CONTENTS
INTRODUCTORY
The essential articles of furniture in a modern composing room may be classified broadly, omitting obvious details for the present, under the following heads:
1. Cases for type for general composition; for borders, type ornaments, accented letters, fractions, extra sorts, etc., and for engraved plates, and electrotypes; for spaces and quads, brass rules, leads, slugs, metal furniture and large spacing material, and for wood type. Also cases in special cabinets for printed specimens, paper samples, etc.
2. Work Stands and Cabinets—Open wooden frames with or without racks, to hold cases on top; made single or double; with working top. Cabinets, with working top, holding cases, enclosed on sides and back; made single, double, or triple size. Cabinets are made of pressed steel as well as of hard wood.
3. Cabinets and Storage Racks for Cases—In addition to the racks in working stands and cabinets, there are standing racks, cabinets (flat top for holding miscellaneous articles or material, and galley top for temporary storage of live or dead matter), etc.
4. Galley Cabinets and Racks—These are to hold galley matter waiting return of proofs, or for pages made up and waiting to be locked up for electro foundry or for the pressroom. They may be placed in any convenient place, or are sometimes in movable form to be taken from composing or correcting stands to the make-up stand or imposing table.
5. Furniture Racks and Cabinets—For labor-saving fonts of reglet, wood furniture, soft metal or steel furniture, etc.
6. Standing Galleys—These are stands with inclined tops divided sometimes horizontally and sometimes perpendicularly into narrow columns, for holding live or dead standing matter—usually the latter awaiting distribution. The lower part of the frame is usually provided with racks for cases, letter-boards, galleys, or other storage facilities.
7. Imposing Tables—Large flat surfaces upon which pages and forms are imposed and locked up for electrotype molding or prepared for the press. These consist of polished marble slabs on strong frames or tables, with drawer for quoins, etc., and also furnished below with galley racks, receptacles for wood or metal furniture, letter-boards, chase racks, etc. The more common modern imposing tables are made of steel, on iron frames, with the lower parts fitted for the storage of material used in locking up forms.
8. Proofing Apparatus—Proof planer and mallet, galley press, hand press, modern curved-surface machines, automatic proofing machines, self-feeding and self-inking. These also include proof rollers, ink tables, shelves for proof paper, and receptacles for benzine or other type-washing liquids.
In addition to the foregoing brief summary there are numerous other items of composing-room equipment, large and small, provided for the particular needs of the work carried on in the place. Many of these items, however, are not in extensive use, as in many places the needs they would serve might not warrant the expense of their installation. The specialties of the printing industry nowadays affect the composing-room as well as the other departments.
A particular article which is useful and profitable in one place may be quite superfluous and an unnecessary expense in another. The kind and quantity of the work done in any workroom usually governs the kind and the extent of the equipment provided—making allowance always for the customary variation in individual judgment and the proprietor's ability to purchase.
There is a wide range of choice from a plain wooden double stand with two pairs of cases, at which two persons may work, costing six to ten dollars, to a latest pattern steel working cabinet, also providing for only two workers, costing one hundred dollars, or even more.
There are, however, certain articles and facilities fundamentally necessary to carry on the work of a composing room. The particular form of these—whether simple and inexpensive or elaborate and costly—is a question for the proprietor or manager to consider.
The articles of furniture classified under items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, in the foregoing list, are those treated in this book; those referred to in item 7, Imposing Tables and Lock-Up Appliances, being considered in a separate volume (No. 4). Proof Presses, item 8, are also treated in a separate book (No. 5).
COMPOSING-ROOM FURNITURE
Early Type Cases
The early type cases are shown in pictures of the time as made of a single tray containing all the characters of the font and resting in a slanting position on a rude frame or “horse,” at which the compositor is usually seated. All the boxes of the case are represented as of the same size, which probably was not the fact even in early practice any more than it is today. Early designers and artists no doubt overlooked or ignored what they considered an unimportant detail, just as today they often persist in misrepresenting the true outline of the printer's lower-case. One does not need to take much thought or to have much experience to understand that in all printed languages some characters are used more than others and therefore more types of these letters and larger boxes to hold them should be provided.
For a long time the large single case with boxes for the entire list of characters was used, and these are still common in many European composing rooms. In English and American workshops, however, the pair of cases, one above the other, for many years has been the rule for large fonts in book and news work. These cases, being smaller and holding but a part of the font, are more convenient for storing and for moving from place to place about the room as they are needed for use.
The cases described by Moxon in 1683 are in pairs, and the arrangement of the letters in the lower case, as shown in his illustrations, bear a close similarity to the plan of English cases of today.
Early American cases came from England and naturally they conformed to the customs of the time and place of origin. Probably in no other important particular has the tendency of printers to hold to past methods been more strongly emphasized than in their refusal to adopt any important change in the style of the most used type cases and the arrangement of the types in the boxes. Force of habit and dislike for innovation have kept practically unchanged for two and a half centuries the relative positions of the chief characters in the case. At the same time there has been universal acknowledgment that the adoption of some of the suggested improvements would add greatly to convenience and economy; and further, that many of these improvements could be adopted with an effort and expense so small as to be out of all proportion to the advantages obtained.
Sizes of Type Cases
Other sizes of cases, however, have been made and quite commonly used during the last half century. Those now listed in the dealers' catalogs are known as three-quarter size (26½ inches wide by 16⅝ inches front to back) and two-third size (21¾ by 16⅝ inches). There is also another size known as the Rooker case, used to some extent in newspaper composing rooms, the dimensions being 28½ x 14 inches, which is about one-fifth smaller than the standard case. It holds nearly the same quantity of the smaller sizes of type and has the advantage of occupying less room.
When printing offices employed but few workmen and there was small equipment, the need for economizing space did not seem a pressing one. Large cases with small fonts, and open-frame working stands with few or no racks or shelves for storage of extra material, were not considered extravagant so long as the original cost was small. The employment of larger numbers of workmen, however, and the consequent additional equipment of cases, with racks, cabinets, imposing tables, and other facilities concentrated in city buildings where the cost of rent, light, heat, etc., is high and constantly increasing, have made the utilization of waste space a matter of urgent necessity. The three-quarter, two-third cases, and even smaller sizes, which can be kept in smaller racks and cabinets, have therefore been found convenient in many places, but these must be provided with suitable racks or cabinets of the proper size. The smaller cases are sufficient to hold many of the usual small fonts, as well as the ordinary auxiliary material, like type borders, ornaments, small electros, etc. Small cases, with their lesser weight of contents in type metal, often give distinct advantage in the ease with which they may be handled.
Structure of Type Cases
Type cases are made of wood thoroughly seasoned to prevent as much as possible any shrinking after they are finished and have remained for some time in the usually dry air of a composing room. It is not so common a custom now, as it was formerly, to sponge type on the galley before distributing and to allow the surplus water to flow into the case, thus subjecting parts of the case to excessive dampness. The old type cases, under such careless usage, were quickly warped and cracked. The splitting of the bottom and the separation of the partitions allowed small types to drop out and to shift under the partitions. These defects were partially overcome by papering the bottoms of the boxes, the proper accomplishment of which was at one time considered a part of the compositor's duty.
The bottom of the case is fitted into a groove made in the outside frame, so that it cannot be easily separated. This groove being slightly higher than the lower face of the side frame, upon which the case slides back and forth in the rack, keeps the bottom up far enough to allow it to pass clear of the runs, or of any case or shelf below. The partitions are made by strips across the full width of each section of the case from outer frame to outer frame or to crossbar. The strips are crossed at the corners of the boxes by mortising each piece one half of its depth at the proper place—one from above and the other from below—and dovetailing the cross pieces together. (Fig. 4.) The corners of the boxes are then re-enforced by brass clasps made to fit over the top of the partitions and held by a long pin driven down through the dovetailed partitions and clinched at the bottom of the case. (See Fig. 5.).
Cases for Various Purposes
While wooden cases are used by printers chiefly for holding type fonts, they are now also used for a large variety of auxiliary material which it is necessary to keep more or less carefully classified in convenient containers. The increasing quantities and varieties of this material now needed in an average composing-room make convenient receptacles and orderly, systematic arrangement a necessity if the work is to be carried on without excessive waste. In no other trade is there a greater multiplicity of details to be considered in order to obtain a finished product, and a thoughtless, unnecessary waste of time, effort, or material in attending to these details adds enormously to the expense of the product. And so it is becoming the practice of good managers to use cases more abundantly than formerly and to store them in convenient racks and cabinets, so that this large mass of material may be kept classified and may be obtained quickly when needed.
Besides the ordinary pair of upper case and lower case, many styles of single cases are made to hold a complete font of capitals, lower case, figures, points, etc., and others are planned to hold small capitals in addition. Some are made for fonts of capitals, figures, and points only; some for figures only (especially for time-tables and tabular work), for fractions, accented letters, special characters and sorts, for leaders, type borders and ornaments, etc. A large variety of cases are planned for labor-saving fonts of brass rule. Others are made especially for spaces and quads, for leads and slugs, and for metal furniture. These are made in many sizes, from the small space-and-rule case, 5 inches by 6¼ inches, which can be placed beside the compositor's galley, up to the mammoth metal furniture case, 18 inches by 72 inches, covering a space equal to the top of a double stand. Dealers' catalogs now show from seventy-five to a hundred or more different kinds of cases for printers' use.
Compositor's Work Stands
This inclination serves also as the most convenient kind of a rest for galleys upon which loose lines of composed matter are handled. Lines of small type will not stand upright without support of some kind, even on a perfectly level, smooth, rigid surface. The universal custom, therefore, is to place galleys of type matter in a slanting position, so that the ends of the lines will be higher and all the matter will rest firmly against the lower rim of the galley. A galley in this slanting position, with the first letter in the line resting against the lower rim and the words reading upward, is the safest and most practicable manner in which to make corrections, lift out or insert whole lines singly or in groups, or to handle types generally in certain difficult composition, making-up pages, etc. After the pages are tied up or surrounded by side supports in some manner they may be conveniently handled on a level surface. Ordinary linotyped matter, which consists of a single piece for each line of words, and consequently is not liable to pi, may be, and usually is, handled throughout on level tables; but types are easily and safely handled only when they may be placed against the lower rim of an inclined galley.
Case Stands and Racks
A simple and inexpensive working stand to hold type cases for composing is that shown in Fig. 18. This is made of wood and has a rack in the lower part for holding extra cases. It will be noticed that because the rack is wide enough to take the full-size case, the top of the stand is several inches wider than the case, and the side frames are therefore too far apart to support the ends of the case. To enable the cases to be held safely, an extra arm is placed inside near the side frame to hold one end of the case. The surplus space beside the working cases is usually furnished with a sloping shelf or narrow galley rest convenient for holding a galley, leads, or other articles, thus allowing the case to be kept clear for composing. (See Fig. 19.)
Tall racks which hold cases too high to be reached comfortably by a person standing on the floor are not to be commended. While they may occupy less floor space and because of this seem to be an advantage where there are a great many cases that are seldom used, this advantage is usually more than offset by their disadvantages. The upper cases are difficult to handle and are liable to be pied. If the tall racks are near a window they obstruct the light.
A double stand of similar character to Fig. 18 is shown in Fig. 21, in which the space below is fully utilized for two racks, one for full-size cases and the other for two-third cases.
Many foremen do not approve the small size cases for type in common use, preferring to have all the cases of a standard size, so that they may fit the regular racks and stands and be interchangeable throughout the department. To provide for this, double stands are made which have a double tier of racks for full size cases, as shown in Fig. 20. This double stand has the extra space on the top utilized by a narrow galley shelf in the middle between the inclined case supports.
Another class of wooden case-stands is made with the frame having a flat top or table upon which is fastened a set of iron brackets to hold the working cases in an inclined position. These styles are illustrated in Fig. 23.
The Modern Type Cabinet
The printer's cabinet is now made in a multiplicity of styles and in several sizes. The frames are usually of hard wood, but during the past few years they have been made of pressed steel. Usually they provide for one or more tiers of standard wooden cases for type, etc. Some of the latest patterns combine in one structure racks for type cases and facilities for holding assortments of the various kinds of material which a compositor ordinarily uses, with provision for some special material, as well as ample working space for galleys, etc. They are planned to concentrate the frequently used material near to the compositor's hands, to enable him to save the time occupied in going from place to place about the room.
About thirty years ago a radical change of this practice was proposed, and is now being gradually adopted for modern equipments. This plan places the working stand on one side of the cabinet and the case rack on the other side, so that there is freer access to cases by all workmen. The original styles of these stands and cabinets were called “Polhemus,” after a New York printer, John Polhemus, who arranged his composing-room in this manner.
The case-front side of the cabinet is provided with a galley top for holding standing matter, etc., while the opposite side (the closed-in back of the case rack) is surmounted with brackets for type cases, galley shelf, etc., and is used as the working stand.
Polhemus cabinets (Figs. 26 and 27) and others embodying this plan have been made in a variety of sizes—single, double, and triple cabinets, the larger sizes providing for galley racks and sorts drawers, as well as the three tiers of type cases.
Iron Case Brackets
Wood Runs and Steel Runs
Early wooden case racks were fitted with strips of thin wood upon which the cases were moved in and out. These slender strips were not always of perfect grain and were difficult to attach firmly to the side frame. They warped and split easily, and the nails and screws with which they were fastened would work loose. In order to have them strong they had to be thick, and this thickness gave a wide space between the cases so that fewer cases could be kept in a given space.
To avoid these disadvantages case runs are now made of flat strips of steel fastened to the side frames of the rack or cabinet. In some cabinets they are fitted between side slats of wood, and a couple of perpendicular iron rods are run through holes in the slats and the steel strips from top to bottom of the rack, binding the pieces together and to the side frame, making a particularly substantial rack. Another style of steel run is made of a wider strip of iron bent the entire length into a right-angle shape. Screw holes on one side of this angle strip enable it to be fastened to the side frame, the other angle of the strip being used to support the case.
Extension Fronts and Backs
The later method of providing for this is to place the cases further back in the rack, as in the old-style stand, and have the runs on the cabinet extended entirely to the front. This is the extension front, and in modern cabinets the rims are of thin steel, as already described. (Fig. 34.) With this arrangement the cases have no protruding arms and can be conveniently placed anywhere; standard cabinet cases can be placed on working stands or temporarily in any convenient case rack.
Furniture Racks
This wasteful method was the universal custom before the era of the labor-saving assortment stored in orderly fashion in a cabinet and placed within instant reach of the workman. The common-sense modern method is the well-stocked rack or cabinet with a compartment for each size of the series, with the compartments numbered and the larger pieces of the material numbered to correspond. An arrangement like this invites an orderly habit in persons who would otherwise be careless.
The usual style of furniture rack is shown in Fig. 35. This is made in several sizes to hold quantities large or small according to the requirements of the room. The position of a rack like this should be near the stone at a level near the height of the working surface.
Another style of furniture and reglet rack is that fitted into the frame of the imposing table or into an adjoining stand or cabinet. This is illustrated in Fig. 36. It will be noticed that all the different lengths present a surface flush with the outside of the frame. This is because the depth of the compartments is varied to accommodate the several lengths of furniture at the back, instead of at the front as shown in Fig. 35.
Special Cabinets
Another cabinet that is useful is the script type cabinet. This holds the cases inclined upward from the left. The compartments are narrow, running horizontally with the front. In these the types are held face up, so that they may not be injured by rattling about when the case is moved back and forth. The cases may be used for borders, special characters, or any small items which it is desired to keep standing face upward. The compartments of the cases may be made wide or narrow to accommodate the size of the types they are to hold.
The apprentice who wants to learn about the latest and best feature of composing room equipment should make a special point to examine the catalogues of manufacturers and dealers in printers' supplies. These catalogues continually show new and improved articles that are finely illustrated and specifically described as to their particular advantages.