Year: 1876

lNJOOi


This art, as most of our readers are


probably aware, consists in producing,
by q rapid process of metal castlnS,,


counter parts of the type forms set up


by the compositors, and with the work


of bringing this art to the pitch of per-
lection to which it has attained in the
present day the name of Walter is hon


orably associated. The invention Of ster-
eotying dates back to about the year
1875, and is generally attributed to VIII
liam Ged, goldsmith of Edinburg.


His process, still used for certain classes


Of work, is known as the stucco process
stucco being the material used to take
the impression from the type and from
the matrix. The stucco is poured on
the face Of the page of the type in
liquid form and hardens in cooling. AS,
however, the stucco matrix cannot be
bent into semi circular form, it is useless
for cylinder printing, and for newspaper
work has been entirely superseded by
the papier-mache process, which, though
not invented, has been chiefly developed
was first taken in hand there-being at
that time @ recent and crude invention
during the period of the Crimean war,
when with all previous known applian-
ces, it was found impossible to complete


the daily publication of the great jour-
nal before nine OF ten o'clock in the
morning. In the able hands Of the en-
gineers and mechanicians of the estab-
lishment, a series of experiments, and
step by step improvements, gradually
led up to the admirably simple, rapid,
and effective method used to supply the
cylindrical stereotype plates for the Wal


ter press, and of this brief description
may be given. The s'form' of type as
set up by the compositor is oiled by
means of fannel-coYered roller; wet
sheet, consisting of several thickness Of


soft paper carefully pasted together, is
then laid on the oiled face, and covered
with a blanket. The form thus covered
is passed under rollers which by their
pressure force the face of the type into
the paper in such a way as to make it a
perfect mold Or matrix of the form.
Another sheet of paper is then pasted
upon the back Of the mold to strengthen
it, and the form, with the soft paper
still upon it, is placed upon hot plate
covered with several folds of dry blank
citing, and a press to screw down on the
top. in ftae space of two three min
utes the drying process is completed,
and the mold lifts cleanly off. The
edges are then trimmed, and the papier-
mache matrix, plant enough to bend in
to q complete circle if need were, is laid
face upward in senlicircular casting
box, having a core of the exact diameter
of the impression cylinder of the press.
Metal just hot enough to run, and SO
composed as to solidify rapidly, is pour
ed into the mold, and on drawing the
core a emi-circular casting of the page
of type is upon it. A sharp tap or two
brings it of, and then it is put under an
ingeniously constructed circular saw,
which cuts off the overflow metal gath
cred at the edges. It is next'dipped in
water to accelerate the cooling and hard
en- It little, and then fixed in a small
doubled -tooled lathe, few revolutions
of which finish the trimming of the edge
and cut the lodges, which are necessary
to keep the ''dogs'' by which it is held
in placed on the impression cylinder
ssfush' with the surface. From this lathe
the plate passes toa revolving planning ma
chine made to fit it. In this it is placed
face downward so that the inside of the
plate is presented to the cutting foot by
which it is s'trued' so as to ensure its
having a dead bearing on the impress
sion cylinder, for being placed on which
it is now ready. Described in words,
this process may perhaps seem somewhat
complicated, but in practice it is ex-
tremely simple; and how speedy it is
our readers may judge for themselves
when we will tell them that in the Times
Office the production of plate from
first to last is the work OF only eight
minutes. A practically unlimited num-
Der of plates can be cast from a single
matrix, and by keeping its reprints can
at any time be made without the troub-
lie, expense, OF delay of again setting up |
type. In conclusion, as bearing on the |
question of economy, we may point out
that the plates, after doing their work
for the day, are melted UP again and re-
cast, so that the same metal may be in |
use all the year around.