Letter FOUNDERY, or Casting of Printing Letters.
In the business of cutting, casting, &c. letters for printing, the letter-cutter must be provided with a vice, hand-vice, hammers, and files of all sorts for watch-makers use; as also gravers and sculptors of all sorts, and an oil-stone, &c. suitable and sizeable to the several letters to be cut: a flat gage made of box to hold a rod of steel, or the body of a mould, &c. exactly perpendicular to the flat of the using file: a sliding gage, whose use is to measure and set off distances between the shoulder and the tooth, and to mark it off from the end, or from the edge of the work; a face gage, which is a square notch cut with a file into the edge of a thin plate of steel, iron, or brass, of the thickness of a piece of common tin, whose use is to proportion the face of each sort of letter, viz. long letters, ascending letters, and short letters. So there must be three gages; and the gage for the long letters is the length of the whole body supposed to be divided into 42 equal parts. The gage for the ascending letters Roman and Italic are, or 30 parts of 42, and 33 parts for the English face. The gage for the short letters is , or 18 parts of 42 of the whole body for the Roman and Italic, and 22 parts for the English face.
The Italic and other standing gages are to measure the scope of the Italic stems, by applying the top and bottom of the gage to the top and bottom lines of the letters, and the other side of the gage to the stem; for when the letter complies with these three sides of the gage, that letter has its true shape.
The next care of the letter cutter is to prepare good steel punches, well tempered, and quite free from all veins of iron; on the face of which he draws or marks the exact shape of the letter with pen and ink if the letter be large, or with a smooth blunted point of a needle if it be small; and then with sizeable and proper shaped and pointed gravers and sculptors, digs or sculps out the steel between the strokes or marks he made on the face of the punch, and leaves the marks standing.
Foundery standing on the face. Having well shaped the inside strokes of his letter, he deepens the hollows with the same tools; for if a letter be not deep in proportion to its width, it will, when used at press, print black, and be good for nothing. This work is generally regulated by the depth of the counter-punch. Then he works the outside with proper files till it be fit for the matrice.
But before we proceed to the sinking and justifying of the matrices, we must provide a mould to justify them by, of which there is a draught in Plate CCXXIII. fig. 1. 2.
Every mould is composed of an upper and an under part. The under part is delineated in fig. 1. The upper part is marked fig. 2. and is in all respects made like the under part, excepting the stool behind, and the bow or spring also behind: and excepting a small roundish wire between the body and carriage, near the break, where the under part hath a small rounding groove made in the body. This wire, or rather half wire, in the upper part makes the nick in the shank of the letter, when part of it is received into the groove in the under part. These two parts are so exactly fitted and gaged into one another (viz. the male gage marked c in fig. 2. into the female marked g in fig. 1.), that when the upper part of the mould is properly placed on, and in the upper part of the mould, both together make the entire mould, and may be slid backwards for use so far, till the edge of either of the bodies on the middle of either carriage comes just to the edge of the female gages cut in each carriage; and they may be slid forward so far, till the bodies on either carriage touch each other: and the sliding of these two parts of the mould backwards makes the shank of the letter thicker, because the bodies on each part stand wider asunder; and the sliding them forwards makes the shank of the letter thinner, because the bodies on each part of the mould stand closer together. The parts of the mould are as follow: viz. a, The carriage. b, The body. c, The male gage. d, The mouth-piece. f, The register. g, The female gage. h, The lug, a a a, The bottom-plate. b b b, The wood on which the bottom-plate lies. c c c, The mouth. d d, The throat. e e e, The pallat. f, The nick. g g, The stool. h h, The spring or bow.
Then the mould must be justified: and first the founder justifies the body, by casting about 20 proofs or samples of letters; which are set up in a composing stick, with all their nicks towards the right hand; and then by comparing these with the pattern letters, set up in the same manner, he finds the exact measure of the body to be cast. He also tries if the two sides of the body are parallel, or that the body be no bigger at the head than at the foot, by taking half the number of his proofs and turning them with their heads to the feet of the other half; and if then the heads and feet be found exactly even upon each other, and neither to drive out nor get in, the two sides may be pronounced parallel. He farther tries whether the two sides of the thickness of the letter be parallel, by first setting his proofs in the composing stick with their nicks upwards, and then turning one-half with their heads to the feet of the other half; and if the heads and feet lie exactly upon each other, and neither drive
out nor get in, the two sides of the thickness are parallel. Foundery.
The mould thus justified, the next business is to prepare the matrices. A matrice is a piece of brass or copper of about an inch and a half long, and of thickness in proportion to the size of the letter it is to contain. In this metal is sunk the face of the letter intended to be cast, by striking the letter punch about the depth of an n. After this the sides and face of the matrice must be justified and cleared with files of all bunchings made by sinking the punch.
Every thing thus prepared, it is brought to the furnace; which is built of brick upright, with four square sides, and a stone on the top, in which stone is a wide round hole for the pan to stand in. A foundery of any consequence has several of these furnaces in it.
As to the metal of which the types are to be cast, this, in extensive founderies, is always prepared in large quantities; but cast into small bars, of about 20 pounds weight, to be delivered out to the workmen as occasion requires. In the letter foundery which has been long carried on with reputation under the direction of Mess. Wilson and Sons at Glasgow, we are informed, that a stock of metal is made up at two different times of the year, sufficient to serve the casters at the furnace for six months each time. For this purpose, a large furnace is built under a shade, furnished with a wheel vent, in order the more equally to heat the sides of a strong pot of cast iron, which holds when full 15 hundred weight of the metal. The fire being kindled below, the bars of lead are let softly down into the pot, and their fusion promoted by throwing in some pitch and tallow, which soon inflame. An outer chimney, which is built so as to project about a foot over the farthest lip of the pot, catches hold of the flame by a strong draught, and makes it act very powerfully in melting lead; whilst it serves at the same time to convey away all the fumes, &c. from the workmen, to whom this laborious part of the business is committed. When the lead is thoroughly melted, a due proportion of the regulus of antimony and other ingredients are put in, and some more tallow inflamed to make the whole incorporate sooner. The workmen now having mixed the contents of the pot very thoroughly by stirring long with a large iron ladle, next proceed to draw the metal off into the small troughs of cast iron, which are ranged to the number of four-score upon a level platform, faced with stone, built towards the right hand. In the course of a day 15 hundred weight of metal can be easily prepared in this manner; and the operation is continued for as many days as are necessary to prepare a stock of metal of all the various degrees of hardness. After this, the whole is disposed into presses according to its quality, to be delivered out occasionally to the workmen.
The founder must now be provided with a ladle, which differs nothing from other iron ladles but in its size; and he is provided always with ladles of several sizes, which he uses according to the size of the letters he is to cast. Before the caster begins to cast, he must kindle his fire in the furnace to melt the metal in the pan. Therefore he takes the pan out of the hole in the stone, and there lays in coals and kindles them; and, when they are well kindled, he sets the pan in again,
Foundery. again, and puts in metal into it to melt; if it be a small-bodied letter he casts, or a thin letter of great bodies, his ladle must be very hot, nay sometimes red hot, to make the letter come. Then having chosen a ladle that will hold about so much as the letter and break is, he lays it at the stoking hole, where the flame bursts out, to heat. Then he ties a thin leather, cut with its narrow end against the face to the leather groove of the matrice, by whipping a brown thread twice about the leather groove, and fastening the thread with a knot. Then he puts both halves of the mould together, and puts the matrice into the matrice-cheek, and places the foot of the matrice on the stool of the mould, and the broad end of the leather upon the wood of the upper half of the mould, but not tight up, lest it might hinder the foot of the matrice from sinking close down upon the stool in a train of work. Then laying a little rosin on the upper wood of the mould, and having his casting ladle hot, he with the boiling side of it melts the rosin: and, when it is yet melted, presses the broad end of the leather hard down on the wood, and so fastens it to the wood; all this is the preparation.
Now he comes to casting. Wherefore, placing the under half of the mould in his left hand, with the hook or hag forward, he clutches the ends of its wood between the lower part of the ball of his thumb and his three hind fingers; then he lays the upper half of the mould upon the under half, so that the male gages may fall into the female gages, and at the same time the foot of the matrice places itself upon the stool; and, clasping his left hand thumb strong over the upper half of the mould, he nimbly catches hold of the bow or spring with his right hand fingers at the top of it, and his thumb under it, and places the point of it against the middle of the notch in the backside of the matrice, pressing it as well forwards towards the mould, as downwards by the shoulder of the notch close upon the stool, while at the same time with his hinder fingers, as aforesaid, he draws the under half of the mould towards the ball of his thumb, and thrusts by the ball of his thumb the upper part towards his fingers, that both the registers of the mould may press against both sides of the matrice, and his thumb and fingers press both halves of the mould close together.
Then he takes the handle of his ladle in his right hand, and with the ball of it gives a stroke, two or three, outwards upon the surface of the melted metal, to scum or clear it from the film or dust that may swim upon it; then takes up the ladle full of metal, and having his mould, as aforesaid, in his left hand, he a little twists the left side of his body from the furnace, and brings the geat of his ladle (full of metal) to the mouth of the mould, and twists the upper part of his right hand towards him to turn the metal into it, while at the same moment of time he jilts the mould in his left hand forwards, to receive the metal with a strong shake (as it is called), not only into the body of the mould, but while the metal is yet hot running, swift and strongly, into the very face of the matrice, to receive its perfect form there, as well as in the shank.
Then he takes the upper half of the mould off the under half, by placing his right hand thumb on the end of the wood next his left hand thumb, and his
two middle fingers at the other end of the wood; and finding the letter and break lie in the under half of the mould (as most commonly by reason of its weight it does), he throws or tosses the letter, break and all, upon a sheet of waste paper laid for that purpose on the bench, just a little beyond his left hand, and is then ready to cast another letter as before; and also, the whole number that is to be cast with that matrice. A workman will ordinarily cast about 3000 of these letters in a day.
When the casters at the furnace have got a sufficient number of types upon the tables, a set of boys come and nimbly break away the jets from them: the jets are thrown into the pots, and the types are carried away in parcels to other boys, who pass them swiftly under their fingers, defended by leather, upon smooth flat stones, in order to polish their broadsides. This is a very dexterous operation, and is a remarkable instance of what may be effected by the power of habit and long practice; for these boys, in turning up the other side of the type, do it so quickly by a mere touch of the fingers of the left hand, as not to require the least perceptible intermission in the motion of the right hand upon the stones. The types, thus finely smoothed and flattened on the broad sides, are next carried to another set of boys, who sit at a square table, two on each side, and there are ranged upon long rulers or sticks, fitted with a small projection, to hinder them from sliding off backwards. When these sticks are so filled, they are placed two and two, upon a set of wooden pins fixed into the wall, near the dresser, sometimes to the amount of an hundred, in order to undergo the finishing operations. This workman, who is always the most expert and skilful in all the different branches carried on at the foundery, begins by taking one of these sticks, and, with a peculiar address, slides the whole column of types off upon the dressing-stick: this is made of well-seasoned mahogany, and furnished with two end-pieces of steel, a little lower than the body of the types, one of which is moveable, so as to approach the other by means of a long screw-pin, inserted in the end of the stick. The types are put into the stick with their faces next to the back or projection; and after they are adjusted to one another so as to stand even, they are then bound up, by screwing home the moveable end-piece. It is here where the great and requisite accuracy of the moulds comes to be perceived; for in this case the whole column, so bound up, lies flat and true upon the stick, the two extreme types being quite parallel, and the whole has the appearance of one solid continuous plate of metal. The least inaccuracy in the exact parallelism of the individual type, when multiplied so many times, would render it impossible to bind them up in this manner, by disposing them to rise or spring from the stick by the smallest pressure from the screw. Now, when lying so conveniently with the narrow edges uppermost, which cannot possibly be smoothed in the manner before mentioned by the stones, the workmen does this more effectually by scraping the surface of the column with a thick-edged but sharp razor, which at every stroke brings on a very fine smooth skin, like to polished silver: and thus he proceeds till in about half a minute he comes to the farther end of the stick. The other edges of
Foundery. of the types are next turned upwards, and polished in the same manner. It is whilst the types thus lie in the dressing-stick that the operation of bearding or barbing is performed, which is effected by running a plane, faced with steel, along the shoulder of the body next to the face, which takes more or less off the corner, as occasion may require. Whilst in the dressing stick, they are also grooved, which is a very material operation. In order to understand this, it must be remembered, that when the types are first broken off from the jets, some superfluous metal always remains, which would make them bear very unequally against the paper whilst under the printing press, and effectually mar the impression. That all these inequalities may, therefore, be taken away, and that the bearings of every type may be regulated by the shoulders imparted to them all alike from the mould, the workman or dresser proceeds in the following manner: The types being screwed up in the stick, as before mentioned, with the jet end outermost, and projecting beyond the wood about one-eighth of an inch, the stick is put into an open press, so as to present the jet end uppermost, and then every thing is made fast by driving a long wedge, which bears upon a slip of wood, which lies close to the types the whole length: then a plough or plane is applied, which is so constructed as to embrace the projecting part of the types betwixt its long sides, which are made of polished iron. When the plane is thus applied, the steel cutter bearing upon that part between the shoulders of the types, where the inequalities lie, the dresser dexterously glides it along, and by this means strips off every irregular part that comes in the way, and so makes an uniform groove the whole length, and leaves the two shoulders standing; by which means every type becomes precisely like to another, as to the height against paper. The types being now finished, the stick is taken out of the press, and the whole column replaced upon the other stick; and after the whole are so dressed, he proceeds to pick out the bad letters, previous to putting them up into pages and papers. In doing this he takes the stick into his left hand, and turning the faces near to the light, he examines them carefully, and whenever an imperfect or damaged letter occurs, he nimbly plucks it out with a sharp bodkin, which he holds in the right hand for that purpose. Those letters which, from their form, project over the body of the type, and which cannot on this account be rubbed on the stones, are scraped on the broadsides with a knife or file, and some of the metal next the face pared away with a pen-knife, in order to allow the type to come close to any other. This operation is called kerning.
The excellence of printing types consists not only in the due performance of all the operations above described, but also in the hardness of the metal, form, and fine proportion of the character, and in the exact bearing and ranging of the letters in relation to one another.