Evening Star Newspaper, August 18, 1894, Page 9

— a ma = TH: EVENING STAR < rere PUBLisHED PAILY EXcErT suNDAY. AT THE S?4R BUILDINGS, 1101 Pennsylvania ANCE% Cor. ‘Lith Street, by The Evening Star newpaper Company, S. H KAUFFMANN, Prest. New York Ofice, 49 Potter Ballding. ‘The Exoning Star ip served to subscters i the itr br carriers <i their own account, af JO cats eWeek. or 440. Get ‘opigs at {he sounte® ay a gt where f, the Tatted mafl—any States or Canada—postage prepail-30 art PF Meath. lay quintupl> Sheet Star, $1.00 per yeu! reign postage 9-ht ‘0. (Entered at the Font ¢ t Washington, D. @s sevond-clase mail matzov.) E7 Ail mail subscriptivas ravst de be paid In advarce. Rates of advertigiag made known on applicatie Part 2. WASHINGTON, D. 0. SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, THE MAMMOTH PRESS ROOM. THE MAKING OF & NEWSPAPER Machinery That Taras Streams of White Paper Into Thous- ands of ‘Stars’ A NEW AND WONDERFU A Complete Change Made in The Evening Star’s Composing and Press Roomse—Setting Type by Machinery and Printing Pape: On the 11th street side of The Evening; Star buildings on any afternoon one can see @ throng of people crowding about the wide | lass windows that let light into The ig new press reom. It is a wonder- | ful sight one gets through those windows. It is a living picture, typifying the pro- gress of the century—the century of ma- | chinery. One sees there the last processes fm the making of a great daily newspaper. | Whe editor, the correspondent, the reporter, | the hundreds ail | ers wor operator, r \4 whose heads and hands are | busied in noting, writing and transmitting the news of the day have done their work, the compositor has set his Jast em, and now printing machines, with a like the sound of a swift- train, make complete so fast that {t t= useless anybedy to try to count them. It 1s | both useless and needless, for an attach- to cach press, after-folding the papers | y, Stacks them in_piles of fifty. | here are fgur of these aew presses, or } it might be more correct to say elght, for | each of the four is a double press. That | press is constructed upon another, ated at parts can be op and at the same of speed. When are operated together the upper is folded in and pasted r place with unerring a y e paper printed by the lowe: white paper flows into the press like a ru ok, thousands of s in an hour, | of pri or sixte ever make in the right are always It is not strange th; much nterest | The modern | at@work {s always an | But these particular the very latest develop- | 80 > street. THE STEREOTYPING FOUNDRY. | double presses mark | by the macPine. | The Mergenthrler Linotype Machines | machines. | printers and those connected with the print- L MECHANICAL PLANT Ts on Double Presses of New Design. siderable step forward in the art of print- ing. A Complete Change of Plant. The construction of this new press room and the installation of the four spfend:d @ revolution in the mechanical processes by which The Star is produced. An entire new mechanical plant has been placed in The Star buildings at an ouflay of $125,000. Type is no longer set by hand, but swift and marvelous machines are employed for the purpose. The curious spectator at the window on lith street sees only one stage of the wonderful mechanical prov . On the fourth floor of the bulld- ing is a spacious and well-lighted compos- ing room 10H feet deep. Up to a year ago this room was filled in the old way with printers’ cases and from 76 to #0 men used to work at these cases all day, deftly pick- ing out, one by one, from boxes, the type that, combined together, gave to the reader im_the evening all the news of the day. Now, instead of the three score or more men at the eases, there are ranged along each side of the deep room a_row of ma- chines; sixteen in ali, tireless and nerveless workers, and the prifiter operatives of these machines accomplish all and more than the small army of eompositors that once filled the big room. All of the type in the paper, except some of the displayed head- lines and displayed advertisements, is set y be more correct to say that the y the machine. The machine in a little metal bar, and t it derives its name of Lino- type. ‘The machines in use In The Star office are known as the Mergenthaler Linotype Fer four hundred years the art ef type composition remained practically unimproved. The only machine in use was the hand of the compositor. During the present century many inventors have spent | their energies and their lives working cn | the problem of typesetting machines, and fortunes have been squandered in the | search fer some solution of it So little suc- | cess attended all this effort that naturally | img trade believed it impossible to sub- held by the mechanism. Another key 1s touched and another flat bit of brass slides lown and takes its place by the first, and so on. These bits of metal are intaglio type or matrices. When enough of these have slid into place to fill a line, which the machine automatically justifies,the line is carried by a series of mechanisms to a point where molten type metal is forced out of u cast- ing pot through a little narrow mold and against the intaglio line. The metal quickly ecels and forms a solid bar with the letters e corresponding with the intaglio type raised in relief. This line is trimmed automatically and in a few seconds delivered through a small opening into a receptacle made for the purpose. Meanwhile the line of intaglio type or matrices has been picked up by an unerring steel hand, carried up dehind the machine to the top of the magazine.and there distributed again, éach type or matrix being dropped into its proper compartment and being ready for use again. This automatic distribution ts one of the most marvelous performances of the ma- chine. It is in this pfoeéss that the notches referred to come into play. The little pieces THR MODEL Fpening Slatne 1894—EIGHTEEN PAGES putting together the type for the last of the ; aper—the last to but reclly the Arg and second of the pa- ts ae us ed Were Sumply ato the composing stone es each printer finish- ed his “take” Ome would despair of ever getting half of It in its proper place in the form. But right at the foremen’s hand fs what looks like a big wooden box. It is in reality a wooden e eral tiers of slots gr pigeon of these- holes is mumbered and is just large enough @ galley of type. As the “copy” out at the “copy” Cee Enea note is ke; ohne mi i@ editor and foreman the clue by which they wey unravel the mysteries of the type. hem the type has been cor- rected the golleys, bearing the numbered slugs, are pushed into the pigeon holes corresponding in each case to the number on the slug, amd by consulting these num- bers and the numbers on his memorandum the managing editor or foreman can quick- ly find just what he wants or tell where each little section of type ought to go. Making the Stereotyped Plates. When the forms of each page are locked up they are wheeled quickly to a corner of the room where the first process of stereo- typing, the making of the matrix, is per- formed. This consists of securing from the face of the type a papier mache mold the size of a page of The Star. The prepared paper, soft and damp, is laid upon the type and put through a roller molder, so as to take a complete impression of every letter and comma. Then the form, with the paper mold covered with a protecting blanket, is placed on a steam chest under great pres- sure, ard there the mold is dried and baked. When the baking is dore, the paper mold, now hard and stiff,-is taken oft’ from the form, and-after a few seconds of fur- ther preparation under the skillful manipu- lation of the stereotyper, is ready to be sent down through a shute to the stereotyping foundry, watch occupies a portion of the big press room on the ground floor below. The Great Preas Room. This brings the visitor, who may have followed the processes of making The Evening Star from the feint where. the v"" reaches the eorapost back to the press room, where his interest was first excited. This press room, with the y rious offices attached to it, is one of the most commodious and conveniently ar- ranged in the country, and of course that means in the world. ‘The press room prop- er, where the four jarge presses are lo- cated, is a spacious apartment about 55x90 feet, with a lofty ceilimg, giving ample room abcve for the apparafus employed in bring- ing the huge rolis of paper to the presses. All of the belting abd gearing connecting | the presses with the large engine located in a sub-basement tm the rear of the build- ing are beneath the. floer, so that, so far as the observer at. the wirdow can see, the Eresses rrove efttinely of their own accord. Connecting with the; press room are large apertments, in one qf ‘which is stored the great rolls of paper pm which The Star fs printed. A minigturefcable railway running along in front ‘of Presees is equipped with little trucks, which the papers as they are printed.are transported in bundles of fifty to the reom th the basement of the ws COM be closed, POSING RO 1a its progress the paper comes in contact with s little circular saw which cuts the web in the center, making after that two Gilccme. cf paper instead of one, certain pages of the paper having been jiiited in its contact with the cylinaers on each o7 these strips. The Folders. - The web {s then conducted to what is kncwn as the angle bars. These are two long rollers, placed at an angle of forty- five degrees to the middle line of the press, and whose function is to turn the web so that it will travel for a short space at right angles to the direction it followed in coming through the press. The st»cams of aged coming from both prcss<s and turned y these angle bars aré assembled together in the mechanism that cuts and folds the papers. The paper passes over three fold- ing cylinders, getting from the first two parallel folds, and from the third the final fold. From the last cylinder the completed paper, cut, folded and pasted, is dropped into @ packer box, where it is packed neatly by a plunger, an ingenious device tripping the mechanism at every fiftieth paper so as to neatly arrange the papers in Piles of fifty. Now, passing along in front of the presses, just at the point where these piles of fifty are delfvered, is the miniature cable line referred to. As rapidly as these piles are made by the presses, they are taken up by attendants and deposited on the little trucks sliding by on this cable road. In unis way they are conveyed to the base- ment of the corner building, where the newsboys are waiting for thera. Up to the time of the introduction of these presses The Star was equipped with three fast per- fecting presses which were considered marvels of mechanism. The difference be- tween the discardéd presses and the new ones 4s that the new presses will print a paper of any size from two to sixteen pages at one time. ‘This new press is the only one that has been invented that will print and insert a sixteen-page paper. The old presses and the majority of modern perfecting presses will print a complete eight-page paper. In order to print a paper of larger size tt is necessary on such a machine to print the different parts et different times and then have them assembled and folded together by hand. ‘To print a ten-page paper on the new presses of The Star office, one part contain- ing eight pages {s printed on the lower part of the press, while the other part, contain- ing two pages, is printed on the upper part, which Is run for the purpose at a lewer rate of speed. When the output of each press reaches the folder, the mech- anirm is so nicely adjusted that the two pages printed on the upper press are carried exactly to the point where it should meet its complementary eight pages and be pasted and folded in. The web, after it ts printed and cut, passes over a little cylinder, where It receives just a little line of paste at the fold where it should be pasted in. Likewise, to print a twelve-page paper, the “eights” are printed on one press and the “fours” on the other, and they are assembled together in the folding apparatus after being turned by the angle bars. Thus a four, six, elght, ten, twelve or sixteen-page paper can be printed, the work being divided between the two parts of the press and the product be- ing brought together in the folding ap- paratus. The machine is so adjusted that a 77 OM. i ¥ of brass are suspended from a traveling type bar and keep their-places as long as the notches are engaged in corresponding notches on the bar. Wiren they become dis- engage’ they drop into the maguzine below, and the mechanism is so adjusted that they always drop just at the right place to fall into the proper compartment’ of the fan- shaped magazine. Line after line is cast urtil the operator has" Prifthéd fils “take” or filled his galley, when he takes up the lines set and “dumps” it at the bank, where one of the floormen 1 Then the operaior begins on aieteee ie os In the Compesing Roem. A visitor to the composing room will see in the central portions of the room the racks, tal and composing stones, where the type set or made by the machines is assembled. There is & large table where the “copy” from the editorial and business departments 1s delivered through pneu- matic tubes. At this table the “copy” is cut up into “takes” for the printer or ment jn printing machines, the highest achievement of the inventor and skilled machinist In the way of presses. There are no other presses Hike them, for they are the frst of the kind eve built. They were ordered and built expressly for The Star, and every spindle, roller, screw and cog were especially designed. It was like butid- ing a new vessel. The designing and mak- ing, and finally the installation in, The Star’s press troém fequired eleven months’ time, although all the vast resources of the great Potter press manufacturing estab- lishment were employed upon them. Now that they are in place and at work, their makers and The Star take pardonable pride im them, for these presse stand for a con- stitute a machine for the hand of the printer. But In recent years the solution has come. Formerly one brain was re- quired to guide the hand of one man. Now that one bratn directs a machine that works a the rapidity of four or five pairs of 8. This result ts found in the Mergenthaler machine, such as ts used tn Thé Star office, and which has been introduced in many newspaper offices throughout the country. ‘The operator sits in front of the machine at a keyboar@, his “copy” being held by a “copy” holder, placed at a conventent dis- tance from his eyes. He presses the let- tered keys, ji soe 28S is i operator. Each “take” is numbered and lettered. with a red pencil. The printer, when he has finished his “take,” deposits the type, or “dumps” it, to use the ver- nacular, together with @ slug bearing a number corresponding with that on his “take.” The system of numbering is car- ried out so that the floor men, who as- semble the matter, and the “maker-up,” who puts it in the form, can, without con- fusion or hesitation, get everything in its right place. Much of this work is done in the same manner as it was when the type was set by hand. Some new conditions were int however, with the printing machines. These presented problems in minor details which were solved tn The Star composing room by the invention of of The Star and intro- duced linotypes. One can readily under- stand going corner building, where the newsboys, the route agents and the clerks who dispatch the mail are located. It may be interesting to describe in some detail the working of one of-ihe-presses. This can be, perhaps, done most “learly by tracing the progress of a roll of white paper from the time it is delivered at the door of the paper ware | rcom until it is placed in the form of Even- ing Stars in the hands of the newsboys. One of these roils contains about a mile of white paper. From the door at which it is delivered by the express wagons has been constructed an aerial single track railway, on which the roll is transported by means of a traveling crane to the ware room, An- other branch of thts.same railway system extends from the wafe.room along through the press room, so that a roll can be deliy- ered quickly at any mement at any press. ‘The roll having been delivered at the press it is placed on a spindle or spool and easily handled by a systga of mechanism so as tg be placed in for feeding the web or lower press, A the Press shows a combina- of paper into quick survey o: tion of cylinders, rolfers and tape paths. On some of these cylinders are clamped the stereotyped plates: There are series of rollers, connected .withuink rescrvars,which distribute and apply the ink.in proper quan- tities to the faces @f: the stereotyped plates as the cylinders 1 and other rollers whose function is to guide and sup- port the web of baad as it passes on through the press, Thare are in each press four plate. cylinders to which stereotyped plates are attach: jur impression cylin- ders, four inking forty-eight com- appara product of the.two printing machines. As has been explained, although constructed in one frame there are really two petatinn ne can ts in operatien, or different rate of an ingen dev! 5 £ ! roll of full width, 47 inches, can be printed on either press, or a roll of half width. Thus, in printing a ten-page paper, the web from a roll of full width is fed into the lower press, which prints and cuts the eight-page part, and a web from a roll only half as wide is fed into the upper machine, which prints the two-page part. Each of these double presses has a capacity of print- ing in an hour from 24,000 to 30,000 four, six or eight-page papers, or from 12,000 to 15,000 ten, twelve or sixteen-page papers. These presses are the first ever constructed on this pattern. It is generally conceded by men familar with the printing art that the best printing has been done on what ts known as the angle-bar press. These new presses are simply a combination each of two angle-bar presses. The idea of putting one press upon another had been success- fully carried out before these presses were constructed. The way it was done was to build a superstructure upon an ojd press. In the case of The Star presses, however, the two printing machines combined in each press were designed and constructed from the start with the view to being operated together in the manner described, and they have many improvements in mechanism making their work certain and facilitating constructed on modern principles. ‘Every part oi press Is manufactured from the best machinery steel, every box and or {Tl MARKET SPACE. - WHAT DO YOU THINK, Of Our Bargains This Weektf Figured India Silks, the very best goods--that we sold all the season at 59c.—are 29¢. 50c. Cream and White Habutai Wash Silks are 29¢. 24-inch Piain Chinas—black, white, cream, pink, nile, orange, cardinal and lavender, are 39c. 24-inch Black, also White Figured Jap. Silks, that were 69c.—are 49¢. These are our special Silk bargains for this Week— great, aren’t they? What do you think of us selling every piece of fancy gingham in our House—French, Scotch and all other makes included—at 53,c.? _ Do you know what we heve done with 3,000 yards of fine Jaconet Duchesse, the very best of Styles? We just got them in; of course they come in rem- nants, but new, fresh and crispy—no doubt you are waiting to hear the price—sc. for 12 1-ac. goods. See how they show up in our window. We consulted the heads of different departments re- garding summer stock on hand, and this they advised us to do. The remnant buyer thought best to sell every _ of White-ground Lawn, warranted fast colors, at 2 7-8c. Light Shirtings, percale finish, shouldshare the same fate, and go at 2 7--8c. 25-inch Chevioteen, made on percale cloth, the pret~ tiest styles one could wish for, are 3 7-8c. Whatever we have left of Wool Challies, no matter be they fight or dark gound, or ali wool, they still are 5c. Creponettes, Serpentine Crepes, New Fall Prints, Cretonnes, Navy Blue Prints.are all sold at sc. a yard. If Pipa wish to see a nice selection of New Fall Dress Goods you ought to see ours. We have not received any of our Imported Novelties up to this writing, as we will not take them out of bond until the tariff bill is signed, but domestic manufacture, ranging in prices from igc. to s9c., are up to date and at your service. When you come to buy other goods take a peep at them—if you are not ready to buy then we are sure you will be later on. Black Wool Dress Goods Is something that is always selling. Therefore our stock is always cempiete. We carry only the best makes and goods that we can stand by. Every piece of Summer Wool Dress Goods we will sell you at one-half of what we sold them at, and there are some very choice things among them that will do for early fall wear. Ready-Ilade Bedwear. 100 Dozen Pillow Cases, full size, made of Ironclad Muslin. Are gc. 1,000 Sheets 81x90,made of Pequot Sheeting. The size is stamped oneach sheet. Only soc. 250 pairs Summer Blankets, white and fancy colors, We saw a window full at 98c., and aii we ask is 69c. Have you seen that California Lamb’s Wool Blanket that we are selling at $3.98? We think it the greatest | bargain ever shown. We had 20 cases made to order for us under the name of Little Queen Isabella, which | gives us the sole control of this Blanket in this or any other city, and still we only ask $3.98 for a $6.00 article. 200 White Spreads, just the thing for the encamp- ment, and only 49c. 150 White Spreads, very handsome designs, full 11=4, good value at $1.50, are only g8c. Table Linens, Towels and Napkins. 62-inch Bleached ‘Damask, sold at 6g5c., now 49d? 62-inch Bleached Damask, sold at 7s5c., now 59c_ 72-inch Bleached Damask, sold at $1, now 79c. 56-inch Unbleached Damask, sold at 35c., now 25¢c. 56-inch Unbleached Damask, solid at 49c¢., now 3ICc. 72-inch Unbleached Damask, sold at 75c¢., now s9c. 72-inch Unbleached Damask, soeld at 85c. Encamp- ment price, 69c. 56-inch Turkey Red Damask, warranted color, sold at 35C., NOW 25C¢. 60-inch Turkey Red Damask, sold at 49¢., now 37c. 100 Dozen Satin Damask Towels, 121c. Per Doz., $1.3; 50 Dozen Satin Damask Towels, 19c. Per Doz., $2. too Dozen Huck Towels, toc. Per Dozen, $1.00. 100 Dozen Huck Towels, etd Dozen, $1.35. 2,000 Yards b | Crash, 3%c. You will find our stock of Tabie Linons, Towels, ones and Crashes lower than quoted anywhere in ys Our Motto is a poorly dressed customer is never slighted nora good old patron ‘turned dowri” to secure a new one—Neither is the new allowed to suffer.