The times., 1899-10-01
RAPID PRINTING PRESSES
The Development of Modern High
Speed Machinery.
COmpIexity and Dclicacy of the
laundering Instruments Which
Make Newspapers at the Rate of
$4,000 an Hour-BuiIt Up of From
10000 TO 10000 Separate Pieces.
From the New York SUM

Were it not for the high speed perfect
ing press newspapers could not be printed
and placed before their readers in their
present form; certainly not at their pres
| ent cost. The modern newspaper, with its
wonderful service in spreading information
and molding opinion, is perhaps the
greatest civihzing and controlling Iorce 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 mechanical invention Ger
tainly there is no other machine of such
power and compleXity that possesses al the
same time such accuracy and delicacy,
handling, printing, and folding sheets of
paper that can be torn between the fin
gers without an effort.
Consider for a moment the work done
by one of the great presses known 20
printers as octuple machines. To begin
with, it is composed of about 10000 sepa-
rate pieces, and requires eighteen months
for Its construction in the largest manu-
factory il the country. 1t is more COM
plicated that a locomotive or a watch or
any OF the forms of mechanism to which
We ordinarily refer as remarkable for their
intricacy or nicely. This press is fed from
three continuous rolls of paper, each more
than five feet wide, and all reeling off the
paper as fast as it will run without tear
ing. 1t 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 indicates
capacity of $4,000 four. six, OF eight page
papers an hour. Not only are these papers
printed at this astounding rate, but they
are also cut, folded, and counted. In other
words, the press performs every operation
connected with the paper from the time
the rolls are put into position until the fin
ished product emerges ready to be put or
sale. Ninety thousand papers an hour
msans / 800 a minute or twenty-five copies
Tor every second ticked off on your watch
Most OF the larger newspapers have in
their ordinary issues ten or twelve pages
OF these the press will turn out 72 600 in an
hour, l,200 to the minute or twenty every
second.
The machine weighs over sixty tons and
is massive in its proportions Yet its
touch is as deft as that of human fingers
1t handles the papers accurately, cuts them
precisely. and folds them up evenly. ali
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 revolye going fas-
ter and faster until the streams OF white
paper are pouring into the machine too
rapidly for the eye to measure On the
other side the printed sheets rain out SC
fast that one sees only the continual fish
OF the steel fingers that seize and forward
every sheet. The operation OF the press
at its highest rate of speed means that
each paper receives its impression in less
tnan one-ffth of second. How perma-
nent imprint can be made in that space OF
time is a marvel difficult 10 comprehend
Yet it is done. The ink does not smut nor
rub off. and even the most delicate lines OF
an illustration are accurately reproduced
IL is easy TO understand that such ma
chine as this, performing so many different
operations, represents a series of achieve
ments rather than single one. 1t is a
gradual and natural development from the
wooden screw press used by Gutenberg
back In the middle of the fifteenth century
But while there is no hard and fast line
separating the new from the old or the
perfect from the primitive in the history
OF printing, there are certain dates that
are marked by notable advances and i'm
provements in the art.
One important change took place in 1906
when Saxon named Frederick Koenig de-
yised form of press in which the paper
was carried on cylinder and received IT'S
impression from a form OF type carried
backward and forward ON a fat bed. The
nrst OF these cylinder presses was little
more rapid than the earlier hand and lever
~ ms ISNouOC tlle tgllUQeT ndu TO StOD
three times-that is, had three separate
motions-to each impression. But in 1914
Koenig improved on this by a continuously
revolving cylinder press, which attained
the rate OF 500 sheets an hour The adj
vance from 250 sheets an hour, the record
of the old hand presses, to 800 sheets was
a decided step. Moreover 1t introduced a
new principle which has been OF the first
Importance in developing the high-speed
press.
Many improv ements in the method of
handling the paper were devised after
hoenlg press came into use and thou
sands OF presses constructed upon this plan
are in use today. An American irpproye-
ment on this style of press, known as the
double cylinder, attained a speed of 900
an hour. These presses answered the re-
quifements OF the newspapers when they
were small in size and circulation But
with the advent of the daily, with its cir
cuiation running up to many thousands.
they proved inadequate. There was a de-
mand for something better, for greater
speed.
In 1645 the firm of R. Hoe & Co which
had already been for many years engaged
IN the manufacture of printing presses, at
tackled this problem. number OF expert
mental machines were erected, and finally it
occurred TO the experimenters that, by plac-
ing the type instead of the paper upon the
cylinder greater speed could be obtained.
The result was the construction of press
known as the Hoe Type Revolving Machine
embodying patents taken out by Richard NJ
Hoe. The first one of these machines was
placed in the Ledger Office in PhiladeI
phia, in 1886. The basis of these inventions
consisted in an apparatus for securely fast
ening the forms of type on central cylin-
der placed in a horizontal position. This
was accomplished by the construction of
cast-iron beds, one for each page of the
newspaper. The column rules were made
yshaped, /. e.. tapering toward the feet
of the type. 1t was found that, with proper
arrangement for locking up or securing the
type upon these beds. ii could be held firmly
in position the surface forming true cir
Gle and the cylinder revolved al any speed
required without danger of the type falling
out.
The first of these presses had only four
impression cylinders, necessitating four
boys TO feed in the sheets. The running
speed obtained was about 2.0G0 sheets TO
each feeder al hour, thus giving, with
what was called p four feeder, or four
cylinder machine q running capacity of
about 5000 papers an hour printed on one
side. As the demands of the newspapers
increased more impression cylinders were
added until these machines We're made
with as many as ten grouped around the
central cylinder, giving an aggregate speed
of about 10000 papers an hour printed
upon one side A revolution in newspaper
printing took place. Journals which before
had been limited in their circulation by
their inability TO furnish the papers rapid
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