means of fingers or grippers.
The sheets were then delivered on a sheet flier. These presses were
especially designed for printing books, of which large numbers were
required, such as text books and spelling books. The contents of
a whole book could be placed on these cylinders and printed and
delivered at one impression. One of these machines constructed
in 1852 (fifty years ago) is still in operation at Messrs. D.
Appleton & Co.’s printing office in Brooklyn, as active and efficient
as ever.
[Illustration: ROTARY TYPE-REVOLVING WEB PERFECTING PRESS]
In 1881 Hoe & Co. turned their attention to the making of a machine
which should print FROM ONE FORM OF TYPE at a greater speed than had
ever yet been attained. The result was the “Rotary Type Endless-sheet
Perfecting Press.” The principle of this machine was in a measure
that of their “Type-Revolving” press. The forms of type for both
sides of the paper were placed on a central cylinder, which was
surrounded by impression cylinders and inking rollers.
There, were, however, no feeders and no grippers. The roll of paper
was placed at the end of the press, passed around the impression
cylinders arranged at one side of the form cylinder, and then turned
upside down at the lower part of the machine, thence being carried
upwards. The opposite or unprinted side was presented in turn between
each impression cylinder and the forms. If four impression cylinders
were placed around the central cylinder then at each revolution of
the latter four perfect papers were printed. If eight impression
cylinders were placed around the central cylinder then eight perfect
papers were printed at one revolution of the main or form cylinder.
The speed attained by this machine with four impression cylinders
was about 12,000 per hour, and from machines with eight impression
cylinders 24,000 copies per hour were printed. This press was
especially adapted for afternoon papers when the time or expense
necessarily involved in stereotyping could not be afforded. The
majority of the machines made were provided with four impression
cylinders only. In the machines with eight impression cylinders two
rolls were used, one at either end of the machine, the paper from
each roll passing under the two first impression cylinders on either
side, each web then being turned over, and paper passed between the
two remaining cylinders on either side to print the opposite sides of
the sheets.
In this machine a folding apparatus was placed at each end to receive
the product of the rolls, but in the machine with four impression
cylinders only one folder was placed, at the end of the machine
opposite that at which the paper entered.
The experience gained in the construction of these fast newspaper
machines, and the accumulation of patented devices entering into
them, which were numbered by the score, had their influence in the
improvements which were made upon presses for the printing of weekly
newspapers, periodicals and magazines.
[Illustration: THREE PAGE WIDE PRESS]
In 1888 was introduced a patented Hoe machine called the
“Three-page-wide Press.” It has a capacity of printing, perfecting
and delivering two-page papers, with one fold, at the rate of 60,000
per hour; four-page papers, with two folds, at 24,000 per hour,
six-page papers at 24,000 per hour; eight-page papers, folded twice,
or to carrier size, at 12,000 per hour, and twelve-page papers,
folded in the same manner as the eight-page, at the same speed, viz.,
12,000 per hour; all the supplement sheets being inset and pasted if
desired.
The prominent features of this machine are:
The outside pages may receive the first or the last impression at
will, thus enabling large cuts and other similar work to be printed
without offset.
Grippers and horizontal folding knives and all tapes but short
leaders are done away with in the delivery and folding mechanisms,
the movements being all rotary.
The press occupies but a small space on the floor, being 6 feet 1
inch high, 8 feet wide and 15 feet 5 inches long over all.
[Illustration: NEWSPAPER AND PAMPHLET PRESS]
In 1889 Hoe & Co. constructed a patented perfecting machine in which
the plates, or forms, for both sides are placed upon one cylinder,
one side of the form of matter being placed upon one end, or half
of the cylinder, and the other side upon the opposite portion of
the cylinder. One impression cylinder only is used, and the inking
apparatus is greatly extended. This machine is remarkable for the
great variety of work it will do. At a high rate of speed, sheets of
eight, sixteen, twenty-four and so on up to ninety-six or one hundred
and twenty-eight pages may be printed and delivered folded in either
12mo, 8vo, 4to or folio sizes, ready for the binder. The press does
the work of ten flat-bed cylinder presses and ten hand-feed folding
machines. The paper is supplied to the machine from the roll, and
after printing passes over the “former” into the folding machine,
where the folding and cutting cylinders produce the required number
of pages in the form desired. Curved electrotypes are now made
successfully and this press was the first to bring the printing of
the average book and catalogue within the range of web press work.
While in general principles this machine is similar to the large
newspaper perfecting presses, though very much smaller in bulk, it
has increased facilities for distribution, and finer adjustments
throughout. The plates admit of underlays and overlays the same as
on a flat-bed press. There are no tapes, the folding being done on
rollers and small cylinders without smutting the printing. In the
folding apparatus there are knives which cut the sheet into the
right size for folding, after which they are automatically delivered
counted in lots of fifty each. The speed on a thirty-two page form
is about 16,000 copies per hour. This style of machine is probably
destined to revolutionize book and pamphlet printing, as it combines
the finest construction and facility of operation with the greatest
speed.
In 1886 a further advance was made toward perfection in the rotary
system of printing as adapted to doing fine work, in the construction
for Theodore L. De Vinne, the printer of the “Century” Magazine,
by Hoe & Co., of a perfecting press to do the plain forms of that
periodical. The machine was described in the magazine, in an article
written by Mr. De Vinne, here quoted from:
(Extract from article published in the “Century” Magazine, November,
1890.)
“At the end of a long row of machinery stands the web press--a
massive and complicated construction, especially built by Hoe & Co.
for printing, cutting and folding the plain and advertising pages
of the ‘Century.’ Web presses for newspapers are common enough,
but this press has distinction as the first, and for three years
the only, web press used in this country, for good book work. At
one end of the machine is a great roll of paper more than two
miles long when unwound, and weighing about 750 pounds. As the
paper unwinds it passes first over a jet of steam which slightly
dampens and softens its hard surface and fits it for receiving
impressions, without leaving it wet or sodden. It passes under a
plate cylinder, on which are thirty-two curved plates, inked by
seven large rollers, which print thirty-two pages on one side.
Then it passes around a reversing cylinder which presents the
other side of the paper to another plate cylinder, on which are
thirty-two plates which print exactly on the back the proper pages
for the thirty-two previously printed. This is done quickly--in
less than two seconds--but with exactness. But the web of paper is
still uncut. To do this it is drawn upward under a small cylinder
containing a concealed knife, which cuts the printed web in strips
two leaves wide and four leaves long. As soon as cut the sheets
are thrown forward on endless belts of tape. An ingenious but
undetectable mechanism gives to every alternate sheet a quicker
movement, so that it falls exactly over its predecessor, making
two lapped strips of paper. Busy little adjusters now come in
play, placing these lapped sheets of paper accurately up to a
head and a side guide. Without an instant of delay down comes
a strong creasing blade over the long center of the sheet, and
pushes it out of sight. Pulleys at once seize the creased sheet
and press it flat, in which shape it is hurried forward to meet
three circular knives on one shaft, which cut it across in four
equal pieces. Disappearing for an instant from view, it comes out
on the other side of the upper end of the tail of the press in
the form of four folded sections of eight pages each. Immediately
after, at the lower end of the tail of the press, out come four
entirely different sections of eight pages each. This duplicate
delivery shows the product of the press to be at every revolution
of the cylinder sixty-four pages, neatly printed, truly cut, and
accurately registered and folded, ready for the binder. Two boys
are kept fully employed in seizing the folded sections and putting
them in box trucks, by which they are rolled out to the elevator,
and on these sent to the bindery. This web press is not so fast as
the web press of daily newspapers, but it performs more operations
and does more accurate work. It is not a large machine, nor is
it noisy, nor does it seem to be moving fast, but the paper goes
through the cylinders at the rate of nearly two hundred feet a
minute. It does ten times as much work as the noisier and more
bustling presses by its side.”
[Illustration: ROTARY ART PRESS]
The success of this perfecting press induced the makers to devise
a machine on the rotary principle adapted for the finest kind of
illustrations--in short, to make a press which should do work as fine
as it was possible to do on the hand press or the stop cylinder.
The result was the setting up, in 1890, at the De Vinne Press, of a
machine known as the “Rotary Art” press. This machine is described in
the “Century” of November, 1890, as follows:--“Sixty-four plates of
the ‘Century’ truly bent to the proper curve, are firmly fastened on
one cylinder sixty inches long, and about thirty inches in diameter;
sixteen inking rollers, supplied with ink from two fountains,
successfully ink these sixty-four plates with a delicacy and yet
with a fullness of color never before attained. The shafts of the
impression cylinder and the plate cylinders, 4½ inches in diameter,
do not give or spring under the strongest impression. Although rigid
in every part, in the hands of an expert pressman it can be made
responsive to the slightest overlay. This machine is fed by four
feeders from single sheets in the usual manner, and does the work of
four stop cylinders in superior style. The gain in performance is
not as great as the gain in quality of presswork, but quality was
considered more than speed. The performance of the machine could have
been more than doubled by adding to it other cylinders which would
print on both sides of the paper; but careful experiment has proved
that the _finest_ woodcuts cannot be properly printed with this
rapidity. To get the best results the ink on one side of the paper
must be dry before it is printed on the other side.”
[Illustration: “TIT BITS” PRESS]
Among the most interesting modern printing machines are those
constructed by Hoe & Co. at their London works, after drawings and
patterns sent from New York, for weekly English journals, such as
“Tit-Bits,” “Sunday Stories,” and similar periodicals. These machines
embody to a certain extent the principles of the “Double Supplement”
press before referred to. Double sets of plates are placed upon
the main machine, which is capable of taking on an aggregate of
twenty-four pages; and by using narrower rolls the number of pages
of the body of the journal may be reduced to sixteen or twenty, so
that the publisher may have the option of printing his paper either
sixteen, twenty or twenty-four pages. In addition to this it prints
a cover on a different colored paper, and all at the rate of 24,000
copies per hour; the whole product, including the cover, being cut on
the edges and pasted together at the back. The supplement or cover of
the press portion, however, instead of having two pairs of cylinders,
as in the “Double Supplement” machine, consists of one form cylinder
and one impression cylinder. This portion of the machine prints the
cover, which is fed from a narrower roll, and, as before stated, of
an entirely different color or quality of paper from the body of the
journal. The form for one side of the cover is placed on one end of
the form cylinder, and that for the other side on the other end
of the cylinder. This ingenious combination results in the printing
of one cover to every copy of the journal issued and no more.
The demand for printed matter seems to increase with the ability to
furnish it, and much attention is now being directed to the subject
of color printing on the rotary system. From present appearances,
and from the enterprise displayed by the publisher, the artist and
the press maker, it would seem as though the day is not far distant
when this subject alone would furnish matter for a new chapter in the
history of the printing press.
It is very difficult to give in a short article even a summary of
the various kinds of machines to print newspapers of various sizes,
in black as well as in colors, weekly periodicals, magazines, books,
pamphlets, in short every class of printing, in connection with
folding, which have been evolved and perfected up to the present
time. The work still goes on, one step in advance leading to another,
until now a printer can obtain a great variety of machines to print
from the roll or fed from separate sheets, and which, especially in
the production of large numbers, economize both time and labor. Nor
is this constant advance in mechanical construction confined to the
machines themselves or the manipulation of the paper. It extends to
the manufacture of the paper and the inks, although the manufacturers
of the latter have not advanced in the same proportion as the
paper-maker, who every year produces finer paper in the roll and in
greater quantities than ever before.
[Illustration: OCTUPLE PRESS]
The latest and most elaborate newspaper machine is the Octuple
Perfecting Press with Folders, which prints from four rolls, each
four pages wide, and gives (from the four deliveries) a running speed
per hour of: 96,000 4, 6 or 8-page papers; 72,000 10-page papers;
60,000 12-page papers; 48,000 14 or 16-page papers; 42,000 18-page
papers; 36,000 20-page papers; 24,000 24-page papers.
This machine has been further developed into the Improved Combination
Octuple (or Double Quadruple) and Color Machine, lately patented by
R. Hoe & Co., which, in addition to giving the above mentioned output
when printing in black only, will also produce papers in colors at
the rate per hour of: 96,000 4-pages; 48,000 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 or 16
pages; 24,000 18, 20, 24 or 28 pages.
[Illustration: DOUBLE SEXTUPLE PRESS BUILT FOR THE NEW YORK JOURNAL]
R. Hoe & Co. have now in process of construction four mammoth
printing machines, which will give a greater product and a greater
variety of products than any machines that have hitherto been
devised. They are Double Sextuple Presses and so called, but in
reality are much more than this, inasmuch as they combine the ability
to do printing in colors as well as in black. This machine is
composed, so to speak, of two separate, complete printing mechanisms,
each fed from three four-page-wide rolls of paper; the apparatus for
the gathering and folding of these webs of paper after printing being
in the centre between the two sections of the machine. The “formers”
and folders (placed back to back) enable a manipulation or gathering
of the webs which could not be readily obtained in any other way.
All these devices and methods have been patented by Hoe & Co. The
following is a summary description of these new machines and what
they will accomplish. The two sections may be used separately if
desired, as independent machines.
Each of the two portions of the machine is composed of six pairs of
cylinders, arranged, with their axles parallel, in three tiers of two
pairs each and printing on both sides (or perfecting) three webs of
paper from separate rolls, each four pages wide. One of the sections
is also arranged so that all six sets of cylinders will print upon a
single web in colors and black, this web being associated with the
three webs from the other portion to form a colored cover for the
products, when required.
The rolls of paper are placed at the end of the machine--three at
each end--and the two folders for each portion are placed back to
back midway in the length of the machine. The runs of all the webs
are therefore approximately the same and as short as it is possible
to have them--a matter of much importance in the running of multiple
webs.
Altogether there are twelve plate cylinders in the machine, each
carrying eight plates the size of a newspaper page. Either stereotype
or electrotype plates may be used. To receive the latter, which are
much thinner than stereotype plates, special base or jacket plates
are secured to the cylinders. The ink is applied to the plates by
four form rollers, after having been thoroughly distributed by
vibrating rollers and cylinders.
The full capacity of the machine, when printing all black, on six
rolls, is 96,000 twelve-page papers per hour, and other numbers
of pages at proportionate speeds, namely, four, six, eight and
ten-page papers, at the same speed as twelve-page; fourteen and
sixteen-page papers at 72,000 per hour; eighteen, twenty, twenty-two
and twenty-four page papers at 48,000 per hour. The three webs from
each portion of the machine are led to the top of the folders, where
they are divided along their centre line into webs two pages wide,
and then run down each of the four “formers,” by which they are
folded along their centre. They are then led through cylinders which
cut them into page lengths and give them a fold across the page to
half-page size. In this way twenty-four page papers may be obtained
at the rate of 48,000 copies per hour, by collecting two twelve-page
sections on the cylinder just before the half-page fold is made.
Another method of running twenty-four page papers is to associate the
six webs, from both portions of the machine, and run them over one
pair of “formers,” thus folding all six webs together, or insetting
them, in the first fold.
Lesser number of pages may be obtained by making various
combinations, the number of which is almost limitless. Angle bars
are placed in the machine for transferring half-width webs of
paper from one side of the press to the other, facilitating these
combinations.
The maximum product of the machine when running as a color press
is 48,000 sixteen-page papers per hour, with the two outside pages
printed in four colors and black; the other pages in black only. If,
however, it is not desired to have so many colors on the outside
pages, it is possible to obtain twenty-page papers, at the rate of
48,000 per hour, with the two outside pages in two colors and black;
all the other pages in black only. Papers with any number of pages
from four to sixteen, with four colors and black on the outside
pages, the other pages in black only, can be obtained at a speed of
48,000 per hour. By running the full product of the color section of
the machine into one folder and associating therewith webs of paper
from the other section of the machine, papers with any number of
pages from eight to twenty-four, with the two outside pages and two
of the inside pages printed in four colors and black, the other pages
in black only, can be produced at a speed of 24,000 per hour.
The dimensions of this machine are as follows: Length, 35 feet;
height, 17 feet; width, 9 feet; the weight, about 225,000 pounds; and
the number of parts of which it is composed, approximately 50,000.
The last three or four years have also witnessed an immense advance
in the art of color printing. The magazine without an elaborate color
cover, or perhaps colored illustrations, is now an exception, whereas
it was the reverse not long ago. After satisfactory experiments it
was ascertained by the writer that, with the inks properly prepared,
and suitable plates to print from, colors could be printed almost
simultaneously upon the paper, without mingling; in short that the
supposed necessity, in much of the work done, of drying the sheets
after the impression of each color on the paper, was not necessary
for the production of a good quality of printing. Further experiments
also proved the mechanical possibility of obtaining most accurate
register in printing from a roll and that the number of impressions,
or colors, could be increased to advantage. These various experiments
resulted in the construction by Hoe & Co. of color presses which were
almost simultaneously installed by the proprietors of the New York
“Herald” and the New York “World,” who commenced the publication
of colored supplements, upon a system which has been adopted by
the papers in most of the large cities, and which they have never
discontinued. The practicability of printing in colors has been so
fully demonstrated that color attachments are being added to very
many of the large newspaper presses throughout the country.
The most extensive of the color presses, and the largest printing
machine ever constructed, is the color press made by Hoe & Co.
for the New York “Journal” and now used in printing portions of
the Sunday editions of that paper, although others of approximate
proportions and capacity have been made for the New York “World,”
the New York “Herald,” the Chicago “Tribune,” the Boston “Post” and
other newspapers. This machine gives as many as eleven separate
impressions, or colors, on a single copy of the paper; that is, it
will print in six colors on one side of the sheet and five on the
other, or it may be arranged to print three colors on one side and
six on the other, giving a speed of about 16,000 eight-page papers
an hour, or at every revolution of the cylinders the equivalent of
two perfect eight-page papers printed in colors. Four, six, eight,
ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, twenty, twenty-four, twenty-eight or
thirty-two-page papers may be printed on this machine, as required,
from one, two or three double-width (or four-page-wide) rolls of
paper. It will also produce magazine forms (with pages half the
size of those of the regular issue of the paper) at from 16,000 to
24,000 an hour, either 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 40 or 48 pages, delivered
folded, cut, and automatically wire-stitched, with all the pages
printed in colors or half-tones.
Such a development of the art of printing, especially in colors,
in which accurate register is not only necessary, but must be
maintained, would have seemed incredible a few years ago, but this
is now a daily occurrence and many newspaper offices produce colored
supplements in the same manner and with the same results, having
additions placed upon their quadruple, sextuple and other presses for
the purpose.
[Illustration: “COLLIER’S WEEKLY” PRESS]
Nor has this development of colors been confined entirely to the
demands of the newspaper world. It is gradually finding its way
into the weekly periodical and the monthly magazines. It had been
considered impossible to print half-tone illustrations on both
sides of the sheet at one operation and deliver them flat, without
smutting. Not only has this difficulty been overcome, but in the
latest presses, such as used by Collier’s Weekly, the finest
half-tone work is done on a perfecting press printing on a roll of
paper. The periodical is printed in multiple pages, as required, and
delivered from the machine folded, cut apart and pasted, ready for
the binder. It is not desirable, of course, when using fine inks, to
make immediate delivery from the press; therefore the papers, after
having been perfected, folded and pasted, are left to stand for
some hours before they are distributed to the readers. Satisfactory
methods of doing this have also been devised. The capacity for
printing fine half-tone illustrations on a rotary press having thus
been demonstrated the next step is evidently the production of
colored half-tones, and the time is undoubtedly near at hand when
the monthly magazine as well as the weekly periodical will appear,
instead of in black half-tones, now so popular, with these same
illustrations printed in the most delicate manner in colors and all
delivered in perfection from rotary presses, folded in entirety, or
in signatures, ready for the binder.
It must now be evident to every experienced observer that the time
has arrived when printing upon the rotary system will in a large
measure supersede that now done upon flat-bed cylinder presses,
although the latter will always be retained for some kinds of work.
Satisfactory methods will be devised for attaching upon the cylinders
electrotype or stereotype plates of varying sizes. In addition to
this, new and improved methods are constantly being brought forward
for the transferring of type forms, photographs and illustrations
of every description, upon prepared sheets of metal, which receive
the ink and give impressions either from a raised surface, as in the
ordinary letter-press printing, or in the manner of lithographic
printing. These and other new methods of making plates will
undoubtedly lead in the future to great economy, as well as to
important improvements in the process of printing.