Evening star., 1934-05-13

gradual increase in speed and the
stopping of the units are accom-
plished by the touch of the operators
finger on push buttons installed at
various control stations.
When the starting button is pressed,
a group of three 10-horsepower mo-
tors start the presses at slow speed,
to allow for threading of the con-
tinuous sheet of paper through the
printing units. The small motor
compares with the low gear of ones
automobile. The machine then auto
matically goes into high gear" as
three 200-horsepower motors take
hold of the drive, showing the presses
into high speed within 25 seconds.
The big motors are capable of driving
the press units at speed which sends
the paper through the press at the
rate of nearly a quarter mile per
minute At this maximum speed each
press can deliver 10000 newspapers
per hour.
Expert Staff Needed.
Automatic though the presses may
be, they cannot function without the
services of a specially trained staff
, of expert pressmen, each of whom
has served a five-year apprenticeship
before receiving his journeyman's
card This is said to be machine
age" but even the most modern of
printing presses could not dispense
! with the invaluable services of the
press room artisans. A single press
crew includes a presSman in charge,
six experienced journeyman pressmen.
an apprentice and three laborers. In
addition are the press room foreman,
assistant foreman. machinist, ma
chinists' helper and electrician, 38
men in all
The pressmen plate and unplate the
presses and keep them fabricated
with oi, and grease. BY means of
keys. like those used for tuning a
piano. they flex the ink blade to
place the proper amount of ink film
on each column of the paper. They
adjust the impression to one
thousandth of an inch to insure just
the proper indentation into the paper.
They load the reels with paper and
lead the web over the floating or
tension rollers. over other rollers,
through the cylinders and to other
rollers overhead, until the web is
threaded down over the formers into
the folding mechanism.
They keep vigilant watch on the
position of the sheet to insure proper
margins and to avoid paper "chokes"
and other difficulties which are apt
to arise with light sheets of paper
running at such terrific speed. They
cover the impression cylinders with
three blankets of varying hardness
and thickness, and by careful match
ing make certain that all three blan-
kets give the same total thickness.
These blankets. like the other parts
and adjustments on the press. are
measured to one-thousandth of an
inch.
Stopped for Changes.
During the run the presses fire.
quently are stopped for plate changes
in order that the readers may OBJ
tain the latest or freshest news as
the printing of the paper progresses.
The preSsmen watch the paper for
defects such as Slime holes" "calen-
der cuts" 'fibres," mill pastors" and
other faults known to the trade, in
order that the paper mill may be
informed promptly of such defects
and take remedial measures in the
future 1t is when a break in the
web occurs that the activity in the
press room is greatest-every effort
being made to rethread the press as
quickly as possible and get it in op-
Grafton again.
During the afternoon the presses
are unproductive about one-half the