This was in 1813. Bruce had learned the printer’s trade in Edinburgh and later came to America, where after a few years he was joined by his brother George in establishing the firm of D. & G. Bruce, printers. Hearing of the new process of stereotyping in England, he went over there to learn about it. He could get very little information about the process there, but came back with some practical ideas which he proceeded to carry out. Bruce and his brother also began type-founding about this time, and abandoned the business of printing. Later they gave up the work of stereotyping.
The first book stereotyped in the United States was the New Testament, in 1814. Bibles and school books were the first works to be stereotyped; then came other books which were demanded in many editions, such as the works of popular authors.
THE
PAPIER MACHE MATRIX
The papier- mache (literally, mashed paper) matrix was first successfully used for casting stereotypes for book pages in France in 1848. Charles Craske, an engraver of New York, introduced the method into the stereotype trade of the United States in 1850, and in 1854 he stereotyped a page of the “New York Herald” and later made stereotypes for other New York newspapers.
The modern wet stereotype “flong,” in common use today, consists of several layers of special paper pasted together to form a thick sheet. The base is a sheet of special soft stock similar to firm blotting-paper, such as is used between leaves of small blank books. Three or four sheets of strong, white tissue are next added, each sheet except the last being uniformly covered with the paste. The pasting must be done with great care so as to cover the entire surface of each sheet and at the same time to press out all air bubbles. The sheets must then be pressed smoothly but not squeezed so hard as to force the paste out and must be kept moist until used. In newspaper syndicate plants, the “flong” is made automatically by a specially devised machine into which the various kinds of paper used are fed from rolls, the pasting and cutting into sheets being mechanical.
In molding a papier-mache matrix, the moist “flong” is laid on the original molding form to be duplicated, the molding form being in place on the table of the molding press. The “flong” is covered with several blankets of thick felt and the table of the molding press is then automatically moved in under a powerful roller which squeezes the moist flong down into the form. At the end of its travel the table is automatically brought back again under the rollers to the position from which it started. The speed of the roller and the table is synchronized to obviate any possibility of the mat becoming wrinkled by sliding.
The molded matrix and the pattern with the blanket still on it is then transferred to the drying press, in which under a hot platten it is again squeezed and allowed to remain for a few minutes until the moisture is completely expelled from the molded flong. The drying press is kept at a high temperature, usually by steam heat.