The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-31 00:00:00

THURSDAY
_EVENING-, MAY 31,

RE VOLUTION IN TYPE-MAKINft4.
When Guttenburg first discovered the art of
oduc-
ing from one plane a continuous series of impressions of
any given work, the advent of a new era was p-focistim,d
to the world. Instead of the laborious am', uncertain
labours of the transcribers, there was substituted at once
the easy, precise, and unerring operation of machinery.
At first, as in the case of many other improvements—
some of which might be instanced in our own day—the
inventor himself had but limited ideas as to the nature
and consequences of the new power he had created. The
types from which Guttenburg and Faust originally pro-
duced those impressions of the Holy Scriptures, which,
from their uniformity and regularity, gave rise to the
accusation of sorcery and witchcraft, were something like
the:"woodcuts of the present day. At a somewhat later
period moveable types were substituto.d for these wooden
blocks; but the art of manufacturing moveable types has
remained almost stationary since its invention in the six-
teenth century. The defects of the present types need
not be enumerated to practical printers—the fragility,
softness, and rapid deteriortion which were felt in
the days of Caxton, and the early printers, are felt
still more in the present day in consequence of the use
of steam -presses. There is not a single newspaper or
b a:.1( office, in which large impressions are required,
that does not feel the disadvantage of being obliged to
use a type composed of an alloy fusible at a low tem-
perature. All the metals possessing this property being
destitute of the hardness necessary for producing the
number of impressions now required, the immense and
almost incalculable impetus given to human progress by
the invention of typography, and the consequent diffu-
sion of knowledge amongst all classes of society—even
with the imperfect means we now possess—must make
any improvements in this department a subj, et of the
highest importance to every true friend of civilization.
A machine, which promises to revolutionize the present
system of typography, invented by M. Petit, after years
of thought and careful experiment, was exhibited last
Saturday, at the meeting of the Royal Society, and
having elicited the highest approbation from the mem-
bers of that distinguished body, was yesterday opened to
private view in Bartlett's buildings, Holborn. The object
of the invention is to perfect, by means of self-acting ma-
chinery, printing type of a durability almost infinite. This
is effected by the use of hard metals, copper being the
material ultimately adopted by the inventor after many
experiments. The new process of type-making, as
shown by this invention, brings this most important and
intellectual department of industry into harmony with
the mechanical genius and improvements of the age. In-
stead of the old and complicated processes by which
types were formerly founded, a strip of copper wire, upon
a revolving wheel, passes through a series of wheels,
levers, pulleys, and cranks, of the simplest description in
reality, however complicated in words; the type is struck
or " punched " at the same moment that its size is ma-
thematically determined; and after passing two other
simple machines, is ready for use. By means of a small
steam-engine applied to the type-making machine 60 per
minute can be struck, or 36,000 per diem. The clearness
and beauty of the impression produced by the types thus
produced,
must delight all connoisseurs. In the new
process, instead of fusing the metals and pouring into
moulds to give the necessary form, the inventor of the
apyrotype machine effects this by a mechanical operation
at ordinary temperatures, chiefly by means of powerful
pressure and the use of steel dies and' matrices. The
type thus produced possesses the utmost sharpness of out-
line and hardness, in consequence of the superiority of the
metal employed, and the pressure to which it has been
subjected. Of course, it is impossible, at present to say
to what extent the new type will surpass that in use as
regards durability; but the superiority of copper, even in
its ordinary and compressed state, is admitted by
practical printers to be greater than that of ordinary
type, in the proportion of 100 to 1. The amount of pres-
sure which the copper undergoes in the apyrotype ma-
ehine must necessarily tend to increase this superiority.
We do not propose entering into details respecting the
beautiful applications of mechanical science observable in
this invention of M. Petit. We can only say that after
carefully inspecting the exquisitely constructed machi-
nery by which he proposes to effect the object in view,
that we have no hesitation in placing it among the most
valuable, most important, and most desirable inventions
of this present inventing age. The type can be pro-
duced even cheaper than under the present system. In
proportion as the founts decrease in size they rise in price.
A decrease in weight, under the new system, will be
accompanied by a diminution in cost; and when, ulti•
mately, the sharpness and clearness of the type has been,
by long use, deteriorated, the metal will retain an intrinsic
value far above what the present composition of metals
now used for printing types does in similar cases. We
believe that M. Petit has, by his invention, bestowed a
great benefit upon society, and brought type-making into
harmony with the machinery by which impressions are
now had from types.—Advertiser.