Los Angeles daily herald., 1873-12-20
: 4 Day 10 The ehssnisIs otdes.

It never occurred to me until now,
that q description OF q printing Office
could be Of the remotest interest to
anyone but . practical printer. How
ever, visited to-day, at the invitation
of the editor, the Office and press room
of the San Francisco Chronicle, with
q view Of learning something Of the
science Of stereotypipg, and locking at
the working Of . large city, ONCE.
Most readers Of the HERALD are aware
that the ordinary reporter knows as
much about the practical working Of
q newspaper as the NEUROLOGICAL cat
10 supposed TO have known Of violin.
playing. They have certain work to
do-hand In their copy and go-and
the appearance of. the next mornings
sheet, in good or bad form, Is q matter
Of Indifference to them. / asked sevs
eral during my visit, how stereotyping
was done, and the answer got was
invariably the same, Odd II l know,
some furnace arrangement, hot cop
per, and all that sort Of thing" This
morning went through the whole ss-
tablishment, and believe, that as as
serted, 1t ia the most complete news
paper effice west Of Chicago. In the
composition room the silence 10 un-
broken, except by the click Of the type,
and an occasional expeetoratlon nom
the lips Of . chewing eompositor.
Twenty-Five men are employed at the
cases, and even more on the occasion
Of issuing q double sheet. When the
forms are made up, and there, il, no
hammering at . shooting. stick, inas
much As the type 10 screwed up In tho
Chases by an enormous pressure, the
stones are wheeled out ct the door to Q
lift. Once on tho lift, they are let
down into the eleetrotyping depart
ment, where sheets Of pulpy papier-
m0che in damp state await their ar
rival. The pdpier-mdchs sheets are
pressed In very powerful presses, and
when taken out are laid over the forms,
ready for the press. They are then
hammered down with stifY, bristly
brush, which pushes the papics-nsnche
into tho interstices Of tho type with
far greater effect than, any hammer
could. Up to this time the type Is In
fat chase and the impression on
papler mache ia Of course fiat too, but
the type was not flexible and the pa
pier mache IL, and the impression per-
feet as possible 10 put into Q mould
and the exact shape required for the
cylinder press. The furnace during this
time has been going actively, heating
the type metal and melting IL for cast
ing. As soon as the papier-mache I'm
preston is in the mould, two men pour
In from large ladies sufficient boiling
metal to fill up the mould. The metal
rushes into the mould, is allowed five
minutes to cool, and on the mould
being unscrewed comes out q solid
plate of type. All that remains to be
10 ready to At into its position on the
cylinder. Tho papier nache impress
sions are preserved and can be used at
any time 80 that IN old edition can be
reprinted at any time. At the time
Of my visit 10 the pressrooms the
Evening Post was, being run on. The
press is known as "a cylinder Light
ming Hoe press, I. Q II prints eopies
Of tho paper at every revolution. I
!. thought Of our Baxter engine and lit
tie Gtoom phesS IN Cos Angeles md
I sftef due eonside atiop VA obliged To
own that tours was not quito 70 big.p
I Joking aoide, the, mechanism Of thb
once and the order and regularity
with which every thing H. done In its
fown appointed time and place'is Won
derful.
~ III could scarcely believe that the
engine which works tho Call, Bull.
letin, Examiner and other papers on
Con Clay y,strest, also runs the Chfonicle
press on Sansome street. II is 20,
however, and the shaft 10 laid under
the sidewalk FOR Q block from tho
pressroom Of Francis 4 Valentine
to the Chronicle Office. Lest my de-
scriptlon should seem to merge Into .
puff here let II cease. The viett wa
pleasant and instructive and II was