Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-07-08
MODERN PRINTING PRESSES.
What the Elder Bennett Said-Present
 Limit of Speed.
Especial Correspondence.

 What the Elder Bennett said-Present
 Limit of Speed.
 Especial Corrcspnn,ipnccl NEW YORK, July 2-The reader who is interested in the growth of mechanical science as applied to the production of newspapers will derive amusement, if not instruction, from d pcrusal of the follow ing extract from the columns of the New York Herald. It is a verbatim coe; of one of the editorial articles in that newspaper published on Oct. Is, 1S5o:
 ''Wc observe that one of our Cotrmp0- rarlcS, haNing;I rare genius for pulling. de- clarcS that he is about to set up a printing machine which will print 2:1, GOO sheets an hour At this rate it would issue almost 411 sheets in minute, or nearly eight sheets in d second. He states that this ma chine is to be made by Mir. Hoe We think this is Il mistake It must hc Earnum, the inventor of Joyce llrth and the lnrr- maid, or Beach, tine author of the Plain field and Lchigh banks. NO other men could make Il murhirr to upset d great ! physical impossihility and print eight sheets in d second Alr. Hoe is q practical man and knows, both in theory and prac- tice, how much time must hr consumed in the travel of a cylinder U make Il good impression. The highest rate of issue yet attained is about 10, Unn sheets an hour, and our present machines reach that point. The ultimatum never can be beyond l3, UOO or II, 900 sheets in go minutes. or 2}O in d second of tiInr.''
 This is nllI.iI, ,-tiy ;l,triu.r,! to read "a ] minute of time, 'ut t!!r n.t,taIc is The Herald S
 "Wr ar" going to nave, continues the article, "nn additional fast mlrhinr tu keep pace with other important improve ments in our establishment, hut it io not to be manufactured or putird hy Barnum or Beach or any of their imitaturS. It will come fresh from the mind and hand of Hoe X Co.,, who deal in no false theories, but make just about the most perfect and powerful printing-not pulling machin- cry this side of the stars. 50 murh for fact, instead of fancy'
 The present head of the great Hoe firm and the principal owner of the business is Mir Robert lIoc the grandson of the Rob crt Hoe who founded it. He Was vastly amused when the old copy of The Herald was shown tD him and said immediately The MT. Beach spoken of Was of course, Moses Y. Beach of the New York Sun, and it is true that thc press which ho an nouncCd as bring about to be built was never constructed. It got as far as a draw ing on paper of the ideas which Mir. Beach had conceived, and which ho thought would prove practicable, but it was found on careful examination that they could not be put in operation. His invention died at just the stage at which so many others have.
 ''But so far as Mir. Bennett talked about an ut imatum his editorial is amusing in tho light of our later experience. I may say that haVc never recognized any ulti- matum in our business and do not now, although we are now building press that twill be 33 1-3 per cent faster than any thing ever before construGcd.
 "Tho successive steps by which we have now reached the ability to do 33 times as much as Mir. Bennett declared to be the ultimatum are very interesting, for when he spoke uf the printing of 12, GOO or l4,0o0 sheets an hour as being the limit of possibility it must he remembered that ht was talking about printing one side of tho paper only. whereas Wv now print both sides and fold and count tho papers all with q single machine.
 ''Thp style of press which Mr. Bennett had in mind when he wrote this article was of course the best then known. Wt had four rollers surrounding the mait cylinder, and tho papers were fed on tt thcso rollers by a man standing on a plat. form by each roller. He was supplied with | paper by n boy who brought 1t to him in bundles. That mado four men and fOuI boys to tn" press, and the most they could l do Was to turn out 2,000 sheets an huul | for each roller. This machine was i'm proved by adding moro rollers, each with [ platform and n man and a boy, until WI | had ten rollers n'i :?D hands to turn out | 90, 900 sheets an h"..., CT, at the utmost
 
 | ing for the New York World, requires { | couple of men to run it and will turn out | 5000 eight pnfy" l.apcrs printed on botl | sides folded ai.;i counted. That is the | contrast between the old and the new. "It was not until 1858 or thcrcaboui l that tho first ten cylinder press was built | Six or seven years later tho IIocWobl press was produced, which turned off 24, | 900 complete four page papers an huul | printed on both sides, but it was not unti | 1872 that the folding attachment was add | ed and the papers were turned out com | pletely printed and folded.
 "The first double Webb press was mad, in 1879, and as the name indicates it jus | doubled tho production. This was grca achievement, but it did not print the sup plements which have since grown to b' such an important thing in the production | of newspapers About 1881 tho first dOu l ble supplement press was built for Dcacol i Richard Smith, as ho is called, of the Gin l cinnati Gazette. This was the pioneer o
 tho present machine and was capable o
 printing and folding a 6, s, 10, 12, II, 16
 IS, 20, 22 or 24 page paper. Tho device
 which enabled this variety is familia
 enough now and is known as the triple
 insert. The Herald and World followed
 Tho Gazette and these new presses sool
 came in general usc in all the large news | paper offices.
 | "The soXtuple press was the next step
 and this is the best in actual operation III
 to the present time. Since 1890, when i
 was first produced, good many of thcs
 have been built. Among other newspapc
 offices where they arc in use I recall with
 out looking at the books, the New Yorl Herald, World, Recorder and News, tn
 Brooklyn Eagle, Philadelphia Ledger ant London Times.
 II don't pretend to say what will follow
 the new press we gre now building; but
 as said, don't recognize it as an ulti
 matum. The presses now in use will turl
 out 72, eight page papers entirely print
 ed and folded as well. They have tn
 triple insert, If course, and can print tha
 amount of paper in any even number o
 pages up to 24. The new press will prin
 96, 900 eight page papers. or the equivalen in some other form.