Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-04


page Of the press in order to clear IT. In
THE DIsPATcH's s new machines the cutting
is all done in the folder. First, the con
tinuous sheet is cut in two, either OF poth
sides being run on either side or on one
side, as the case may be, the papers Deing
cut apart by cylinders below after receiving
| one fold, and then folded again ana oe-
livered by the folder ready for delivery 10
the carriers or newsboys.
The composition rollers used are over
Z feet in length, or IS inches. Iney are,
however, handled with the greatest facility
and, by the system of distribution pertain
ing to the printing machine, do their WORK
| perfectly Sixteen stereotype plates are
used on each press, making 80 plates IN al.
The immense rolls of paper, each weighing
half a ton, are easily handled by means OF
crane, so that to prepare the new machines
for action in reality takes no more labor or
| attendance than presses of half the capaclty,
while they produce double the result:
The accompanying cut of one OF the new
machines gives the reader an accurate plct-
ure of both. The sketch of the press room
/ shows the position of these wonderful
machines-marvels of the mechanical art
and monuments to the growth OF IHE
DISPATCH and the city which has encour-
aged and supported the enterprise Leading
| up to its present triumphs
A Glance at the Old.
In this connection a glance at the previous
history of printing press invention VIII
prove interesting One of the curiosities
of the Patent Office, Washington, is the
press upon which Benjamin Franklin
worked in 1926 two years after a disagree
ment with his brother resulted in his de-
parture from Boston He first went to
Philadelphia, and a year afterward he was
promised the Government printing by Gov
ernor Keith, and was sent to Europe to buy
material; but finding himself deceived he
was compelled to work his way home, and
for 1S months he toiled as a journeyman
printer in London, using what was known
as the Ramage press-a machine which is
now guarded by the nation with jealous
care, as one of the most interesting relics
of the great printer.
The first important American improve
ment in presses is said to have been that
made by George Clymer, of Philadelphia,
about 1917, consisting of the application of
the power by means of compound lever;
but dozen years later the Washington
press of Samuel Rust had superseded it.
The Washington press, with man to oper-
ate the lever and a boy to apply the ink,
would turn off about 1000 papers day, ,and,
after time, a self-inking apparatus was
d
work without the aid of a boy
The first power press produced in America
was the invention of Daniel Treadwell, of
Boston. The American Tract Society
brought one to New York and used mules
to work it, while the American Bible
Society, which owned another of the ma
chimes, applied steam power. The Adams
press, invented by Samuel Adams, of Bos-
ton, in 1880, and afterward improved by
Isaac Adams, gave about 1000 impressions
an hour
Revolutionized Newspaper Work.
The idea of ''bed-and-cylinder'' press
can be traced back to 1914, when one made
by Konig a German mechanic, was put in
operation in the office of the London Times.
Cowper and Applegarth also devised presses,
which were used with more or less success
in that Office until they were superseded by
the well-known type-revolving press, in
vented by Colonel r. NJ. Hoe in 1916. When
Richard NJ. Hoe accomplished this in his
lightning press, patented July "a, 1847, the
whole art of printing was revolutionized
The invention was a simple contrivance,
too, when once thought of, its essential
feature being the principle that columns
of ordinary parallel type can be securely
held on the surface of rapidly re-
volving cylinder by means of wedge
shaped column rules, with their thin
edges toward the axis of rotation, them
selves kept in place by projecting tongues
sliding in grooves cut in the cylinder, and
the whole form firmly locked or screwed
together in the usual way. With this re-
volvinc type-cylinder and four to ten i'm
preston cylinders arranged around it, 10000
to 10000 impressions could be struck off in
an hour. No wonder the lords of the Privy
Council of England, in granting an ex-
tension of the patent, characterized the in
vention as ''the greatest step ever made in
the printing art" The first sent to Europe
was for La Patrie, of Paris in 1S4S The
London Times, after experimenting with
clumsy vertical rotary press, constructed by
Augustus Applegarth, which was a big
failure, ordered two Hoe ten-cylinder
presses in 1857. This press was supreme for
a quarter of a century; but, grand as was
this triumph of inventive genius, it is
already half-forgotten.