The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1877-07-03
from the NOdl Pintcr'S Gui,lc.

'io'oii--I1O" W IIpCuIS Giio oCSl W.
suits.
from the .'iodd PrintcrS Gui,lc,
In preparing to cast type, The
form Of tho type is cut by hand in
the first place, the end bearing the
face or letter being, Of course, pre-
ciscly like tho appearance intended
for the printed page. 1t is cut on
the end of Il soft steel bar, several
inches long, which is aftcrward
tempered.
For every letter in all the different
sizes and styles of type used, there
must first be q 'punch," cutby hand
Of these a vast number is necessary
to prepare mou(ds fer II large qrlan~
tity Of type,
The typo i made by cast. A
"matriH, or mould fc1. lie letters, is
made By driving the end of the
punch into short, thick copper
block. The "matrix' is so-called,
because it is the mother, rs it were,
of all the types that are cast in it.
The matriX makes tho letter or
face Of the type; the mould makes
The long, slender body which sup
ports tho face. This mould is care
fully made of stocl with adjustable
bearings, SO that it can produce u
letter rs thin rs / or as thick as ac,
or thicker. The utility of types
. depends entirely upon tho facility
with which they can be combined
They must fit each other with geo.
motrical precision. An inaccuracy
that would be regarded rs of no i'm
portancc in other workmanship
would be fatal to types.
The type is cast of lead, with a
little antimony and tin added, to
give it II toughness and prevent it
from shrinking rs it cools in the
mould. The casting is done rapid
ly by Il very ingenious little machine.
When The rlmbor Of copies Of par
ticular thing to be printed is linz
tied, the types themselves arc used ;
when the number is very large, q
stereotype "plate" of each page is
cast and used to print from the
type being distributed again. The
possible multiplication from the
"punch" to tic ''platc" is enormous.
The punch will last to make so to
100 hundred matrices each matriX
will cast 100000 types each of
these 100000 letters Of type may
be used in making several hundred
different PLACES, besides enduring
Il fair amoul4L Of wear itself on tic
press and each Of these plates will
give 100000 to $4,000 printed i'm
pressions. One punch is capable Of
becoming the parent Of $4,000, ,OO0,- =
100000 printed copies of its own
, face !
\ type is q little moro than seven
ciyEthS Of an inch long, and its value
depends on its face OF size. It's
prize ranges from SO cents to $3.50
per pound, according to the sizo and
facc--fancy texts and ornamented
job letters always being worth moro
than plain Roman, and rs typo
metal is ahcavy material, some guess
nay be mado as to It's cost. Tho
face once worn so that it's lines aro
not distinct, it goes again to tho
melting pot, and is worth from
oight to ten cents q pound as old
metal.
Types set together form words,
the words being separated from each
other by pieces Of typo metal CT a
less height than tho letters, and
called "spaccs," the blank spaces Mt
tho end of short lines being filled up
in the same manner hv "quads" or
short pieces Of metal.
The type is sot mp in IA composing
stick, about q dozen lines ut time,
and is thcn cmpticd on frame
called "galley.' Tho type itself is
tho rcvorso of the printed impress
sion. Ir order to make this come
right and avoid having to ::"set up"
his lines from right to loft, the cons
position quits tho type in place aloside
zoac'', each type having one or
more "picks" on one side to enable
tho co,opositor to know, simply by
tho touch, which way to put each
letter into the stick This fact that
printing reverses everything-with
a.nforonnn En 1inhE nnl loft al0i III