The American Printer: A Manual of Typography / Containing practical directions for managing all departments of a printing office, as well as complete instructions for apprentices; with several useful tables, numerous schemes for imposing forms in every variety, hints to authors, etc.

by Thomas MacKellar

WETTING PAPER.

The size of the wetting-trough should be about two inches longer and wider than the largest-sized paper, folded, that is to be wet in it, and about six inches deep. It should have a cover with hinges on the left side, that the cover may fall over on that side, and, resting horizontally, serve for a shelf to lay the paper upon previous to wetting it.

Having received a certain amount of paper from the warehouseman, the pressman lays one heap on the shelf attached to the wetting-trough, laying the first token across the heap with the back of the quires toward his right hand, that he may know when to turn the token-sheet, and that he may more readily catch at the back of each quire with that hand, for the purpose of dipping it. He then places the paper-board with its breadth before him on his right, on a table, laying a wrapper or a waste sheet of paper on the board, to prevent soiling the first sheet of the heap.

He then takes a quire by the centre of the back with his right hand, and the edge of it in his left, and, closing his hands a little, that the quire may bend downward between his hands, he dips the back of the quire into the left-hand side of the trough, and, relinquishing his hold with the left hand, draws the quire briskly through the water with his right. As the quire comes out, he quickly catches the edge of it again in his left hand, and brings it to the heap, and, by lifting his left hand, bears the under side of the quire off the paper previously laid down, till he has placed the quire in an even position; if the paper be weak and spongy, he draws the quire through the water quickly; if strong and stubborn, slowly. To place the quire in an even position, he lays the back of it exactly upon the open crease of the former, and then lets the side of the quire in his left hand fall flat down upon the heap, and, discharging his right hand, brings it to the edge of the quire, and, with the assistance of his left thumb, still in its first position, opens or divides either a third or a half of the quire, according to the quality of the paper; then, spreading the fingers of his right hand as much as he can through the length of the quire, turns over his opened division of it upon his right-hand side of the heap.

A different process must be used in the wetting of drawing and plate papers. These papers are usually sent in quite flat; that is, not folded into quires or half-quires. The best method of wetting these papers is to use a brush, such as is called a banister brush; and, instead of dipping the paper into the trough, he lays it on the paper-board by the side of the trough, and, dipping the brush into the water, he shakes it gently over the whole surface, to give an equal degree of moisture to all parts; and then proceeds as before described. The drawing-paper, being very hard-sized in the making, will require the brush, and much water, three, four, or even five times a quire; while the plate-paper should have as little water as it is possible to give it, so as to cover it all over; and twice a quire will often be too much. This same mode must also be adopted in wetting paper of extraordinary dimensions.

Having wet his first token, he doubles down a corner of the upper sheet of it on his right hand, so that the farther corner may be a little toward the left of the crease in the middle of the heap, and the other corner may hang out on the near side of the heap about an inch and a half. This sheet is called the token-sheet, being a mark for the pressman, when he is at work, to show how many tokens of that heap are worked off.

Having wet the whole heap, he lays a wrapper, or waste sheet of paper, upon it; then, three or four times, takes up as much water as he can in the hollow of his hand, and throws it over the waste sheet, to moisten and soak downward into the wet part of the last division of the quire; after which, he places in the heap the label which the warehouseman must always furnish for each heap, and upon which are written the title of the work and the date of wetting, one-half hanging out so as to be easily read.

The paper should be pressed for twelve hours, and then carefully turned by each three or four sheets, so that no lift be relaid in the same position with respect to the adjoining lift; at the same time, every fold and wrinkle must be carefully rubbed out by the action of the hand, so that nothing but a flat and even surface shall remain; the heap should then be pressed for about twenty-four hours in a screw-press, and it will be in good order for working.

The wetting of paper must, in all cases, depend entirely upon its fabric; and, since the printer has seldom the choice of the paper, it will require all his skill and patience to adapt his labours to the materials upon which he is to work. The texture of the paper must be suited to the fineness and tenacity of the ink. To attempt doing fine work upon common paper is lost labour. A paper to take the best ink must be made entirely of linen rags, and not bleached by chemicals. A fine hand-made paper, fabricated a sufficient time to get properly hardened, and well and equally saturated with size, so as not to imbibe more water in one part of the dip than in another, nor resisting the water like a duck’s back, is most suitable for fine printing.

Machines for wetting paper are now used in most large printing-offices.