Steam has proved as useful and potent in the printing of books as
in the printing of newspapers. Down to the end of last century,
"the divine art," as printing was called, had made comparatively
little progress. That is to say, although books could be
beautifully printed by hand labour, they could not be turned out
in any large numbers.
The early printing press was rude. It consisted of a table,
along which the forme of type, furnished with a tympan and
frisket, was pushed by hand. The platen worked vertically
between standards, and was brought down for the impression, and
raised after it, by a common screw, worked by a bar handle. The
inking was performed by balls covered with skin pelts; they were
blacked with ink, and beaten down on the type by the pressman.
The inking was consequently irregular.
In 1798, Earl Stanhope perfected the press that bears his name.
He did not patent it, but made his invention over to the public.
In 1818, Mr. Cowper greatly improved the inking of formes used in
the Stanhope and other presses, by the use of a hand roller
covered with a composition of glue and treacle, in combination
with a distributing table. The ink was thus applied in a more
even manner, and with a considerable decrease of labour. With
the Stanhope Press, printing was as far advanced as it could
possibly be by means of hand labour. About 250 impressions could
be taken off, on one side, in an hour.
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