Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-16

machine, damp matrlx is laid upon IT with
| the tissue face downward. and on top OF
this blanket is placed. The form, as thus
| arranged. travels back and forward under
the large roller. After the matrix has been
rolled it is dried on the form of type in the
| steam drying press, a blanket having been
| previously placed on top of the matriX.
| Ihree OF these steam tables are used
| rushing the work of preparing the ma trices
| for the casters of the plates that are ad-
Justed to the cylinders of the presses and
| from which the bright pages of The Even
ing Star are printed. In preparing the
matrx for casting the sides aad top of the
| matrix sheet trimmed. leaving a mar
gin of about a quarter OF an inch outside
the bolster
| The face of the matrix now has French
| chalk brushed over it with the chalk brush
Then it is placed in the rooster" This is a
| revolving cylinder, underneath which are
several score of gas Jets. In this device the
matrix is made thoroughly dry. All this
work has been done on the eighth floor OF
The Evening Star building, in large room
| adjoining the composing room.
In the Press Room.
In the basement of the building, In a
room near that where are the big web-per-
|
waiting the arrival of the completed ma
trix, which is conveyed to them in the car
riage of dummy elevator 1t is the ma
triX of the last page before going to press,
We will say. Not a moment is to be lost;
and as rule not a moment Is lost
With The Evening Star. as is true of near
! ly all great newspapers, the first and the
! second pages are the last to be made up.
/ This is done that the latest and most impor-
| tant news may be brought to the readers
! attention on unfolding the paper. 1t also
! bears out the Biblical injunction that the
| first shall be last and the last shall be first
| In this room are all the most modern de-
| vices and appliances known to stereotyp-
| ing. In huge. cauldron are hundreds of
| pounds of molten type metal which will
soon be transformed into a plate, the i'm
| preston of which is necessary for the COM
plete impression of the days paper. For
| dipping the liquid metal out of the furnace
| and pouring it into the mold a big iron ladle
with two handles is used. The matrix is ar
ranged in the casting mold and secured by
means of the head and side guages.
A piece of matrix paper is next placed in
the open end, the cover fastened down.
Then the trip lever is moved and the mold
takes an upright position ready for the
pouring of the metal. The casting mold
is opened and the semi-cylindrical plate is
placed on what is known as the cutting-off
cylinder, on which the ends of the plate
are beveled so that the clamps on the re-
yolving cylinders of one of the big printing
presses viii hold it securely.
The finishing cylinder gets the plate next
The plate is held securely on this machine
While its sides are being chiseled and trim
med. The shaving machine shayes out the
inside of the stereotype plate, so that 1t
will be of uniform thickness, and 1t is
ready for the press.
Ready for Printing.
Six or eight minutes have elapsed since
the page of type left the eagle eye of the
foreman of the composing room. Through
all the different processes there has not
been a hitch. A few seconds more and the
wheels of one of the giant presses begin to
move. The huge continuous roll of white
paper that feeds the press is being con-
-verted into Evening Stars-printed cut.
folded and courted-at the rate of many
thousands an hour.
. But the stereotypers are still at work
three more casts of the last (hrsD page
are being turned out. The rattle of another
press adds to the din of noise; still another,
until the four big presses are combining 70
patrons.
The press room of The Evening Star in
the basement of the annex is admirably
adapted for the purpose. The four big
web perfecting presses have each a ca
pacity of 12000 ten. twelve or sixteen-page
papers an hour and 2i,090 four or eight
page papers an hour.
This, mind you, means the printing, fold
ing and counting of the papers The presses
that turn out the big edition of The Even
ing Star daily are known as the Potter
press. They were built specially for The
Evening Star. The cost of them alone ex-
coeded the amount of money invested in
many entire newspaper plants of the coun-
try.
The Perfecting Presses.
A complete description of the working of
the presses is not necessary In connection
with this article, as there are few persons
in Washington who have not watched the
lightning-like rapidty with which the pa
pers are turned out ready for the reading
public Every afternoon in the year crowds
stand in front of the big windows of the
annex building and gaze with wonder at
the marvellous machinery
With the primitive hand press on which
the first issue of The Evening Star was
printed fifty years ago 1t would require
many days to get out one regular edition Of
The Evening Star of today. In perhaps no
other part of the publishing business has
there been such rapid strides as in that OF
press printing, When The Evening Star
because of increased business, discarded the
old Franklin hand press. it adopted the use
of single large cylinder press Tais was
considered the acme of invention in its day.
One side of a paper was printed at a time
and the sheets were fed by hand from big
feed board on top The cylinder revoived
and the forms of type a Nat bed which
went back and forth coming in contact with
the cylinder producted the impressions.
From this to the double cylinder and later
to the four-eylinder press was a great STEP
This latter press, printed from type locked
in semi-circular turtles performed it's
mission well until still further demands for
faster printing brought stereotyping an
the web perfecting press into requlsition.
The seeming lack Of modesty in ASSUMING