Year: 1878

| French chalk has been shaken from ureuglnB DoA
and smooted with brush, is laid upon the face Of
| the type tissue side down. The wet paper has
next to be forced into the intetices of tho letters
and the spaces between the lines. BY the improved
process Just introduced into THE TRIBUNE estab-
lishment, this is effected by passing the form and
paper once OF twice through a simple but powerful
press which consists merely of iron roller, driven
| by steam, and revolving above platform or table,
at height properly adjusted 10 the thickness OF the
| form. Tie older way-and a very effective one
though net 80 rapid the operation OF the roller
press-waS TO beat the paper i'll with stlh Drush
! When sharp and sufficiently deep impression has
| been made, the stereOtyper takes in one hand
mess of wet plaster, composed of marble dust and
gilders' whiting and with small spatula spreads 1t
quickly over the back OF the mOulding paper hllng
up the depressions but leaving the raised portions
with only the thinnest possible coating The use OF
this mixture is twOfOld it not only gives the paper
more solidity, but protects it from the heat OF inc
melted lead. Another sheet of substantial paper Is
laid on over the plaster and pressed or beaten in
| like the first The form is wheeled back to the
hot table and covered with thick blanket. The
press is screwed down over it, and it is left there
until the heat has thoroughly dried and hardened
the matrx, all the moisture being driven into the
blanket. This process takes five or ten minutes.
When it is over the paper pulls off easily from the
! type and shows a complete impression OF the page
! IT only remains to trim tho edges with a pair oi
shears and the matrix. about the thickness anu
stiffness of a sheet of he Wy Bristol board Is ready
for the casting.


CASTING TIE PLATES.


The casting box is a heavy scmi-cylindncal con-
struction of iron. Moving on pivots or trunnlons'
between the bars Of an iron frame, it looks not un
like the lower half of q mortar which has been cut
in two longitudinaly. The concaye interior
matches the curve which the plate IS to take 10 III
the cylinders of the press In Hoes first web perfect
ing press the circumference of the type cylinder Is
lust equal TO the width oftwO pages of the paper and


single plate is therefore curyed TO semi-circle In
the new perfeCting and folding press the cylinder Is
INST twice as large and the curve of each plate Is
consequently only half as great in the other press
A 4 fercnt castingbox is needed therefore for each
style of machine, but the same matrlX serves icf
both On one end of the box is hinged niron cover
whose convex lower side shuts into the concaYliy
of the box. leaving space of about thrd oil an
inch which is TO be filed with the melted metal
The cover fits tight on three edges and is left open
on the other for the introduction of the metal


In order 10 prevent the sudden chilling and irreg-
ular cooling OF the plate the box is first heated by
pouring in a adle or two of the liquid lead when
is Immediately returned to the pot. The paper ma





light rods of steel along the margins keep it in
place and force to take the shape of the box. The
cover IS shut and secured by clamps; the box Is
turned to vertical position, SO that the open
edpe is uppermost; two men take each
Iadle full of metal, and pour 1t in
simultaneously. II hardens instantly and, without
waiting for it to COOL they open the box, take out
the plate with "holders," such are used for the
domestic lat-irOn, and proceed to make a second
and third cast from the same matrx.


TRIMMING.


Tberc Is nothing now to be done except the trim
ming. While one man takes the paper matrix for
the next page and second attends TO the drying.
and third looks after the furnace and the melting
pot the fourth carries the rough plate to the finish
inc machines which we mentioned a few paragraphs
back They consist of row of cylindrical or barrel
sbaped apparatus, each of the two styles of press
requiring a set of its own. The plate is laid
ON the first barrel and made to turn,
when q combination of circular saws driven by
+eon cuts off the sprue end =" the superfous part
which remains where the metal was poured in, and
at tbe same time bevels the freshly cut edge. tho
other edges having been bevelled in the casting
On the second barrel the edges are still more nicely
trimmed by a haning machine. On the third
LITTLE additional trimming is done by hand, a small
cbiscl being used to cut out projecting portions OF
metal which may chance to have been left in the
white spaces through any imperiectlon in the
matrix. Lastly, the plate Is laid, face down. III
sort of trough, and heavy revolving planning tool
with one sweep shaves of the back to the
renuired thinness and leaves tho curve of
the plate automatically exact. The page,
shaped and adjusted with the extreme pre-
cision which the new printing machines require, IS
now ready to be put upon the press, where 1t IS Sc
cu,cd hv CLAMPS gTaSping its beVcllCd cgCs.


The time necessary 20 stereotype one page Of THE
TRIBUNE is about fifteen minutes. This in
cludes every part Of the prOcess-monlding, dry
inc. casting. trimming-fIom the time the wet type
is received in the stereotype room till the completed
pIate is carried away to the press and nearly half
the period is consumed in the drying. As work can
be carried on simultaneously upon several
pages. the matrix being applied TO one while
others are being dried cast trimmed
whole paper could be stereOtyDed if necessary in
a little more than half an hour with only set Of
apnaratus In ordinary practice, four men can make
cast of four pages-0r one sido-of THE TRBUNT and
make triplicates of each plate, in less than one
bour, The rule Of the Office is 10 allow an hour for
the stereOtyping of triplicate plates OF the
four pages which constitute the last side"
sending down these four pages after another at
intervals between and 2:30 a M: but very often
the pages are delayed by late news ten or fifteen
minutes beyond the regular time, ana the presses
are nevertheless ready to begin running at o'clock
In other words four different matrices made,
and twelve plates cast from them, trimmed and
finished in about if,S minutes Or, to show more
clearly the rapidty Of the work, here is register
of the time actually occupied in stereOyping Of
our papes On a recent night, when there more
than the usual hurry: Removing the form from the
boistng machine and making ready, one minute
taking the mould in paper, two minutes drying
nine minutes casting, minute trimming etc,
three minutes total, g minutes. The time spent
in driving was longer than is customary because the
mann contained n great many open white spaces and