Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-01-28
Concerning Printing.

Concerning Printing.
Very few of the readers of papers have
much idea of how they are made, of the
labor, the rapidity, the perfect system
with which the mechanical work is done,
any more than they have of the amount OF
mental labor, the enterprise and diligence
employed in their preparation.
During recent trip to Boston we visit
ed the press room of the Herald, and il
what we saw interested US, it may also in
terest the readers of the FREEMAN.
The press room is in the basement OF
their spacious new building below the
level of the street, and here the largest
daily edition of the daily press in New
England is run of.
The first thing one notices after getting
bit used TO the clatter, is the apparently
needless amount of machinery; for though
but one engine and boiler is needed to run
the two presses which are at work, another
engine and another boiler-twin of the
one at work stand motionless and cold
and beside the two presses in noisy activi-
ty, two others like them stand, still and
blanketed, like horses at rest in their
stalls.
Inquiry brings out the fact that all
about the establishment is duplicated to
prevent delay in issuing the paper if an
accident should happen to any part of the
machinery.
The entire paper is printed from stereo-
typed plates, the making of which we
saw. The FORMS" that is, the type all
set for one page of the paper, is sent
down when it is taken, wet blotting paper
pressed on it, when it is dried in steam
heated press. 1t is then taken out, and all
suspicion of moisture driven off by a
flame CT gas directed upon the paper
mould, which is then placed in the cylin-
drical casting box and the melted type
metal poured in; the plate taken out, the
ends and sides cut to give the plate the
proper size, the edges cut out, SO they will
not take ink, and the plate planed to the
nroper thickness, when it is ready to be
put on the press. And how long time,
think you, was taken by all this? Just
seven and one-half minutes by the watch
we held, and in less than ten minutes it
was making its impress on the paper in
the great press. The chief time is taken
in drying the blotting paper matrix, and
after the first plate is finished others are
cast and finished at the rate of one per
minute.
The paper comes, not in sheets as the
reader receives ii, but in rolls, about four
feet in Length, on which is rolled three
miles of that width Of paper. This is damp.
cned by rolling it on another roll, being
under fine spray of water as it passes
from one roll to the other. each roll taking
about twenty pounds of water, and of this
paper they use about one hundred miles
per day, or four tons, though on the day
of the Lexington centennial fourteen tons
were used. Each week one thousand
pounds Of ink are used, and the presses
are able to issue eighty thousand copies an
hour.
The papers ore taken from the presses,
which, beside printing. cut the roll into
sheets as it passes, and deliver the papers
printed on both sides, and throws them
upon n table, from which they are taken
by an endless chain and carried to the
mailing room above, where they are
counted, done up in proper bundles for
mail, OF express or sold to the news boys,
who are very anxious for early copies.
One great secret of the surprising rapid
ity of this work is the complete system
with which it is done. Elch man does
the same work every time, and does it ir
just the same way, and there is no haste
and no hesitation or waiting.
To Mr.. Woods, Mr.. Fitzgerald and Mr.
johnson, who kindly showed the county
man how things were done " down tt
Boston," and patiently answered his MT.
moIous questions, Qor is he not = Vermont
Yankee whose business is to ask ques
tions?) he returns grateful acknowledg
mcnt, and hopes they may long assist tr
spread ink and intelligence.
Of the character Of the HcruM its rep
u.ation for enterprise, AS news galherer
as nn independent power in politics anc
sorirIy-wc have no need to speak 1t,
millions Of rusllng leaves, falling in every
town and hamlet in New England, do tha
more fully than we can. May its useful
ness and circulation increase. r.