Omaha daily bee., 1896-06-19
OF THE PROCESSION
Facts Concerning the Mechanical Depart.
ment Of The Bee.
1T is COMPLETE IN ALL OF ITS DETAILS
History of the Paper Furnishes the
Key to the Typographical In
ventions of the Pres
..I ent Age. .,t,i.i

among the myriad inventions of the pas
quarter of a century those which relate t.
the mechanical department OF a great news
paper occupy a conspicuous place. Fol
nearly four centuries and a half the art OF
printing has been in constant course OF
development, but within the memory of the
present generation improvements have been
added which are far more wonderful than
Guttenberg's crude wooden blocks which fur
nished the inspiration for the inventive
genius of succeeding centuries. The history
OF The Bee affords q key to the typo.
graphical inventions OF its period. For
with its characteristic enterprise 1t has kept
fully abreast OF the times in its mechanical
features. No sooner were the merits of new
inventions and improvements adequately
tested and established than they were
drafted into the service OF The Bee. Vast
amounts of money were spent in procuring
the best that the times afforded and in
this respect The Bee has distanced all
contemporaries. The three-revolution Hoe
press, the Cottrell & Babcock press, the
double-cylinde Hoe, the Chambers folder,
the Dexter automatic folder, the Web per-
fecting press and stereotyping machinery
and the Mergenthaler type-casting machine
were all first introduced in Omaha and
Nebraska by The Bee.
A comparison of the magnificent equip
ment of The Bee OF today with the meager
facilities which 1t afforded in its incipiency
Ia an effective portrayal OF what human
ingenuity has accomplished during the
period in which The Bee has existed.
Twenty-Five years ago the machines that
are now regarded as necessary to the manu-
facture OF a newspaper were unknown. Per-
fecting presses, stereotype apparatus,
typesetting machines, automatic folders and
the numerous other contrivances by the aid
OF which thousands of papers are turned out
almost as soon as the forms are closed
existed only in the visions of mechanical
cranks. The hama press was universal and
as only one side.of a sheet could be printed
at once each paper had to go through the
machine at least twice, after which it was
folded by hand.
1t was with such appliances that the first
copies of The Bee were issued. They were
printed on an old Cincinnati hand cylinder
press, which had been purchased by Red
field Bros. some years before for 81 300. It's
capacity was about 700 Impressions or $50
four-page sheets per hour. 1t would have
required 1877 hours of constant labor to &C
complish what is now done in a single hour
by the two large Webb perfecting machines
III Inc Dee press TOOTH. All lntcll1SenL
contraband of nubian complexion named
Archie Richmond furnished the motive
power. He continued in the service of The
Bee for over twenty years, but did not live
to see its quarter centennial. This same
press with the same darkey attachment was
used until after the fire of 1872, when the
office was removed to the Farnam street
building.
FIRST FAST PRESS.
A this time Mr.. Rosewater purchased a
three-revolution Hoe press with a capacity
of 5000 four-page impressions per hour.
At that time the new press was accounted
a. marvel in Omaha, and although it was
bought at second hand, it did satisfactory
service for ten years. AS the circulation
of the paper continued to increase it was
found necessary to supplement the Hoe
press with a large cylinder Cottrell & Bah
cock, which was also purchased at second
hand. Then Mr.. Rosewater purchased the
FIRST new press that The Bee had ever
owned. 1t was a two-revolution Cottrell
g. Babcock and was at that time the finest
press that had ever been brought into No
braska. 1t was also used for job work
when 1t was not required in getting out
the paper.
About 1881 the first folding machine was
put on the market. 1t was manufactured
by Chambers of Philadelphia and its merits
were seen and appreciated by Mr.. Rose
water. He at once ordered one of the
machines and in due time The Bee office
was equipped with the first folder ever
seen in the state.
double cylinder Hoe press. and this was
shortly followed by a Dexter automatic
folder. In 1888 another double cylinder
press was added, which was equipped with
two Dexter folders. These addi-
lions raised the mechanical depart
ment Of the paper to a standard
which was not approached by any paper
in this part of the country at that time.
But by this time The Weekly Bee had
attained a large circulation and even these
facilities were found Inadequate. Great
difficulty was experienced in getting the
editions off the press in time for the mails,
and Mr.. Rosewater decided to provide him
self with what was then the latest inven-
ton. the Webb perfecting press. One of
these machines was purchased at the Pot
ter works at Plainiield, n. j.. at a cost of
SIT. 900, and it was put in operation Sep
TENDER 2S. 1885, 1t included the dampen-
ing machine and the stereotyping apparatus
and had a capacity of Il, 900 complete papers
per hour. A year later this was supple
mented by another similar press, so that
The Bee Office was capable of printing
nearly $4,000 papers in n single hour.
PECULIAR FASTING DEVICE.
There is a unique little machine in use
in The Bee press room, which is used to
seal all papers which are sent out for sale
on trains. One of the greatest frauds with
which the circulation department of all
newspapers has had to contend is the prac-
tice Of newsboys on the trains selling a
paper over and over again. and finally pick
ing it up after the passenger has left the
train and returning it as an unsold copy.
This machine is a simple attachment to the
press which seals the paper in three spots
on the top edge. When n paper Is opened
the pasted edge viii be broken and no
copy which has been opened can be re-
turned as representing an unsold paper.
This machine Is the invention of the fore
man of The Bee pressroom, Fred Youngs,
and Is the first thing of the kind that has
been both a mechanical and financial sue
cess. The Bee now saves % per cent on
papers sent to railroad news companies.
The machine consists OF a brass paste can
attached to the frame OF the press by a
bracket so as TO move up and down on a
vertical rod, a toothed paste wheel and an
eccentric friction wheel, The friction wheel
runs on the binding reel, just before it goes
into the binders, and the paper is pasted
just after leaving the angle bars before the
second fold Is made. The friction wheel
turns the paste wheel, and, being an &C.
centric, when the round surface is against
the binding reel, the whole machine is
pushed up on the vertical rod, and II is
only when its flat portion is on the reel
that the paste wheel touches the paper. In
this way the paper is pasted together in
three places on its top edge. Just after the
paper is thus pasted II passes through the
binding reels and is firmly pressed together