Connecticut western news., 1890-11-26
MECHANICAL PROGRESS PROCESSES IN PRINTING.
By 1'hos. .. Pratt.
PRESS ASSOCIATION, AT NEW HAVEN, NOV. IF. 1S9O

READ BEFORE THE CONNECTICUT WEEKLY
 PRESS ASSOCIATION, AT NEW HAVEN,
 NOV. 17, 1890.
 The first impression taken from nov able type, if tradition can be depended upon, happened by accident. A lad cut letter from the bark of tree, and while assisting his mother in dying cloth woven in the family loom, dropped the piece of bark in the dye stuff On recovering it, he laid it down, still wet.
 When later, he took it up again to re- l sume his whittling, he discovered it's l impress This it said to have been the l first impression taken from movable types.
 The invention of movable types for practical printing of books, is said to have originated in the Guttenburg fam fly about 1438, although some claim the invention to have been made in APO by Lawrence Roster.
 In over 400 years the art of type set ting has been pursued in exactly the same manner as we perform the opera tion today. l....... ..-. The early press resembled the old fashioned cider press as nearly as any machine extant today. Such a press was in the office in which the speaker first set type, It had an iron bed, wooden frame, screw which depressed stone platten one-half the size of the bed. One page was printed, then the bed was rolled in farther and the second page printed. Yet the printing press has developed as all are aware, until to- day, 20, 900 to 40,OOO perfected papers are printed on both sides and delivered folded, per hour. This is most re- markable stride in this branch of letter press printing. It has kept we'll apace with the other remarkable improve ments and inventions of this Edisonian age.
 Is it not equally surprising that the art of arranging types in words and in justified lines has not advanced, but has remained at standstill for more than four centuries ? Yet such is the fact. Of course the types have been greatly improved, beautifed, per- fected in form and finish, and the method of casting has been improved as we'll, until now it is done as rapidly by machinery as the cooling of the metal will permit of it's delivery from the matrix. .t
 When the speaker was lad, he had the privilege of examining the Felch type setting machine, called, I believe, the American Justi6er, because the in- ventor dreamed he could SO perfect it as that it might, with almost human touch, justify the lines. It could set type and it could also distribute them again into their proper channels. But the jutify- ing of the lines it never did and never could do.
 Many machines have since been in vented and thousands upon of dollars invested in the experiments. Each in- ventor has developed some point which has been utilized by the next, though often not until it has been simpllfied and perfected. This process has gone on and on until today there are very limited number of kinds of machines which set ordinary body type success fully. Some of these type-setting machines have consisted of as many as 18, 1000 different parts, not counting the fonts of type fed the machines and which they consumed in every sense of the word.
 Many of these inventors have seem- ingly striven their utmost to see how intricate they could make their inven- tions, evidently losing sight of the fact that the most successful inventions, even to attain apparently intricate results, have been those of simplest possible mechanism. 1 4
 There are in this country I believe, but two so-called type-setting machines from which practical and successful results are obtained today. These are the McMillan and our own Connecticut Thorne machines. The latter, many of you have seen in suc- cessful operation on the Hartford Post It is claimed that the Post has saved 42 per cent on the cost of composition in the past year. The Thorne requires one girl to manipulate the keys, resembling much the operation of 0 Remington typewriter, another to take from the continuous line delivered by the machine the newspaper length of line and justify it in stationary stick, and boy to feed the type channels. The operation of distributing is automatic. The galley of type is placed in the distributor and 1t just digests 1t, so to speak, into the several alimentary canals. It can eat pi all the time-for the arrangement of the types fed to the machine is imma- terial. It can distribute French or Choctaw with equal facility as the kings English. I understand the operation of the McMillan is very similar in principle.
 now come to the consideration of another class of machines in which I have become particularly interested, both as an admirer of mechanical oper- ations, and as journalist
 I have arrived at this conclusion in comparing the two systems of machine composition. do not consider an in- vestment in type setting machines, I mean one which actually sets moveable types, of much practical benefit to the fraternity. I refer more particularly to the proprietor of 8 country paper, who has space, on the average, for 1OO,OO ems or more, of newly set matter in each issue of his paper. I fail to see much economy In machine which may average 5000 ems an hour, and which | requires three persons to manipulate | and the attention, more or less, of a su- perintendent besides. Remember, please, I am looking at the matter only from the standpoint of the proprietor | of weekly newspaper. do not mean | to say anything derogatory to any machine or gainsay it's merits.
 The eecond class of machines to which I refer, while called by some type-setting machines, are not such. strictly speaking, but are matrix setting machines. There are two inventions of | this class, accomplishing exactly the same results.
 A few weeks since had the pleasure of inspecting the working of the one first perfected and mt into nracfico1 1 use. It is known as the Mergenthaler and six or eight are at work on the Providence Journal.
 In o1aorokiox, s& ;c 1