The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-11
THE HIGH SPEED PRESS.
HOW THE FIRST GREAT PRINTING
MACHINE WAS MADE.

yIr. Il. Hoe, the Press Manufactures,
writes of the Evolution of the
Tyne Revolver" Into the Present
wonderful and Lightning-Lixe
Were AdOpted-DificuIt Problems
worked Out.
New York, June 9.-Were it not for the
nigh speed perfecting press this news
nsDer could not be printed and placed be-
sore YOU in its present form; certainly not
az its present cost. The modern news
naDer. with it's wonderful service in
spreading information and molding opin-
ion. is perhaps the greatest civilizng and
controlling force of the time. The rapid
printing press, by making the newspaper
possible, deserves to rank as one of the
great achievements in an age of meehani-
cal invention. Certainly there is no other
machine of such power and completely
that possesses at the same time such ac-
curacy and de.icacy, handling, printing
and folding sheets of paper that can be
torn between the fingers without an CT
fort.
Consider for a moment the work done
by one of the great presses known to
printers as "oetuple" machines. To begin
with, it is composed of about 5000 sep
arate pieces, and requires eighteen months
for its construction in the largest manu-
factory in the country. 1t is more COM
plcated than locomotive or a watch or
any of the forms of mechanism to which
we ordinarily refer as remarkable for their
intrcacy or nicely.
This press is fed from three continuous
rolls of paper, each more than FIVE feet
wide, and all Keeling off the paper as fast
as it will run without tearing. AT its
highest speed the press will use up over
two miles of this paper in an hour, or
fifty miles Of paper of the width of an
ordinary newspaper page.
In terms more readily grasped this in
dicates a capacity of $4,000 four. six or
eight page papers per hour Not only are
these papers printed at this astounding
rate, but they are also cut, folded and
counted. In other words, the press per-
forms every operation connected with the
paper from the time the rolls are put into
position until the finished product emerges
ready to be put on sale. Ninety thousand
Il papers per hour means 1900 per minute.
or % copies for every second licked off on
Fl your watch.
Most OF the larger newspapers have in
their ordinary issues ten or twelve pages.
OF these the press will turn out ". 900 in
an hour, 1900 to the minute, or 20 every
second
The machine weighs over sixty TONS.
Il ana is massive in its proportions. Yet
us touch is deft as that of human fin
gers 1t handles the papers accurately.
cuts them precisely. and folds them up
evenly, all with speed that is well-nigh
Incredible.
Its operation Is easy and resistless. A
man throws back lever, the many shafts
and cylinders begin to revolve, going fas-
ter and faster until the streams of white
81 paper are pouring into the machine too
q rapidly for the eye to measure. On the
other side the printed sheets rain out so
81 fast that one sees only the continual
a fash of the steel fingers that seize and
forward every sheet.
4 The operation of the press at its high
est rate of speed means that each paper
receives its impression In less than one
NTH of a second. How a permanent i'm
81 print can be made in that space of time
81 is marvel difficult to comprehend Yet
81 It is done. The ink does not smut or rub
81 of, and even the most delicate lines of
q an illustration are accurately reproduced
81 Genesis of the Invention.
1t is easy to understand that such a
machine as this, performing so many diff
a ferent operations, represents a series of
achievements rather than single one 1t
Il is a gradual and natural development
from the wooden screw press used by
4 Gutenberg back in the middle of the fif-
tenth century.
But while there is no hard and fast
lines separating the new from the old or
the perfect from the primitive in the his
tory of printing, there are certain dates
that are marked by notable advances and
Improvements in the art.
One important change took place in
1906, when a Saxon named Frederick
Koenig devised a form of press in which
the paper was carried on a cylinder and
received it's impression from form OF
type carried backward and forward on a
fiat bed.
The first of these cylinder presses was
little more rapid than the earlier hand
and lever forms, because the cylinder had
10 stop three times-that is, had three sep
crate motions-to each impression. But
IN 1874 Koenig improved on this by a con-
tnuously revolving cylinder press which
attained the rate of 800 sheets per hour.
The advance from $50 sheets per hour the
record of the old hand presses, to SOC
Sheets, was a decided advance. Moreover
II introduced a new principle which has
peen of the first Importance in develop
Ing the modern high-speed press.
Many improvements in the method OF
handling the paper were devised after
hoenig's press came into use, and thous-
ands of presses constructed upon this
plan are in use to-day An American inn
proyement on this style of press, known
as the double cylinder, attained a speed
Of 1900 per hour.
Inese presses answered the requirements
OF the newspaper when they were small in
sze and circulation. But with the advent
oI the daily, with its circulation running
up 70 many thousands they proved made
quate There was a demand for some.
ming better, for greater speed.
First Rapid Printing Press.
In lSi5 the firm of r. Hoe & Co, which
had already been for many years engaged
Of init 81