Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-16

| her dictates. No man in England today is more
convinced Of the great essential truths Of re-
ngion than 10 Ensiand's scientist, Sir William
thomson, FRS VIC.
NEWSPAPER PICTURES.
How They Are Turned Out at Short No.
| tice for Lightning Presses.
TIE "cHALx PROCESS" AND ITS WONDERFUL SIM
PLIcITY-TURNINa OUT A 'cUF"-How TIE
STAR MAKES ITS PIcTUREs--THE "z1No' AND
"PHoTo-HNaRAvINa" MrrHopa
| o. HE illustration Of newspapers IL q new
IA branch Of art. Ever since its beginning
its apprentices have been trying to find
! out the simplest and most effective
~ methods for the reproduction Of draw
ings in order that they might be made with
| the greatest possible quickness, engraved on
metal with the utmost attainable celebrity and
printed clearly and we'll at the rate of twenty
thousand copies per hour. To such perfection
have the processes for this purpose been
brought that the turning out Of pictures all
ready for the lightning presses is nowadays
hardly more than q matter OF few minutes
time. As to the perfection with which they
are printed today's STAR will speak for ITSELF
Most interesting of the processes employed
view OF simplicity, is what may be termed the
"chalk method" Take a thin bed of smooth
chalk laid upon a metal surface and draw upon
| it with a fine steel point any picture that you
may desire. The steel point will cut the lines
of the picture out of the chalk to the metal.
and thus you will have it in the shape Of an
intagio Make q stereotype from this in
taglio and you have your metal plate to print
the picture from. Could anything be more
simple?
DRAWING ON A BED OF CHALK.
Such is the idea Of the chalk process. In
applying it instead Of pure chalk various mix
lures are used. such as plaster of paris, which
is merely chalk in another shape with a GER
tain proportion of O white Carolina CLAW The
stuff, pulverized and stirred up with water, is
spread over rectangular sheet Of polished
steel, as you would spread q slice Of bread
with butter, to an even thickness of about one
thirty second Of an inch. Now you are ready
the steel plate in an oven for a while until the
chalk layer has been rendered perfectly hard
1t Will hardly do for you to attempt to draw
your picture directly upon the chalk, lest YOU
make mistakes. The best way is to make your
sketch on piece of paper and then, LAYING it
down upon the chalk surface. 20 over the lines
With pencil point, which will indent the
paper and leave marks beneath upon the
chalk. Lift the drawing and You find under it,
IN the chalk, its reproduction. Now you apply
= II,
all the lines Of the drawing down through the
chalk to the surface of the steel plate When
you finish this operation the dark steel
OF the plate shows through the chalk in all the
lines OF the sketch. And these lines are per-
fectly clean and sharp, thanks to the keenness
OF the knife-like steel point employed. All you
nave to do for the rest is to pour molten lead
over the chalk surface i'll a mould and let it
get cold. The lines that cut out of chalk
will be reproduced in relief upon the lead and
have ,afa
print the newspaper picture from, mounting it
for the purpose on an iron block thick enough
to make it level with the type.
ZINC ETCHING.
Though 30 advantageous for its simplicity,
the chalk method is not SO good for fne work
in the way of sketches and portraits as the zinc
process" SO called, which THE STAR employs
for its pictures. The former however by res-
son OF its cheapness, is most useful to pro-
vinclal newspapers which cannot afford the
comparatively expensive Photographic plant
required by the latter. In the zinc process to
begin WITH an ordinary photograph reduced to
the required size is taken with a camera Of the
p ei.a sketch drawn on cardboard by the
artist Next smooth plate of zinc is '.nowed
over with an albumen solution that forms
sensltlzed skin on the surface; the glass mega
tive OF the picture is laid upon this zinc
plate and the two are put together
in the sunlight What are to be the black
lines of the printed drawing are of course.
white and transparent Ill the negative. The
sunlight goes through wherever the negative
10 transparent, and has the effect of hardening
the sensitized skin beneath so that it clings
tightly to the zinc. II requires only one
minute to perform this operation. Now the
zinc plate Is taken and given a coating over the
sensltized skin Of photographers ink, rubbed
on with roller after which the plate is
washed. In all places where the sunlight has
not strnck the zinc. owing to the opacity of the
glass negative. the sensitized skin readily
washes of, together with ink that covers it.
but elsewhere it clings. Thus after the wash
Ing. the perfect drawing in ink remains upon
the zinc plate. 10 make the ink lines harder
the plate is brushed with powdered dragons
blood. Then it is plunged into bath Of acid
which eats away the zinc wherever it is not
protected by the ink, so that, when it is taken
out, the lines OF the drawing are found all
raised above the rest OF the surface Of the plate
like map for the blind, and when mounted
type high" on a metal base you have your
! cut ready to print from.
Such is the zinc process, by which the pic
lures in today's STAR were made. Processes"
have infinitely multiplied within the last few
years-so much so, in fact that the student Of
engraving is aghast at contemplating their
variety. At present, however, the zinc
method seems to be the most available for
journals of the period. At all events. it is en-
pioyed by majority OF the big newspapers Of
| the country.
THIRD PROCESS
Considerably used for newspaper illustration
| is that of photo-engraving, which somewhat
resembles the zinc method. A glass plate,
however, is used instead of a metal one. This
glass plate is covered with thin layer of sem
sltized gelatine, which is permitted to dry
Then the Photographic glass negative of the
drawing made with the camera Just as in the
other case, is laid over the gelatine and the
glass plate and the negative, with the geiatine
layer between them, are put in the sun for half
an hour. The light hardens the gelatine, and
makes 1t cling to the glass plate where
ever it strikes through the negative
| SO that when the glass plate is
| subsequently put into water all the rest Of the
gelatine comes off, leaving the drawing on the
glass in gelatine lines. Moist plaster Of paris
| is spread over the plate next and permitted to
harden; when it is taken off it is O mold Of
the drawing. From this mold plaster ''re-
ief' is made, and a reproduction Of metal in
this relief BY stereotyping is the plate to print
with.
These are the three methods by which news
papers produce the pictures which 60 80 far to
brighten up and help out the interest of the
| columns OF the daily press
-----sO~--
| DahOmey's Able AmaZons.
Paris Dispatch to the London Daily Telegraph.
Considerable interest is taken in tho famous