As long as the thirst for literature was confined to books and a few periodicals of limited sale and size, the ordinary printing-presses sufficed to supply the demand; nor was it discovered that any further speed was requisite, until the increased facility of conveyance, and the important events at the close of the last century, created a demand for news which the utmost exertions of the printers were unable to supply; for the attempt to increase the speed by the composition of two distinct forms of type would avail little, so long as the presses could turn out only 250 or 300 impressions each per hour. Accordingly for this branch of the art were the first machines projected. Many schemes were proposed for accelerating the movements of the press; but the first attempts at anything like the machine afterwards introduced were made by William Nicholson, a gentleman connected with periodical literature, who took out a patent about 1790 for a printing-machine, of which the chief points were the following:—The type being rubbed or scraped narrower towards the bottom, was to be fixed upon a cylinder, in order, as it were, to radiate from the centre of it. This cylinder, with its type, was to revolve in gear with another cylinder covered with soft leather (the impression-cylinder); and the type received its ink from another cylinder, to which inking apparatus was applied. The paper was impressed by passing between the type and impression cylinders. Most of these plans were, when modified, adopted by after-constructors. This machine was never brought into use.

König, an ingenious German, was the next who undertook to construct a machine; and having made considerable advance in his plans, obtained a contract with Mr Walters, the proprietor of The Times newspaper, for manufacturing two for that journal. His machine was successful, and the number for the 28th November 1814 was worked by it at the rate of 1100 impressions per hour. In this Nicholson's plan was so far altered, that the ordinary type was used and laid upon a flat surface, and the impression was given by the form passing under a cylinder of König afterwards invented a machine in which the sheet was printed on both sides before it left the machine; but his arrangements for the equal distribution of the ink were so complicated and clumsy (consisting of not less than forty wheels), and the works of every part of the machine so intricate, that it never came into practical use.

The first really useful machine was constructed by Messrs Applegath and Cowper, being an extensive modification of that of König; its principal improvement consisting in the application of two drums between the impression-cylinders, one of which reverses the sheet, and the other secures the register, by retaining it, after the impression of the first form, just so long that it may pass on to the second cylinder in exact time to be impressed thereby upon the second form; and of the distribution of the ink upon a plane surface, instead of by a number of rollers, by which König's complicated machinery was got rid of. These machines, with numerous modifications, according to the plans of different makers, are now in general use.

For newspapers, machines are generally made to work but one side at a time. It is manifest that a machine will work a much greater number (more than double) of one form than of two, and that the machinery will be lighter and less expensive, and of course require less motive power. One form, therefore, of a newspaper, containing advertisements and the less important matter, is worked at leisure; and the second form, containing the leading article, important news, and other matter of consequence, is reserved until the last moment, and is then thrown off with immense rapidity. For the usual description of book-work, machines (perfecting-machines) are constructed to work both forms at a time. In these, perfect register, and the exact and even distribution of the ink, are of the greatest consequence, and such immense rapidity is not necessary. These machines, therefore, differ very much in construction, though not in principle, from those used for newspapers.

The subjoined engraving (fig. 8) is a representation of Middleton's admirable perfecting-machine, which is the same in principle as Applegath and Cowper's, but with some improvements. An explanation of this machine will enable the reader to comprehend the construction of all the cylinder machines, the same principle pervading all of them. Upon friction-rollers placed within the frame which supports the whole apparatus, traverses a carriage which conveys the two forms of type, and attached to both ends of which are tables for the distribution of the ink. A reciprocating motion is given to this carriage by means of a pinion, which works alternately upon the upper and under surface of a rack. In gear with this carriage, and, supposing the paper to be omitted, in immediate contact with the type, revolve two cylinders of large dimensions, covered with blankets, by which the impression is given; these cylinders are separated by two drums, but are kept in uniform and steady motion by two large wheels (seen at the back of the engraving), the teeth of which work within each other. The ink is distributed over the forms by an apparatus attached to each end of the frame, consisting of a trough which contains the ink, in contact with the edge of which, or very nearly so, a metal roller called the ductor is made to revolve slowly by means of a catgut, which passes over a pulley attached to the axis of the impression-cylinder. A composition-roller is made to rise into contact with the ductor, and receive a portion of ink, with which it descends, and communicates it to the inking-table as that passes underneath it at the extremity of the traverse. Two composition-rollers are placed somewhat diagonally across the frame, and their spindles being of extra length, as the table passes under them they are caused to revolve and also to travel slightly across it, thus evenly distributing the ink all over the surface of the inking-table, the cross motion removing any accidental accumulation of ink. The table now traverses under four other composition-rollers, supplying them with an even quantity of ink, which they in turn distribute over the type as it passes under them in going and returning, the form being thus rolled no less than eight times. These rollers are merely dropped into notches in

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1 The description commences with that portion of the machine where the paper first enters the machinery, for endless tapes can of course have no beginning; the words first, second, and third, &c., must therefore be understood to refer to the position as respects the right hand of the reader. the second cylinder; from this it passes to the right, until it arrives at the roller first mentioned. The course of the second series of tapes is different; for, following the course of the first series, and in contact with it (supposing the paper withdrawn) until it has passed with it under the second cylinder, it then takes a different direction, and, turning to the left, passes over the machine until it arrives at the roller from which we have commenced the description.

Both series of tapes are kept tightly stretched by means of various small rollers revolving in different parts of their course. The paper being laid upon other tapes from a table at the right of the machine, is moved forward until it comes in contact with the endless tapes, and being received between them, it is passed under the first cylinder, and the first side is then printed; thence passing over and under the drums on to the second cylinder, it receives the impression upon the other side; thence it passes onward to the point where the tapes take different directions, when it is shot out printed on both sides, upon a board between the cylinders and under the drums. The whole machine is put in motion by means of a strap which passes over a wheel under the frame, and may be worked by the power of men, but is mostly worked by steam. It is capable of doing very fair work at the rate of from 2000 to 2400 impressions, or from 1000 to 1200 perfect sheets per hour; it requires only two boys, one to lay on and the other to take off the sheets.

The machine constructed by Messrs Applegath and Cowper in 1827 for *The Times*, two of which are still used for printing the supplements and advertising pages, differ considerably from that just described. It has four impression-cylinders, which are so arranged that two are in contact with the type as the table passes to the right, and two as it passes to the left. As this machine prints the paper on one side only, the systems of tapes are single. It will print from 4000 to 5000 impressions per hour.

One of the principal impediments to great speed in this form of printing-machines is the necessity for a reciprocating motion in the type, table, and inking-table—a great weight, the vis motus of which has to be neutralized, and then the vis inertiae overcome, at each end of the traverse. This not only occasions a great waste of motive power, but also causes breakages and serious accidents. Mr Applegath, finding these and other difficulties insuperable, abandoned the principle of placing the type on a plane table and the reciprocating motion, and constructed a machine in which the type is placed on the surface of a cylinder of large dimensions, which revolves on a vertical axis, with a continuous rotatory motion. *The Times* has the credit of being first in adopting this great improvement in newspaper printing.

The following is a careful description of this vast and complicated piece of machinery:

In the centre of the machine (Fig. 9) is a vertical cylinder or drum, 5 feet 4 inches in diameter. In contact with it, and revolving each on its own vertical axis, are eight impression cylinders, 13 inches in diameter, each of which has a set of inking-rollers working in advance of it. The cylinders move with the same velocity as the surface of the drum. The columns of type are placed in a kind of iron galley, or turtle, curved to fit the surface of the drum. The outer surface of these galleys is not formed into a segment of a circle, but into facets, each the width of a column; the wedge-shaped interval, which is left between the top and bottom of the types of every two adjoining columns, is compensated by column-rules, made thicker at the top than at the bottom in the same proportion. The middle column-rule is fixed. The columns are locked-up in the galleys by means of screws, and the column-rules press the types together like key-stones in an arch. The fixed rule in the centre prevents the types from rising. The galleys are then... Printing-screwed on to the drum, the columns vertical. The outer face of the forms is now, it must be remembered, a series of facets, sides as it were of a polygon; the surfaces of the impression-cylinders are made to conform to these facets, with sufficient accuracy, by paper overlays. When stereotype plates are used, they are cast by Delagana's process, in accurate segments of a circle, and the overlaying is unnecessary. The forms of types do not, of course, occupy the whole circumference of the central drum: a large part of the remainder is made the inking-table. The ink-box, which is also vertical, supplies ink to a doctor-roller, which works between two straight edges. As the drum revolves, a portion of ink is taken from the doctor by two vibrating rollers, and distributed on to the inking-table. The inking-table precedes the type-forms, and as it passes the inking-rollers attached to each impression-cylinder come into contact with it, and receive ink from its surface. The type-forms, following next, come into contact with these inking-rollers, and take from them the ink they have just received. The inking-table passes under the impression-cylinders without touching them; but the type is brought into contact with the paper upon them, and the impression is given. Therefore, at every revolution of the drum, the type is inked eight times, comes into contact with eight impression-cylinders, and prints eight sheets of paper.

It is most difficult to convey, by any verbal description, the singularly ingenious mechanism by which the sheets of paper are conveyed to and round the impression-cylinders. It must be remembered that the sheets are necessarily laid on the feeding-table horizontally, and that they pass round the cylinder vertically. The task will be rendered somewhat simpler by reminding the reader that each impression-cylinder is a complete machine within itself, acting with the drum, but independent of the other cylinders; and that, as each has its own system of inking-rollers, so each has its own system of feeding-drums and tapes. By looking closely at the apparatus on the right front of the drawing, he may be able to follow the description. The white paper is laid on the feeding-table at the top; each sheet is placed by the layer-on to the centre of a feeding-drum. At the right moment, the sheet is advanced by finger-rollers until its forward edge is brought between two small rollers, each connected with a series of endless tapes, between which it is passed vertically downwards. At the right moment its further progress is arrested by two vertical slips of wood called "stoppers," which start forward and press the sheet against two fixed stoppers; and, at the same moment, the two rollers and their tapes separate, and leave the sheet extended vertically between the two pairs of stoppers. Observe that, up to this moment, the travel of the sheet has been vertically downwards, and that its plane surface is part of a radius from the axis of the central drum. The problem now to be solved is, to give it a horizontal movement towards the centre, preserving its vertical position. The instant the sheet is arrested vertically between the stoppers, its top edge is caught by two pairs of small finger or suspending rollers; at the same instant the stoppers separate, and the sheet is suspended for a moment between these rollers; a slight inward motion is then given to the suspenders, sufficient to bring the inner edge of the sheet into the mouth of two sets of horizontal tapes, by which it is carried round the impression-cylinder and printed. As the sheet, after being printed, issues from the horizontal tapes, it is delivered to other sets, by which it is conveyed outwards, under the laying-on board; arrived at the proper point, it is again caught at the top edge between suspending rollers, the tapes separate, and it hangs for a moment; when the take-off, who sits below the layer-on, releases it by a slight jerk, and lays it on his board.

No description can give any adequate idea of the scene presented by one of these machines in full work,—the maze of wheels and rollers, the intricate lines of swift-moving tapes, the flight of sheets, and the din of machinery. The central drum moves at the rate of 6 feet per second, or one revolution in 3 seconds; the impression-cylinders make 5 revolutions in the same time. The layer-on delivers 2 sheets every 5 seconds, consequently, 16 sheets are printed in that brief space. The diameter of an eight-feeder, including the galleries for the layers-on, is 25 feet. The Times employs two of these eight-cylinder machines, each of which averages 12,000 impressions per hour; and one nine-cylinder, which prints 16,000.

These vast machines, however, are only useful when the necessity of working a very large number with the utmost rapidity overrides all consideration of cost and space. An excellent machine, in which considerable speed is obtained with comparative economy of expense and room, the invention of Messrs Hoe of New York, has been lately used for newspapers and periodicals of long numbers. In principle, it does not differ from Applegath's vertical, inasmuch as that the type is fixed upon a central cylinder or drum, which has a continuous rotatory motion, in contact with impression-cylinders set around it. The chief difference is, that the drum and impression-cylinders are not vertical, but horizontal. The machines are manufactured of different sizes, according to the number of impression-cylinders required. Those more generally made have six cylinders, some have eight, and The Times has recently constructed one with ten. This last machine is calculated to produce 20,000 impressions per hour. The following is a representation of a six-cylinder machine (fig. 10):

A horizontal central cylinder is mounted on a shaft with appropriate bearings, and around it, arrayed at proper distances, are six horizontal impression-cylinders. The moveable types or stereo-casts are secured on a portion of the central cylinder, about a quarter of its circumference, and compensated by a balance-weight on the opposite side; the remainder of the cylinder is used as the distributing-table for the ink. This portion of the cylinder is lower than the face of the type, in order that it may pass under the impression-cylinders without being touched by them. The ink is contained in an ink-box placed beneath the central cylinder, and supplies the ink to the doctor-roller, from which it is transferred by a vibrating distributing-roller to the distributing-table. The doctor-roller receives a slow and continuous rotary motion, so that it always presents a uniform line of ink to the vibrating roller. The machine being put in motion, the form of type on the central cylinder is brought into contact with each of the six impression-cylinders in succession; and six sheets of paper, which have been introduced, one to each impression-cylinder, are printed in one revolution of the central cylinder. For each impression-cylinder there are two inking-rollers, which roll over the distributing surface and take a supply of ink; at the proper time they rise, pass over the type, and then fall on to the distributing surface.

Each page is locked up upon a detached segment of the large cylinder called a "turtle," which constitutes the bed and chase. The column-rules, like those for the vertical machine, are wedge-shaped, and are held down to the turtle by tongues projecting at intervals along their length, and sliding in rebated grooves cut crosswise in the face of the turtle, the space in the grooves between the column-rules being filled with sliding blocks of metal, accurately fitted, the outer surface level with the surface of the turtle, the ends next the column-rules being cut away underneath to receive a projection in the sides of the tongues. The head and cross rules are segments of a circle of the same curvature as the turtle. The types are secured by screws and wedges.

Six persons, one to each impression-cylinder, are required to supply the paper,—three on each side of the ma- The paper is conveyed from the laying-on board to the impression-cylinders by gripers. The sheets when printed are carried by tapes to six self-acting fly-frames, which lay them regularly in piles.

Another American, M. S. Beach, has improved upon Hoe's machine, by converting it into a perfecting-machine. His improvement consists in placing the second form upon the central type-drum, superseding the necessity for the balance-weight: the sheet, after being printed on one side, is immediately drawn back and printed on the other side from the second form, without checking or changing the uniform revolution of the cylinder; and thus the work done by it is doubled. The diameter of the type-drum in this machine, which is calculated for 8 impression-cylinders, is only 4 feet; the type has therefore to travel a less distance in one revolution of the drum; and the consequence is, that in travelling the same distance in this machine, and at the same speed, 22,000 double impressions would be produced in an hour. This account is taken from the New York Sun, the machine itself not having as yet found its way across the Atlantic.

A horizontal cylinder-machine, on the same system as Hoe's, made by Middleton, capable of printing 20,000 impressions per hour, is now used for printing The Morning Herald. The type is secured on the central cylinder, 2½ feet in diameter, in the same way as in The Times vertical machine; the ink is supplied from a ductor below the type-cylinder, and distributed upon an inking-table attached to the type-cylinder, to which a slight lateral motion is communicated by two straps, one on each side of the machine. There are five impression-cylinders at equal distances round the central cylinder, to which the paper is supplied from ten feeders, on the same principle as in the other horizontal machines, four on one end of the machine and six on the other; the printed sheets are delivered on to five taking-off boards, one to each two feeders, and received by five lads. The machine is 26½ feet long, 5 feet wide, and 17½ high.

The machines of Mr Napier, intended for book-work, are in good repute. They have the advantage of being easily worked by two men, thus rendering steam-power unnecessary. They stand in a very small compass, and do beautiful work. As far as regards motion and impression, they do not greatly vary from the cylinder machine already described; but in the method of conveying the paper, obtaining register, and inking, they are altogether different. The paper is laid to a certain gauge, when, in the revolution of the cylinder, gripers are made to compress the edge of the paper upon it, very much in the manner in which the fore-finger closes on the thumb. It is by these means conveyed with it during one revolution, in the course of which it is printed on one side. At the commencement of the second revolution these gripers open at the precise moment, when the gripers attached to the second cylinder close, and thus convey the sheet over the second form. Tapes pass under the second cylinder, between the blanket and the paper, and over a pulley upon a bar, by the mere friction of which the sheet is thrown out upon a board. These gripers are made to act with such perfect certainty that the best possible register is obtained. The inking apparatus consists of a trough with a ductor and vibrating roller, which communicates the ink to composition-rollers, by the revolution of which in contact with each other the ink is perfectly distributed, and from these to the type. A cross motion is communicated to the distributing-roller by means of a worm in the elongated spindle. As but one impression is given during the traverse of the table in each direction, the cylinder which does not at the moment hold the paper would be in contact with the type, had not Mr Napier added a beautiful adjustment, whereby the cylinders rise and fall alternately, so that the one not in use passes over the form intact. This machine will work from 1000 to 1200 perfect sheets per hour, and requires but two boys. Mr Napier has constructed several other machines of great merit, one of which, for newspapers, will perfect 2000 sheets per hour by the labour of two men.

Messrs Hopkinson and Cope have also produced a double-cylinder perfecting griper machine adapted for book-work or newspapers. The peculiarity of this machine is, that it is supplied with a set-off sheet apparatus, by which a "set-off sheet" is fed in with each sheet to be printed, which it meets as the latter enters on the second cylinder, and passing round with it, prevents the ink on the printed side of the paper setting off on the blanket of the cylinder, and being thence transferred to the following sheet. This ap- paratus can be easily dispensed with when ordinary work is being printed. They have also made a single cylinder griper machine called a "Desideratum." It is supplied with a pointing apparatus, which renders it available for book-work.

Before the invention of cylinder machines, the desire to obtain increased speed led to many ingenious contrivances for accelerating the action and economising the expense of the ordinary printing-press; all of which, however, either failed, or were superseded by the steam machine. There are now in general use, for book-work of a quality superior to that produced by the cylinder, several machine-presses which are in every respect satisfactory. They generally consist of two tables, on each of which a form is laid; these pass alternately under a self-acting platen; while one form is receiving the impression, the other is delivering its printed sheet to the taker-off, and receiving its white sheet from the layer-on. This double operation is effected at the same time, by the frisket being attached to the tympan at the bottom (not at the top as in the common press). When the tympan opens, it falls back inwards; the white paper is laid on the frisket; the tympan closes upon it, it is printed; but when the tympan opens, the printed sheet is made to rise with it, and is taken off while the layer-on is placing another sheet on the frisket. The ink is conveyed to the type by a similar apparatus to that used in cylinder machines. These machine-presses do excellent work at the rate of 600 or 700 impressions per hour, and are made by the same firms as supply cylinder-machines.

The "Scandinavian" machine-press differs from all others in respect that the form of type is stationary, and that the tympan and inking-roller are passed between the form and the platen. As the power required to set this press in motion is much less than that required where the form and table travel, manual labour is sufficient; but only one form can be worked at a time.

These are by no means all the machines that have been devised or brought into use. They are, however, all that it is necessary to mention, as the same principle is common to all. Every maker is at liberty to manufacture almost all of them, with such modifications as his own talents may suggest, the patents, where any were taken out, having, with few exceptions, expired.

(For the Reader's marks of correction, see the article CORRECTION.)