The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-28 00:00:00

MORNING SUN.

NEW MACHINE FOR BLOCK .

PRINTING.

The extraordinary improvements which have of late
years been introduced into the various branches of the
cotton manufacture, have so entirely changed the dif-
ferent modes and processes of production, that scarcely
any resemblance can now be traced to the original
methods. Block-printing, however, seems, until very
recently, to have been left behind in this march of im-
provement, and the printing shop presents almost the
same appearance now which it did when the art was first
introduced into this country from the East Indies ; and
for aught we know to the contrary, the precise mode was
still followed which was practised by the ancient Egyp-
tians. with, perhaps, a slight increase in the size of the
blocks. In cylinder printing very extensive improve-
ments have been effected, and are now very generally in
use amongst the trade ; but when brightness and purity
of colouring are required, block or surface printing is the
mode by which it is effected; and in the article called mous-
selines de laine, and other mixed fabrics, which require to
be well saturated with the colouring matter, the original
mode of printing has hitherto been practised. On Wednes-
day last, however, we had an opportunity of seeing in opera-
tion at the print-works of Messrs. Thos. Kennedy and
Co., at Little Govan, a machine invented by a Mr.
Burch, engineer, of London, which is likely destined to
make a great revolution in the printing business, and may
eventually enable printers to execute the most elaborate
patterns in block-printing equal in facility with the cy-
linder machine. The machine which we saw was adapted
for printing patterns in four colours, which it performs
with blocks precisely similar to those in ordinary use,
except that they impress the whole breadth of the piece
at once, and the operation is performed upon a table re-
sembling in appearance that used by the hand:sprinters.
Each block, after having been twice dipped upon the
colour sieve, (each time in a different place, so as
to meet a fresh surface charged with colour),
is carried on to the printing table, when it is im-
pressed on its exact position upon the cloth ; and in
cases when the colour upon one block is thicker than
what is necessary for another, the consistency is re-
gulated according to the fineness or weight of the objects
upon the surface of the block. They require a blow to
make them part frzely from the colour, or mordant, and
a set of mauls, or weights, are made to fall upon that
particular block, which assists in producing a sound im-
pression. The colours are supplied and spread upon the
sieves by the action of the machine, and the blocks and
sieves are changed with a facility almost equal to block-
printing. There is also a self-acting cleansing appara-
tus, which removes the waste colour from the cloth, upon
which the work is done, and must save great trouble and
expense in washing and supplying new printing blankets.
The joinings of the patterns are also most perfect, and
we were informed that the style of work the machine
was performing, at the time of our inspection, was very
difficult, being a heavy black blotch, along with some
delicate pink rosettes and fine outline prints. The result
seemed to give perfect satisfaction to the gentlemen who
have been the first to introduce this machine into Scot-
land. We were shown some perfect specimens of six
colour work which had been printed by one of these
machines in London, and we understand that one of
them may be seen printing patterns, in six colours, at the
establishment of Messrs. Sharp, Roberts, and Co., engi-
neers, Manchester. We find that the inventor and patentee
of this machine has a practical knowledge of the printing
trade, which must have been of intimate use to him in
constructing this beautiful piece of mechanism. The
machine at Messrs. Kennedy's is worked by half a horse
power, and being attended by two men and a boy, pro-
duces as much work as twenty men and twenty boys
under the old or usual system ; and it is expected that
superiority of work will be added to the cheapness and
facility of execution. The machine is also applicable to
the printing of warps, which are afterwards woven, and
produce the fabric called Chenies ; or it will print paper
hangings, druggets, or oil cloths. From the progress
which has been recently made in calico printing on the
Continent, something like the invention of Mr. Burch
was extremely desirable to enable the British printers to
retain their superiority ; and there is nothing in which
English workmen so much excel their continental rivals
as in the skilful management of machinery. A Swiss,
German, or French block-printer, is quite a match at any
time in skilful manipulation to an Englishman, but none
of them could compete with him in the quantity or qua-
lity of the work to be obtained from an ingenious ma-
chine like that which we have been describing.—Glas-
gow Herald.

POPULATION OF THE CITY OF

GLASGOW AND COUNTY O'S LANARK.

In our first page will be found the Census returns for
the City of Glasgow and the county of Lanark, showing
a total of 280,676 souls for the former, and 433,912 for
the latter, inclusive, of course, of Glasgow and the other
burghs within the bounds of the county. While the
vast increase which has taken place in the population
since 1831 must form matter of consideration to every
one, as indicative of the progressive advance of com-
merce and manufactures within our bounds, it is not to
be regarded without a somewhat painful alloy or draw-
back. The returns prove that in those parts of the city,
which are principally inhabited by labourers or the
humbler class of operatives, the increase in the number
of dwellings has borne no proportion to the increase of
the population which inhabits them ; or, in other words,
that as the number of people have increased their comforts
have decreased. The Irish population, it will be observed,
has increased vastly during these last 10 years, and the fol-
lowin.• ' remarks on the subject by Mr. Strang are well
worthy the attention of those who pursue statistical inquiry
with the view to ameliorate the condition or the mass who
lie at the base of society :—" While, therefore, (says
he] there appears only to be an increase [in the ancient
burgh bounds] of 3,495 in the present Census above that
which the Irish bore to the population of 1831, the real
amount of inhabitants who are imbued with Irish charac-
teristics, habits, feelings, and religious sentiments, is in-
finitely greater. Whether or not this vast infusion into
our city population, of a people whose ideas of comfort
are so far below the level of this nation, has had the effect
of altering, in any degree, the tastes and habits of those
with whom they are in daily intercourse, is somewhat
problematical ; but it cannot be denied, that this con-
stant Irish immigration is producing a more densely and
closely packed community, and is tending to a less com-
fortable condition in the dwellings of the labouring
classes. of our city." _ _

While on this subject it may not be uninteresting to
give a vidimus of the population of Glasgow and of the
county in which it is situated, at various antecedent
periods, evincing, as it does, an advance which has only
been equalled by the rapid, though less extensive, growth
of some of the American communities which have sprung
into thriving towns and cities within a few years after
the axe was applied to the forest from which the first
location was hewn. There is reason to believe that at
the time of the Reformation, in 1560, the population of
Glasgow amounted to 4,500 ; but there is no authentic
data on this subject till 1610. In that year (1610) Epis-
copacy having been re-established, the population was
taken by Archbishop Spottiswood, and ascertained to be
7,644. At the restoration of Charles 11., in 1660, the
population numbered 14,678. At the period of the Re-
volution, in 1688, the population had declined to 11,948.
The civil wars are assigned as the cause of this decrease,
and it is a matter of historical fact, that the iron hand
of persecution fell upon no part of Scotland more heavily
than upon that part of it in which Glasgow is situated.
It is not wonderful, therefore, that the numbers fell off
immediately after the restoration of the Second Charles,
and that it required more than half a century to make
tip
.the defalcation. In 1708. immediately after the
mon, the population amounted to 12,766. This enu-
meration was made by the Magistrates, to ascertain the
amount of the decline which they had anticipated. In
1711, an enumeration was made by order of the Conven-
tion of Royal Burghs, and the population was found to be
13,832. In 1740, the numbers were taken by the Macri-
strates, and found to be 17,034. In 1753 the population'hld
Increased to 23,546, but this total included persons livingin
houses adjoining to, but beyond the Royalty. In 1763 an
enumeration;was made by Mr. J. Woodburn, city surveyor,
and found to give a total of 28,300. In 1780, the suburbs'
of Glasgow were for the first time included in the enu-
meration, and the total numbers were 42,832. In 1785,
:soon after the termination of the American war, the
Magistrates took the population, which was 45,889.
was taken for Sir John Sin-
In 1791, the population
clair's National Statistical Account, and found to be
66,578. In 1801, the first Government.
,00d ~
Females, Census was
;
taken, and the result was—Males, 33
44,378—T0ta1, 77,385. Including part of the Subury,,
llowever, which had been omitted, the total population
of Glasgow now amounted to 83,769. In 1811, the
Government Enumeration gave— Males, U ,275 ;Fe-
males, 55,474—T0ta1, 100,749. By adding those parts
of the suburbs, which had been omitted, the actual total
was 110,460. In 1819, an enumeration was taken by
'the late Dr. Cleland, giving the following results—
`Males, 68,994; Females, 78,203—T0ta1, 147,197. At
the Government Census of 1821, the numbers were—
Males, 68,119 ; Females, 78,924—T0ta1, 147,043. In
1831, the fourth Government Census was taken, and
the population was—Males, 93,724 ; Females, 108,702—
Total, 202,426. In 1841, the fifth Government Enume-
ration gives a total of 280,676.
The population of the county of Lanark .has pro-
gressed as follows 1801, it amounted to 146,699.
In 1811, it was 190,924, showing an increase from 1801
.4.-)f Si per cent. In 1821, the total was 244,387, show-
ing an increase from 1811 of 27 per cent. In 1831, the
population was ascertained to be 316,790, showing an
increase from 1821 of 30 per cent. In the returns which
we publish to-day the gross population of Lanarkshire in
1841 is 433,912, showing an increase from 1831 of
117,122 or 36•9 per cent.—Glasgow Herald.

EFFECTS OF OF DISSIPATION.—In the Glasgow
Police Court, on Thursday, a poor dissipated wretch
presented his haggard countenance, supported by two
trembling hands—the elbows resting on the bar—and
heard, with rueful expression, the charge of abusing his
wife. She appeired in the witness box, a clean snod
bode, and not at all disposed to be severe on her decid-
edly worse half. According to her evidence he had
fasted for nearly twenty months—taking nothing but
whisky—until his stomach refused food, and his senses
denied him the knowledge of the days of the week ? She
did not want to he separated from him; all she wanted
was him to separa e himself from " that cursed waisky."
" If he does not," exclaimed she, growing warm in her
feelings, " he will take what God gave me ; and that is
my rational judgment !"—(Sensation.) Court—You
should really take your wife's advice, and abstain from
drinking. Prisoner (head and hands shaking)—l will ;
I will. Fiscal=And join the teetotallers ? Prisoner_ ;1,, \l' },lt Yes, yes ; this will never do ; I have been in a horrid
_,--, 7-;,•- . dream, destroying and breaking my poor wife's heart,
_. - ',-,,,',:; ,ki:, , lent 1,11 g my children and blasting my constitution, cha-
p k_w+ ..,..:./ . cr,4trelhperaodapets !
Z,. b srning words.) f`ionil side(Stolos;vt-,
•-/' art soothin.i
..,.. hisassistance,ei.ree..ithngtocomptosure,
- •c' hurried
--..\)1
and gloomily turning
and hissing forth the
s all go mad ! I shall go mad !" The
„, recommended him to reform, and his
a and tenderly led him away;
and she deeply atfected.—Edin-
b tug•it' Courant.

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