follows. You may try if six . exactly agree, and be even with seven
thin Spaces; (or, which is all one, a Body) for then is each of those
six . one sixth part thicker than a thin Space, because it drives out
a thin Space in six thin Spaces. And you may try if six : be equal to
a Body and one thin Space; for then is each : two sixth parts thicker
than a thin Space. If six , be equal to nine thin Spaces, then each ,
is three sixth parts of a thin Space thicker than a thin Space. If six
- be equal to ten thin Spaces, then each - is four sixth parts of a
thin Space thicker than a thin Space. If six ; be equal to eleven thin
Spaces, then each ; is five sixth parts of a thin Space thicker than a
thin Space.
Now, as aforesaid, a thin Space being one seventh part of the Body, and
the thin Space thus divided, you have the whole Body actually divided
into forty and two equal parts, as I have divided them in my Drafts of
Letters down the Sides, and in the Bottom-Line.
Though I have thus shewed how to divide a thin Space into six equal
Parts, yet when the Letter to be Cut proves of a small Body, the thin
Space divided into two equal Parts may serve: If it prove bigger, into
three or four equal Parts: And of the largest Bodies, they may be
divided into six, as aforesaid.
If now you would make a _Gage_ for any number of thin Spaces and Sixth
Parts of a thin Space, you must take one thin Space less than the
number of thin Spaces proposed, and add . : , - ; according as the
number of sixth Parts of a thin Space require; and to those complicated
Thicknesses you may file a square Notch on the edge of the thin Plate
aforesaid, which shall be a standing Gage or Measure for that number of
thin Spaces and sixth Parts of a thin Space.
All the Exception against this way of Measuring is, that thin Spaces
cast in Metal may be subject to bow, and so their Thicknesses may prove
deceitful. But, in Answer to that, I say, you may, if you will, Cast
I for two thin Spaces thick, e for three thin Spaces thick, S for four
thin Spaces thick, L for five thin Spaces thick, D for six thin Spaces
thick, or any other Letters near these several Thicknesses, as you
think fit; only remember, or rather, make a Table of the number of thin
Spaces that each Letter on the Shank is Cast for. And by complicating
the Letters and Points, as aforesaid, you will have any Thickness,
either to make a Gage by, or to use otherwise.
On the other Edge of the _Face-Gage_ you may file three other Notches,
of the same Width with those on the former Edge, for the Long, the
Assending, and Short-Letters. But though the two sides of each of these
Notches are parallel to each other, yet is not the third side square to
them, but hath the same Slope the _Italick_ hath from the _Roman_; as
you may see in the Figure at _b b b_.
¶. 6. _Of_ Italick, _and other_ Standing Gages.
These _Gages_ are to measure (as aforesaid) the Slope of the _Italick_
Stems, by applying the Top and Bottom of the _Gage_ to the Top and
Bottom-Lines of the Letters, and the other Side of the _Gage_ to the
Stem: for when the Letter complies with these three sides of the _Gage_
that Letter hath its true Slope.
The manner of making these _Gages_ (and indeed all other _Angular
Gages_) is thus.
Place one Point of a Pair of Steel _Dividers_ upon the thin Plate
aforesaid, at the Point _c_ or _d_ (in _Fig._ D in _Plate_ 10.) and
with the other Point describe a small fine Arch of a Circle; as, _e
f_ or _g h_. In this Arch of the Circle must be set off on the _Gage_
_a_ 110 Degrees, and on the _Gage_ _b_ 70 Degrees, and draw from
the Centres _c_ and _d_ two straight Lines through those numbers of
Degrees: Then Filing away the Plate between the two Lines, the _Gages_
are finished.
To find the Measure of this, or any other number of Degrees, do thus;
Describe a Circle on a piece of Plate-Brass of any Radius (but the
larger the better) draw a straight Line exactly through the Centre of
this Circle, and another straight Line to cut this straight Line at
right Angles in the Centre, through the Circle; so shall the Circle
be divided into four Quadrants: Then fix one Foot of your Compasses
(being yet unstirr’d) in one of the Points where any of the straight
Lines cuts the Circle, and extend the moving Foot of your Compasses
where it will fall in the Circle, and make there a Mark, which is 60
Degrees from the fixed Foot of the Compasses: Then fix again one Foot
of your Compasses in the Intersection of the straight Line and Circle
that is next the Mark that was made before, and extend the moving Foot
in the same Quadrant towards the straight Line where you first pitch’d
the Foot of your Compasses, and with the moving Foot make another Mark
in the Circle. These two Marks divide the Quadrant into three equal
Parts: The same way you may divide the other three Quadrants; so shall
the whole Circle be divided into twelve equal Parts; and each of these
twelve equal parts contain an Arch of thirty Degrees: Then with your
Dividers divide each of these 30 Degrees into three equal Parts, and
each of these three equal Parts into two equal Parts, and each of these
two equal Parts into five equal Parts, so shall the Circle be divided
into 360 equal Parts, for your use.
To use it, describe on the Centre of the Circle an Arch of almost a
Semi-Circle: This Arch must be exactly of the same Radius with that I
prescribed to be made on the _Gages_ _a b_, from _e_ to _f_ and from
_g_ to _h_; then count in your Circle of Degrees from any Diametral
Line 110 Degrees; and laying a straight Ruler on the Centre, and on the
110 Degrees aforesaid, make a small Mark through the small Arch; and
placing one Foot of your Compasses at the Intersection of the small
Arch, with the Diametral Line, open the other Foot to the Mark made on
the small Arch for 110 Degrees, and transfer that Distance to the small
Arch made on the _Gage_: Then through the Marks that the two Points of
your Compasses make in the small Arch on the _Gage_, draw two straight
Lines from the Centre _c_: and the Brass between those two straight
Lines being filed away, that _Gage_ is made. In like manner you may set
off any other number of Degrees, for the making of any other _Gage_.
In like manner, you may measure any Angle in the Drafts of Letters, by
describing a small Arch on the Angular Point, and an Arch of the same
Radius on the Centre of your divided Circle: For then, placing one Foot
of your Compasses at the Intersection of the small Arch with either
of the straight Lines proceeding from the Angle in the Draft, and
extending the other Foot to the Intersection of the small Arch, with
the other straight Line that proceeds from the Angle, you have between
the Feet of your Compasses, the Width of the Angle; and by placing
one Foot of your Compasses at the Intersection of any of the straight
Lines that proceed from the Centre of the divided Circle, and the small
Arch you made on it, and making a Mark where the other Foot of your
Compasses falls in the said small Arch, you may, by a straight Ruler
laid on the Centre of the divided Circle, and the Mark on the small
Arch, see in the Limb of the Circle the number of Degrees contained
between the Diametral, or straight Line and the Mark.
If you have already a dividing-Plate of 360 Degrees, of a larger Radius
than the Arch on your _Gage_, you may save your self the labour of
dividing a Circle (as aforesaid,) and work by your dividing-Plate as
you were directed to do with the Circle that I shewed you to divide.
In these Documents I have exposed my self to a double Censure; First,
of _Geometricians_: Secondly, of _Letter-Cutters_. _Geometricians_ will
censure me for writing anew that which almost every young Beginner
knows: And _Letter-Cutters_ will censure me for proposing a Rule for
that which they dare pretend they can do without Rule.
To the _Geometricians_ I cross the Cudgels: yet I writ this not to
them; and I doubt I have written superfluously to _Letter-Cutters_,
because I think few of them either will or care to take pains to
understand these small Rudiments of _Geometry_. If they do, and be
ingenious, they will thank me for discovering this Help in their own
Way, which few of them know. For by this Rule they will not only make
Letters truer, but also quicker, and with less care; because they
shall never need to stamp their _Counter-Punch_ in Lead, to see how
it pleases them; which they do many times, before they like their
_Counter-Punch_, (be it of A _A_ V v W w _V_ _W_, and several other
Letters) and at last finish their _Counter-Punch_ but with a good
Opinion they have that it may do well, though they frequently see
it does not in many Angular Letters on different Bodies Cut by the
same Hand. And were _Letter-Cutting_ brought to so common Practice as
_Joynery_, _Cabinet-making_, or _Mathematical Instrument-making_, every
young Beginner should then be taught by Rules, as they of these Trades
are; because _Letter-Cutting_ depends as much upon Rule and Compass as
any other Trade does.
You may in other places, where you find most Convenience (as at _i_)
make a Square, which may stand you in stead for the Squaring the Face
and Stems of the _Punch_ in _Roman_ Letters, and also in many other
Uses.
And you may make _Gages_, as you were taught before to try the
_Counter-Punches_ of Angular Letters; as, A K M N V X Y Z, _Romans_
and _Italicks_, _Capitals_ and _Lower-Case_. But then, that you may
know each distinct _Gage_, you may engrave on the several respective
_Gages_, at the Angle, A _A_ 4 _&c._ For by examining by the Drafts of
Letters, what Angle their Insides make, you may set that Angle off,
and make the _Gage_ as you were taught before, in the _Gage_ for the
Slope of _Italicks_.
¶. 7. _Of the_ Liner.
The _Liner_ is marked E in _Plate_ 10. It is a thin Plate of Iron or
Brass, whose Draft is sufficient to express the Shape. The Use of it is
on the under-edge _a b_ (which is about three Inches long) and is made
truly straight, and pretty sharp or fine; that being applied to the
Face of a _Punch_, or other piece of Work, it may shew whether it be
straight or no.
¶. 8. _Of the_ Flat-Table.
The _Flat-Table_ at F in _Plate_ 10. The Figure is there sufficient.
All its Use is the Table F, for that is about one Inch and an half
square, and on its Superficies exactly straight and flat. It is made of
Iron or Brass, but Brass most proper. Its Use is to try if the Shank of
a _Punch_ be exactly Perpendicular to its Face, when the Face is set
upon the _Table_; for if the Shank stand then directly upright to the
Face of the _Table_, and lean not to any side of it, it is concluded to
be perpendicular.
It hath several other Uses, which, when we come to _Casting_ of
_Letters_, and _Justifying_ of _Matrices_, shall be shewn.
¶. 9. _Of the_ Tach.
The _Tach_ is a piece of Hard Wood, (Box is very good) about three
Inches broad, six Inches long, and three quarters of an Inch thick.
About half its Length is fastned firm down upon the _Work-Bench_, and
its other half projects over the hither Edge of it. It hath three
or four Angular Notches on its Fore-end to rest and hold the Shank
of a _Punch_ steady when the End of the _Punch_ is screwed in the
_Hand-Vice_, and the _Hand-Vice_ held in the left hand, while the
_Workman_ Files or Graves on it with his Right Hand.
Instead of Fastning the _Tach_ to the _Bench_, I _Saw_ a square piece
out of the further half of the _Tach_, that it may not be too wide
for the Chaps of the _Vice_ to take and screw that narrow End into
the Chaps of the _Vice_, because it should be less cumbersome to my
_Work-Bench_.
¶. 10. _Of Furnishing the_ Work-Bench.
The _Workman hath all his great _Files_ placed in Leather Nooses,
with their Handles upwards, that he may readily distinguish the _File_
he wants from another _File_. These Nooses are nailed on a Board that
Cases the Wall on his Right Hand, and as near his _Vice_ as Convenience
will admit, that he may the readier take any _File_ he wants.
He hath also on his Right Hand a Tin Pot, of about a Pint, with
small _Files_ standing in it, with their Handles downwards, that
their Blades may be the readier seen. These small _Files_ are called
_Watch-makers Files_, and the _Letter-Cutter_ hath occasion to use
these of all Shapes, _viz._ _Flat_, _Pillar_, _Square_, _Triangular_,
_Round_, _Half-Round_, _Knife-Files_, _&c._
He also provides a shallow square Box, of about five Inches long, and
three Inches broad, to lay his small Instruments in; as, his _Gages_,
his _Liner_, some common _Punches_, _&c._ This Box he places before
him, at the further side of the _Work-Bench_.
He also provides a good _Oyl-Stone_, to sharpen his _Gravers_ and
_Sculpters_ on. This he places at some distance from the _Vice_, on his
Left-Hand.
§. 13. ¶. 1. _Of_ Letter-Cutting.
The _Letter-Cutter_ does either Forge his _Steel-Punches_, or procures
them to be forged; as I shewed, _Numb._ 1. _Fol._ 8, 9, 10. in _Vol._
I. _&c._ But great care must be taken, that the Steel be sound, and
free from Veins of Iron, Cracks and Flaws, which may be discerned; as
I shewed in _Numb._ 3. _Vol._ I. For if there be any Veins of Iron in
the Steel, when the Letter is Cut and Temper’d, and you would Sink the
_Punch_ into the Copper, it will batter there: Or it will Crack or
Break if there be Flaws.
If there be Iron in it, it must with the Chissel be split upon a good
Blood-Red-Heat in that place, and the Iron taken or wrought out; and
then with another, or more Welding Heat, or Heats, well doubled up, and
laboured together, till the Steel become a sound entire piece. This
Operation _Smiths_ call _Well Currying of the Steel_.
If there be Flaws in it, you must also take good Welding Heats, so
hot, that the contiguous sides of the Flaws may almost Run: for then,
snatching it quickly out of the Fire, you may labour it together till
it become close and sound.
Mr. _Robinson_, a _Black-Smith_ of _Oxford_, told me a way he uses
that is ingenious, and seems rational: For if he doubts the Steel may
have some small Flaws that he can scarce discern, he takes a good high
Blood-Red Heat of it, and then twists the Rod or Bar (as I shewed,
_Numb._ 3. _Vol._ I.) which Twisting winds the Flaws about the Body
of the Rod, and being thus equally disposed, more or less, into the
Out-sides of the Rod, according as the Position of the Flaw may be,
allows an equal Heat on all sides to be taken, because the Out-sides
heat faster than the Inside; and therefore the Out-sides of the Steel
are not thus so subject to Burn, or Run, as if it should be kept in
the Fire till the Middle, or Inside of it should be ready to Run. And
when the Steel is thus well welded, and soundly laboured and wrought
together with proper Heats, he afterwards reduces it to Form.
Now, that I may be the better understood by my Reader as he reads
further, I have, in _Plate_ 10. at _Fig._ G described the several Parts
of the _Punch_; which I here explain.
G The Face.
_a a_, _b b_ The Thickness.
_a b_, _a b_ The Heighth.
_a c_, _b c_, _b c_ The Length of the Shank, about an
Inch and three quarters long.
_c c c_ The Hammer-End.
This is no strict Length for the Shank, but a convenient Length; for
should the Letter Cut on the Face be small, and consequently, the
Shank so too, and the Shank much longer, and it (as seldom it is) not
Temper’d in the middle, it might, with Punching into Copper, bow in the
middle, either with the weight of the Hammer, or with light reiterated
Blows: And should it be much shorter, there might perhaps Finger-room
be wanting to manage and command it while it is Punching into the
Copper. But this Length is long enough for the biggest Letters, and
short enough for the smallest Letters.
The Heighth and Thickness cannot be assign’d in general, because of the
diversity of Bodies, and Thickness of Letters: Besides, some Letters
must be Cut on a broad Face of Steel, though, when it is Cut, it is of
the same Body; as all Letters are, to which _Counter-Punches_ are used;
because the Striking the _Counter-Punch_ into the Face of the _Punch_
will, if it have not strength enough to contain it, break or crack one
or more sides of the _Punch_, and so spoil it. But if the Letter be
wholly to be Cut, and not Counter-Punch’d, as I shall hereafter hint in
general what Letters are not, then the Face of the _Punch_ need be no
bigger, or, at least, but a small matter bigger than the Letter that is
to be cut upon it.
Now, If the Letter be to be Counter-punch’d, the Face of the _Punch_
ought to be about twice the Heighth, and twice the Thickness of the
Face of the _Counter-Punch_; that so, when the _Counter-Punch_ is
struck just on the middle of the Face of the _Punch_, a convenient
Substance, and consequently, Strength of Steel on all its Sides may be
contained to resist the Delitation, that the Sholder or Beard of the
_Counter-Punch_ sinking into it, would else make.
If the _Letter-Cutter_ be to Cut a whole Set of _Punches_ of the same
Body of _Roman_ and _Italica_, he provides about 240 or 260 of these
_Punches_, because so many will be used in the _Roman_ and _Italica_
_Capitals_ and _Lower-Case_, _Double-Letters_, _Swash-Letters_,
_Accented Letters_, _Figures_, _Points_, _&c._ But this number of
_Punches_ are to have several Heighths and Thicknesses, though the
Letters to be Cut on them are all of the same Body.
What Heighth and Thickness is, I have shewed before in this §, but not
what Body is; therefore I shall here explain it.
By Body is meant, in _Letter-Cutters_, _Founders_ and _Printers_
Language, the Side of the Space contained between the Top and Bottom
Line of a Long Letter. As in the Draft of Letters, the divided Line on
the Left-Hand of A is divided into forty and two equal Parts; and that
Length is the Body, thus: J being an Ascending and Descending Letter,
_viz._ a long Letter, stands upon forty-two Parts, and therefore fills
the whole Body.
There is in common Use here in _England_, about eleven Bodies, as I
shewed in §. 2. ¶. 2. of this Volumne.
I told you even now, that all the _Punches_ for the same Body must not
have the same Heighth and Thickness: For some are Long; as, J j Q, and
several others; as you may see in the Drafts of Letters: and these long
Letters stand upon the whole Heighth of the Body.
The Ascending and Descending Letters reach from the Foot-Line, up to
the Top-Line; as all the Capital Letters are Ascending Letters, and
so are many of the Lower-Case Letters; as, b d f, and several others.
The Descending Letters are of the same Length with the Ascending
Letters; as, g p q and several others. These are contained between the
Head-Line and the Bottom-Line. The Short-Letters are contained between
the Head-Line and the Bottom-line. These are three different Sizes of
Heighth the _Punches_ are made to, for Letters of the same Body. But in
proper place I shall handle this Subject more large and distinctly.
And as there is three Heighths or Sizes to be considered in Letters
Cut to the same Body, so is there three Sizes to be considered, with
respect to the Thicknesses of all these Letters, when the _Punches_ are
to be Forged: For some are m thick; by m thick is meant m _Quadrat_
thick, which is just so thick as the Body is high: Some are n thick;
that is to say, n _Quadrat_ thick, _viz._ half so thick as the Body
is high: And some are _Space_ thick; that is, one quarter so thick as
the Body is high; though Spaces are seldom Cast so thick, as shall be
shewed when we come to _Casting_: and therefore, for distinction sake,
we shall call these Spaces, Thick Spaces.
The first three Sizes fit exactly in Heighth to all the Letters of the
same Body; but the last three Sizes fit not exactly in Thickness to
the Letters of the same Body; for that some few among the Capitals are
more than m thick, some less than m thick, and more than n thick; and
some less than n thick, and more than Space thick; yet for Forging
the _Punches_, these three Sizes are only in general Considered, with
Exception had to Æ _Æ_ _Q_, and most of the Swash-Letters; which being
too thick to stand on an m, must be Forged thicker, according to the
Workman’s Reason.
After the Workman has accounted the exact number of Letters he is to
Cut for one Set, he considers what number he shall use of each of these
several Sizes in the _Roman_, and of each of these several Sizes in the
_Italick_; (for the _Punches_ of _Romans_ and _Italicks_, if the Body
is large, are not to be Forged to the same shape, as shall be shewed by
and by) and makes of a piece of Wood one Pattern of the several Sizes
that he must have each number Forged to. Upon every one of these Wooden
Patterns I use to write with a Pen and Ink the number of _Punches_
to be Forged of that Size, lest afterwards I might be troubled with
Recollections.
I say (for Example) He considers how many Long-Letters are m thick,
how many Long-Letters are n thick, and how many Long-Letters are Space
thick, in the _Roman_; and also considers which of these must be
Counter-punch’d, and which not: For (as was said before) those Letters
that are to be Counter-punch’d are to have about twice the Heighth
and twice the Thickness of the Face of the _Counter-Punch_, for the
Reason aforesaid. But the Letters not to be Counter-punch’d need no
more Substance but what will just contain the Face of the Letter; and
makes of these three Sizes three Wooden Patterns, of the exact Length,
Heighth and Thickness that the Steel _Punches_ are to be Forged to.
He also counts how many are Ascendents and Descendents, m thick,
n thick, and Space thick; still considering how many of them are to be
Counter-punch’d, and how many not; and makes Wooden Patterns for them.
The like he does for short-letters; and makes Wooden Patterns for them,
for Steel _Punches_ to be Forged by.
And as he has made his Patterns for the _Roman_, so he makes Patterns
for the _Italick_ Letters also; for the same shap’d _Punches_ will not
serve for _Italick_, unless he should create a great deal more Work to
himself than he need do: For _Italick Punches_ are not all to be Forged
with their sides square to one another, as the _Romans_ are; but only
the highest and lowest sides must stand in Line with the highest and
lowest sides of the _Roman_; but the Right and Left-Hand sides stand
not parallel to the Stems of the _Roman_, but must make an Angle of 20
Degrees with the _Roman_ Stems: so that the Figure of the Face of the
_Punch_ will become a _Rhomboides_, as it is called by _Geometricians_,
and the Figure of this Face is the Slope that the _Italick_ Letters
have from the _Roman_, as in proper place shall be further shewed.
Now, should the _Punches_ for these Letters be Forged with each side
square to one another, the _Letter-Cutter_ would be forced to spend a
great deal of Time, and take great pains to File away the superfluous
Steel about the Face of the Letter when he comes to the Finishing of
it, especially in great Bodied Letters. Yet are not all the _Italick_
Letters to be Forged on the Slope; for the _Punches_ of some of them,
as the _m n_, and many others, may have all, or, at least, three of
their sides, square to one another, though their Stems have the common
Slope, because the ends of their Beaks and Tails lie in the same,
perpendicular with the Outer Points of the Bottom and Top of their
Stems, as is shewed in the Drafts of Letters.
Though I have treated thus much on the Forging of Punches, yet must
all what I have said be understood only for great Bodied _Punches_;
_viz._ from the _Great-Primer_, and upwards. But for smaller Bodies;
as _English_, and downwards, the _Letter-Cutter_ generally, both for
_Romans_ and _Italicks_, gets so many square Rods of Steel, Forged out
of about two or three Foot in Length, as may serve his purpose; which
Rods he elects as near his Body and Sizes as his Judgment will serve
him to do; and with the edge of a Half-round File, or a Cold-Chissel,
cuts them into so many Lengths as he wants _Punches_. Nay, many of
these Rods may serve for some of the small Letters in some of the
greater Bodies; and also, for many of their _Counter-Punches_.
Having thus prepared your _Punches_, you must Neal them, as I shewed in
_Numb._ 3. _Vol._ I.
¶. 2. _Of_ Counter-Punches.
The _Counter-Punches_ for great Letters are to be Forged as the
_Letter-Punches_; but for the smaller Letters, they may be cut out of
Rods of Steel, as aforesaid. They must also be well Neal’d, as the
_Punches_. Then must one of the ends be Filed away on the outside the
Shank, to the exact shape of the inside of the Letter you intend to
Cut. For Example, If it be _A_ you would Cut; This _Counter-Punch_ is
easie to make, because it is a Triangle; and by measuring the Inside
of the Angle of _A_ in the Draft of Letters, as you were taught, §.
12. ¶. 6. you may make on your Standing _Gage-Plate_ a _Gage_ for that
Angle: So that, let the Letter to be Cut be of what Body you will, from
the least, to the biggest Body, you have a Standing _Gage_ for this
_Counter-Punch_, so oft as you may have occasion to Cut A.