Vandalia Whig and Illinois intelligencer. [volume] (Vandalia, Ill.) 1832-183?, 1832-11-28
IMPROVEMENT IN pR,Nr,No,

Th src is, perhaps, hardly anshrnnch g
which g'ealer improvement has of,ue yea..H1
Hacted than in that of printing. Ey means q
nachinery connected with cotton mills and steam
;ngines, it is now possible to do that which fos-
neriy required great number of hands, hat
,fintlng establishment, perhaps exhibits the mast
ieclded proof of the economy of labor and raDidt
" OF execution. Mr.. Babbage, in his late work,
he Economy Of Machinery and Manufactures
n 'kes some curious calculations respecting that
colossal establishment, the Times, which win
prove this position. The matter, formed of news
rom almost every part of the world, and contAif-
nag information upon an endless variety Of SUD-
Jecis, is, when put together, within space exact
Nv proportioned to the surface of the paper, which
is commonly twelve feet square, but occasionally
wen'y four feet. The matter to fill the larger
'heet contains NJ less THAI 10000 detached types
- lr readers are probably aware that every type
must be picked up sing y and as it would be iud
possible to congregate many letters without
some errors, revision Of The matter takes place;
When it is composed, and frequently whole lines
are entirely altered or changed. There are ia
Ai'ndon a few workmen who can compose with
II making single error, but, time is an Cd.
laet, Instances Of such cases are rare; and evea
vhen the matter does not present any errors OF
ranspositions, the writer of articles almost inya,
and makes changes as new ideas and other cIfs
'imstances arises so that it may be reckoned that
here is hardly line of original matter in q
newspaper but what undersoes some change of,e7
= 10 picked up by the composition. The letera,
| 'ninis, figures, &c, being placed in small sepax
rate boxes, it will be easily understood thar they
may become mixed, or that it is difficult to take
M emo sh to form sentence, without some en-
ror. The boxes of the compositions placed %
what are called frames, which contain uppet
Ind lower case for the types-~the lower for the
small letters points, &c, and the upper for the
napias. The labor of getting together mass
''tvpes as large as the matter of the Times O.
Herald may be Judged of by The following ad~
measurement of the former In the six columns
ri tbs title page there are 1876 inches, and 924
iaches in ~ columns Of 2. inches each for The
body of the paper Ii must be recollected also
b. all these letters having been collected togeth;
er in one day, they are singly distributed back to
he boxes on the next. The most astonishing
part of the operative portion Of the newspaper rs
the printing machine. By that of the Times 49,.
100 sides OF the paper are printed at the rate
4 ,000per hour, or sc per minute, as Mr.. Babbage
has stated is because, at this rate, ten millions
If letters, or nearly, are struck per minate -
Whether the paper is double or single, this is he
performance of one of the printing machines Of
the Times. Contrasting this with the agency Of
amanuenses, which was the only way the Ru>
mans had for the conveyance of information, il
would require, even if dictated to, upwards Of
81, 900 scribblers to write and produce per hour
900 copies of IL columns Of the Times, and al
lowing 2 feet 6 inches for each writer, 1t would
require for their accommodation eight tables ex-
tending from Mile-end gate to Tyburn. This
is besides the number of hands that would be re-
quired for the other pages. large folio 1Sm$
contains about 600 900 letters; this is about l5J
900 letters more than Mr.. Babbage's closely
printed volume; consequently, 1880 papers IF
The Iiues are equal, in printed matter, to $4,000
vols. of Mr.. Babbage's edition, or | AS volumes
|of Recess Encyclopedia. Thus, with a power
not exceeding one horse power, and within
premises that afford hardly 5000 superficial feet
lof accommodation, $1,000 volumes NAV be edited
daily, consequently 900 volumes per weeh
and $685. 900 per year, out of one printing con-
Germ. We take some of these calculations req,
pecting the Times from Mr. Babbage's work, but
as Of course other establishments contribute large
~ to satisfy the growing taste for reading, ths
improvement in the art, as respects rapidity and
beauty may be better conceived. The Herald
and Chronicle contribute largely to the diffusion
# general knowledge, and from the large circu-
| alton Of the Courier, Globe, and other evening
papers, besides the weekly papers, and the varf
aus reviews, magazines, &c. we can calculate,
without taking an exaggerated view, that print
Ing is carried 10 greater extent and 20 greatep
perfection in England than in any other country
j ENG PaRe;