Printing Works (pictured in 1910) (from Kirklees Images)

You’ve finished your glorious work at the printing press; surely it’s time for tea, buns and a rest?  I’m sorry to say there’s more work to do.  We’ll look here at the major steps that will assure you a tidy and clean print shop and an easier life.  Remember that the sooner you clean after printing finishes, the quicker the job is!  This guide covers hand-powered presses only: more industrial presses have almost-automatic cleaning mechanisms.

Printed Sheets

You first need to make sure your printed sheets are safe.  You need to be away from the press (so as not to suffer accidental spills from cleaning); free from disturbance (so as no to cause set-off on the backs of sheets); and perhaps somewhere that is not cold so that drying is not inhibited.

Cleaning Equipment

At the least you’ll need a solvent and rags.  While there might still be specialist cleaning products, I’ve been using white spirit or lighter fluid.  Lighter fluid is especially useful for smaller presses where the nozzle can be used to good effect.  Follow any safety instructions that come with the product.  I know some printers use vegetable oil to act as a vehicle for ink, making it easier to clean a press.  My experience is limited in this area but I found it left a difficult residue on rollers.

On rags, cotton is really the most useful material as it is absorbent.  Be sure to buy rags that have all buttons, zips etc. removed and that have been washed a number of times so lint has been removed.

Also useful would be brushes of various sizes: from toothbrush size to shoe brush size but take care to make sure the bristles aren’t so stiff that they might damage the type.

Cleaning the Forme

You need to first clean the forme.  Remove the chase from the press and set it down on a solid surface.  Using a solvent dampen a rag and wipe it over the surface of the type taking as much ink as possible away.  Use a clean, dry cloth to wipe away any excess.  If you splash the solvent around and then wipe, the inky solvent has a tendency to get between furniture and type and lead to dirt and so inaccuracy.

For dried-on ink, apply the solvent to a brush and then brush lightly on the type.  Allow this to sink in and wipe away with a cloth.  Repeat this process as needed until the ink is cleared.

Once clean you need to decide on the next step: further printing of the same forme will demand that you store the whole thing on a chase rack, or even back on the clean press.  You might keep that job by removing the furniture and chase and storing the type on a galley.  Otherwise you’ll have to take the type out and distribute it back in the case.

Cleaning the Press

Known also as washing-up, this process is crucial to the quality of your next print run.  It’s especially important when changing colours or working in white or metallic inks.  Very high quality printers demand that the press is cleaned, worked in white ink, and cleaned again when changing from a dark to a light colour.

Use as dirty a rag as possible and dampen it with the solvent, making the rag wet but not so much that solvent is dripping from it.  With the rollers clear of the ink disk or drum, wipe this up first: folding and re-folding the rag and also advancing the disk or drum so that all areas are covered.

Turning your attention to the rollers, advance the press until the first roller touches the inking disk or drum.  Re-folding the rag rub this across the length of the roller.  Advance the press gradually to expose the other areas of the rollers and continue the process.  Do this for each roller.

At this point you should have removed the bulk of the ink from the press and rollers.  Start now with a cleaner rag and repeat the process until the press is clear of ink.

Finally

Your press will always repay being looked after.  Take this opportunity to clean the other parts of the press with a lightly oiled rag; remember that she might also need a little oiling here and there.  Finally you might cover your press up: Adana machines came with a plastic cover.  Your press will look like new next time you start work.

Now have a cup of tea and a bun.

Related Articles

1. Printing
   The major part of the process
2. The Process of Printing
   Getting ink to paper — the process of printing
3. Gold Ink, Bronzing and Foil Printing
   How to get a metallic impression on your printing

I bought a Haddon Gordon 15 x 10 in 1985 after years of treadling a C & P, and was curious to know the lineage of this particular brand. I was familiar with Arabs, Croppers, and other Gordons but not the name of Haddon.

My research found that Haddon was the leading advocate for the adoption of the American point system in England which saw its progressive introduction at the turn of the 19th century. Not only an advocate but the entrepreneurial flair of Walter Haddon saw him overwhelm the market — and naturally cause an uproar in the casting industry.
My early research traced my presses’ life in New Zealand to the New Zealand representative for John Haddon & Co of Market Harborough, England. This was A. D. Willis a printer and importer in Wanganui highly respected in Australasia in the 1880’s for his exquisite lithographed scenic postcards of New Zealand. Shortly after buying the press I visited Wanganui to buy cases of redundant type from a newspaper’s loft, and discovered with some amazement that the building carried the foundation stone for A. D. Willis, Printer.

Haddon Gordon Platen

In 1989 I visited the St Brides Library in London and started my research in earnest, later to be supplemented by a great deal of information from a 1914 issue of the British Printer in which they were marking the centenary of the establishment of the Haddon business in 1814.

The recorded Haddon dynasty which was based in Naseby Northamptonshire goes back beyond 1700, and the lineage fathered several John Haddons and the one that eventually started the printing empire was one of 11 children and born in 1823.(1823–1904) The family were farmers but John born in 1784 (1784–1855) did not have farming inclinations “but was noted for his literary tastes although it was as a businessman that he made his mark. He was apprenticed to a printer at the age of 15 (1801) and after a year went to London to seek his fortune.” In 1814 he founded the printing business which celebrated its centenary in 1914. His early printing included much for Baptist missionaries especially literature for foreign missions in which his father was also particularly interested. They saw the potential of spreading their business ambitions beyond printing and the British Isles and often had requests from missionaries to be sent items in addition to their books and pamphlets. As a result they established a ‘general commission agency’ which gave them the opportunity to be in touch with all parts of the world.

The third John born in 1823 was also apprenticed as a printer and superseded his older brother to become the sole proprietor in 1855. However his passion for printing was overshadowed by his interest in philanthropy, religion, music and gardening and the business suffered as a result. He bowed out of an active interest in the company when in 1888 cousin Walter Haddon joined the firm as a partner and became the sole proprietor in 1890. At that time there were three employees, by 1898 one hundred.

Walter possessed the qualities to turn the fortunes of the company around and his entrepreneurial skill had him expanding the business, acquiring well established engineering companies that would compliment his future direction. He established an advertising agency, and developed the skills of direct marketing and mail order

In 1898 in an interview with The British & Colonial Printer & Stationer he spoke of the frustration of many printers in not having a universal type casting standard in England and he’d observed from his contacts in America and from type that had been imported, the advantage of the standard developed in America. The American system was the work of Nelson Hawks a printer in San Francisco when in 1871 he proposed the establishment of uniform body sizes, but it was not until 1886 that the American System of Interchangeable Type Bodies was accepted. Caslon were first of the mark in 1886 announcing a scheme for the new body measurement and it was officially adopted in England in 1889. Haddon came on the scene in 1897 with a vengeance:

“For more than half a century this reform has been discussed, but persistently and stubbornly resisted, if not ignored by typefounders. Repeatedly have printers complained of the inconvenience, the annoyance, the expense, to which they have been needlessly put by the policy of the founders in the matter of each having different standards. No notice has been taken of their complaints, their reasonableness and gravity could not be denied, but no remedy was offered until type from America and other foreign foundries found its way into this country and was eagerly purchased by printers.”

Behind the resistance was the cost of converting to the new system and Haddon had his enemies. An Associated Type Founders lobby group appeared attempting to undermine the momentum for the new point system. Known as “the Ring” by Haddon supporters, Walter chose to use his Type Catalogue of 1902 to challenge them throughout his type sample pages. In Haddon Old Style he says “The ‘Ring’ Founders cast type to indefinite widths, and so justification of the larger types is again a matter of oddments of lead, pieces of card or paper, spiked quads and much waste of time and material.”
In 1898 Walter established his massive Caxton Type Foundry at Market Harborough in Leicestershire, and trumpeted the virtues of the system to the industry. His foundry covered two and a half acres and included not only type casting but the production of a full range of printers’ tools, accessories, wood type and cabinets and by now his workforce had reached 1500.

His brash advertising and aggressive marketing was commented upon in The British Printer: “Although the methods of promotion adopted at the time were, to put it gently, somewhat of a shock to the established trade, and truly were far from commending themselves to many members of the printing industry it will be accepted that the Haddon foundry had the courage of its convictions and certainly did not mince matters either in argument, advertising, in claims and in replies to opponents.” Walter travelled throughout Britain and to the Continent extolling the virtues of the new point system and the superiority of the type from his new foundry – and found willing converts wherever he went. According to H.W. Larkin in ‘Compositors Work in Printing’ some printers were still using the old body type as late as 1935.  And while giving priority to the prosperity of the Caxton Foundry, the company continued to develop the Export and Buying Department that had been the beginnings of international trade back in the earliest days of ‘missionary trading.’ Trade was extensive in both directions acting as a buying agency in England and Europe for the “Indian and Colonial centres everywhere in exporting motor cars and motor cycles, clothing, hardware, provisions, and ammunition” while sourcing buyers in England for products from “planters and storekeepers in Asia, the West Indies, the South Sea Islands, Australia, New Zealand Central and South America and Congo Belge”. In 1894 they struck a boom in the export of rubber plants, nurtured from seedlings in England, to Ceylon and the Malay States, and were the first to introduce and import crepe rubber into England. They also imported elephants and rhinoceros to order from Africa.

The manufacture of zinc and copper plates for ‘process’ purposes had up until about 1914 been confined to American and German sources. Haddon acquired a copper and zinc plate factory in Clapham and became the only works of its kind in the British Empire, and produced a very high standard of plate. Demand from English printers and engravers was overwhelming and further enhanced the reputation of the Haddon brand.

Haddon Gordon Platen

The Haddon-Caxton Types, Borders, and Rules catalogue on 1902 lists the presses available at that time as the Haddon High Speed Safety Platen, the Babcock Standard Drum Cylinder press, The Babcock Optimus, The Art Caxton Platens and Swift Platens.

The treadle and later motorised Gordon platens appear to have been manufactured from about 1861, the Minerva built by H S Cropper appearing in 1867 and by 1894 no less than eleven firms were manufacturing Gordon presses. This would suggest my favourite 15 x 10 Haddon Gordon could be about 115 years old.

References: The British Printer (an issue if 1914)
British & Colonial Printer & Stationer March 24 1898
Haddon the Head Hunter – A.Hingston-Quiggin 1914
History of the Haddon’s of Naseby – W. G. Croft 1915
Compositors Work in Printing – H. W Larkin 1961
Haddon-Caxton Types and Borders Catalogue 1902

This article and photos courtesy of: Anthony R. King

Tony King started letterpress printing as a schoolboy on an Adana HS2 in 1953 printing just two issues of a four page “Third Forms Mini Mag” before resorting to adding pages duplicated from an “Emgee Memo Stamp” duplicator. Years later – career and family intervened – he imported an Adana HQ and subsequently moved to a C & P 15 x 10, Pearl treadle, Kelsey 9 x 6, Adana 5 x 3, and Haddon Gordon. Today at his home in Greytown, north of Wellington N.Z. he operates an Adana HQ, Adana 8 x 5, Adana HS2, a 1910 Sigwalt No 11, and Farley Proof press, and at the Greytown Early Settlers Museum opened a print shop in July 2010 based around a Challenge Gordon 15 x 10 (1894) and T.C. Thompson (Manchester) Gem No 3 (1926); Penrose Proof press, and two Adana HS No 2. Tony is a foundation member of the Association of Handcraft Printers (New Zealand), and moderator of the Yahoo Group ‘letterpressdu’ (letterpress down under).

Related Articles

1. The Point System
   How did we in the English-speaking world arrive at 0.01387″ as one point?
2. Introduction to BritishLetterpress.co.uk
   A few words about the BritishLetterpress site
3. The Monotype System
   The system that spawned a great name in letterpress and the typography we use today

Edmondson Ticket (from Flickr)

Background

Michael Farr sets out below his approach to printing Edmondson–style railway tickets.  It fascinating from both a printer’s perspective and a railway perspective.  If you have information about either printing these tickets; or other specialist areas of letterpress please get in touch!

Personal background

Tickets came first for me, having begun my collection when offered one numbered 000 (the first of the series) for my daily journey to school in Bristol from Sea Mills station to Clifton Down.

Printing followed soon afterwards when I joined members of the Bearpit Press at Clifton College. We used an Adana No 3 H/S and had a reasonable range of type, the most popular faces in “proper” cases and the others in the small Adana 36 division drawers.

The two hobbies came together when I joined the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society, the first rail preservation project in the world. They used Edmondson tickets, initially printed by Edmondson and later by Harlands (of Hull) and Williamson (of Ashton-under-Lyne). In addition to the tickets for regular journeys I could see a need for short runs for special trains and events. The normal capacity of a Talyllyn Railway train was about 200–240, a workable quantity for printing by hand.

You need to remember is that every ticket needs one (or preferably two) serial numbers and there is likely to be a coloured overprint letter, symbol or stripe and wording may be required on the back as well as the front of the card. Thus 240 tickets may need feeding and printing 1200 times.

Ticket material

The traditional material was pasteboard, pre-cut to the size pioneered by Thomas Edmondson in the 1830/40s, 21/4 x 13/16 or about 57 x 30 mm. The centre layer of the sandwich was a cheap board with thin white or coloured paper laminated to it. British Rail were willing (though they did not advertise the fact) to supply small quantities of the tickets they bought from the Dickinson Robinson Group to bona fide amateur ticket printers. When BR computerised revenue control DRG dismantled the pasteboard machinery.

Most of the independent ticket printers now buy their pre-cut board from Wensing of Apeldoorn, Holland. It is not pasteboard and the rough surface on the back of the card (presumably to help its transport through power-operated machines) is difficult to print satisfactorily by hand, but the resultant tickets look good.

Using the Adana machine

I have tried making special fitments to mount on the platen but experience has shown they are not necessary for printing body text. I have filed away a lay bar so it clears the box around the outside of the Lethaby numbering machines which I use.

Handling such small card is fiddly but thanks to the thickness you can push the printed ticket along the bar with the new one you are laying down. I arrange for the printed card to fall into a tray alongside the machine.

Possibly because I am left-handed, I have always pushed down the handle with my right hand and fed in the card with my left — so the receiving tray is on the right.

Typesetting

Edmondson Railway Ticket (from Flickr)

Traditionally tickets were printed from hot metal although BR changed to plates when they opened the new combined ticket printing unit at Crewe.

If you use standard Adana chases you will need a large amount of furniture — except perhaps for the No.1 H/S chase. I am fortunate to have some of the very small chases supplied for the Waterlow machines used by most British railways and these will just fit into a 5–3 size chase.

It may well be worth making some small chases if you intend to print large numbers of tickets.

Numbering

At first I used a hand operated plunger machine (by ENM), with a guide to position the tickets. I was subsequently able to buy two second-hand Lethaby machines for mounting in the machine chase.

The plunger can play havoc with the dressing on the padding card and so I positioned it towards the edge of the platen. I took an initial print and then stuck (with double-sided tape) a small square of pasteboard to take the impact.

One friend has mounted a hand operated machine in a vertical drill stand; two others had twin boxes made especially by Lethaby with a remote plunger to operate them.

I usually feed and remove the tickets from the platen individually, stacking them in piles of 25 until fully dry. Remember that most preserved railways use traditional gravity-feed ticket racks for which the lowest number needs to be at the bottom of the pile, so a forward-counting box is best. Modern plastic ticket racks need them to be numbered with the lowest number at the top of the pile — for which a backwards-counting box is ideal.

Traditionally tickets have been supplied bundled in 250s.

Quantities

Although I began by producing runs of 240 for the Talyllyn, as my “fame” spread I was asked to produce longer runs and for many other lines at home and abroad. Some weekends would find me pushing the machine hand down 20,000 or more times. Hindsight tells me this was very foolish because I now have a permanent strain in my side which can be most uncomfortable — and has caused me to “retire” from ticket printing at the age of 71.

Certainly there is not so much need for amateurs to produce tickets by hand as there are many individuals and preserved lines who own the former BR Waterlow machines and are willing to print for other customers. I am sure there will always be a need for short runs to be produced by hand.

Adana Machine Models

When I left school I invested £4.17s.6d in an Adana No. 1 “High-speed” machine, which was quite capable of printing Edmondson tickets. I progressed to the 5–3 model which ran much more smoothly (and quietly) but there were several advantages of producing even tiny tickets on a larger machine, such as the 8–5. This needs less effort to obtain a good impression and it is possible to print more than one ticket at a time. I have printed fronts and backs at the same time, though this needs very careful organisation to prevent having some tickets with two fronts and other with two backs!

. . .and finally.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my ticket printing. So far as the Talyllyn was concerned I felt I was able to help the railway even though I lived 200 or more miles away and was unable to visit it regularly. I have also struck up many friendships with people who give so much time to preserving the past.

I would not recommend ticket printing as a lucrative past-time. One has to compete with the people who have power-operated machines and with each card needing more than one run the work is time-consuming. As I became older (and ? wiser) I often struck barter deals which mean I can now enjoy a free ride on some lines, knowing that by printing the tickets for a specially low price (or more often free) I helped an impecunious line in its early days.

If you have a small hand-operated letterpress machine and an interest in preserved transport, why not have a go? You can begin by using card cut to size in a guillotine, but please try to cut accurately or your customer will find the tickets stick in the issuing tubes.

Good luck!

Michael Farr

Related Articles

1. Small Presses
   Presses that can be moved and operated by hand
2. Numbering
   Yet another letterpress advantage: using the impression of the press to add unique numbers to the page
3. The Adana 5 x 3
   The smallest of the modern Adana machines

Hand-Fed Platen Press at Greenups Printers (from Tameside Images)

After the 1830s, the growth of the postal service and the expansion of commerce led to growth in demand for small, printed articles.  The Jobbing Platen met this need for the printer: being quicker than the earlier hand presses; and more suited to small work than cylinder presses.

It's tempting to think that the platen press simply appeared -- fully formed -- but there were many small advances that made that style of press possible.

Daniel Treadwell, an American, sought an 1818 patent to protect his design for a modified hand press that used foot power (like a treadle) to deliver the impression.  He transferred the invention to England and the firm of Baisler and Napier made the machine at their works at Lloyds Court, Crown Street, Soho; but only one is reported to have been sold.  The rotating ink disc was invented between 1819 and 1820 by Sir William Congereve for security printing.  John Kitchen of Newcastle Upon Tyne patented the vertical forme in 1834.  It seems the machine would not have been commercially successful, but was designed in the style of gothic "church furniture".

The First Usable Platen

Stephen Ruggles, from Boston USA, developed the Engine press in 1839 but the bed and platen were horizontal.  Despite this, the press claimed 1,200 impressions per hour.  It was his development of 1851 of the "Card and Billhead Press" that opened the era of the first usable platen: this relied on his strange inking mechanism.  The approach is to have a large cylinder, flat on one side for the type.  The cylinder is covered in ink and as the rollers pass around it, they draw ink from the circular part of the cylinder and deposit it on the forme.  This press was made in Britain by the Birmingham Machinist Company as the Invictus and also Furnival and Company of Reddish.  The principle was later adapted by Adana for their T/P48.

The Modern Platen

Arab Platen Press (from Science and Society)

The prototype platen press was developed by George Gordon of New York.  His early press (1851) was named The Alligator because of its reputation of crushing limbs of those feeding the press.  This first version had a fixed inking panel, it was 1856 before he added the rotating inking disc.  In 1872, the "throw off" was added: a mechanism to allow the operator to disable the impression when a sheet had been mis-fed, for example.  Again, the idea was not new having been patented in 1852 by James Young of Philadelphia.

Cropper of Nottingham began to make Gordon's presses under the name Minerva, but the term Cropper to define that type of press became commonplace.  Other, locally designed, presses used Gordon's idea like the Arab from Halifax.

The Parallel Platen

Improving on the "clam shell" approach, Merrit Gally of New York developed a press in 1859 called the Universal which brought the bed and the platen together with a parallel impression.  This was improved by the Victoria and Phoenix presses.  In the UK, Greenwood and Batley of Leeds sold a very similar press under the name Sun; Dawson's of Otley the Mitre; and Harrild of London the Fine Art Bremner.

The Powered, Automatically-Fed Platen

Heidelberg Platen Press (from Flickr)

Knowing that the effort of a boy could not be sustained to thousands of impressions each hour, work began on making efficiencies of space and power.  In 1893, Harrild of London created a platen press running back-to-back: two moving platens each printing against a single, two-sided, fixed bed.

With steam and electric power, the next challenge was to feed the press with paper. A gripper was patented by Godfrey in the 1880s, and an automated feed for US Chandler and Price presses was being sold by 1913.  Perhaps most known to us in the UK is the invention of Gilke, a Heidelberg Engineer, who created the windmill feed in 1912 which was incorporated in to the 1925 Heidelberg Automatic Platen.

Related Articles

1. Platen Presses
   Presses that use a 'clam shell' approach
2. Lagonda Platen Press
   The unusually-designed and fairly rare press from the 1950s
3. History and Reference
   For many, letterpress is an engrossing subject and while it’s important to do the printing, it’s also nice to see how letterpress fits in with the wider world and also see the technicalities of printing. This section of the site hosts the ‘background’ to letterpress — I hope you find something interesting here.

Hand Composition (from Edinburgh City of Print)

Painstaking as the process is to assemble individual characters to form a line of words, the process of putting it all back is only marginally easier.  This task can only be avoided if you have the equipment to cast type, so get used to it!

We’ll assume you have the type on the composing stone having finished printing.  You’ll need to slacken the quoins; remove the furniture and chase and put these things away.  You’re left with a block of type.  You’ll need to separate each different face so that you don’t mix the types within each case.

In your left hand (or non-dominant hand) take as much of the type as possible: start with single lines or parts of a line and work up to multiple lines.  In your right hand (or dominant hand) take as many letters as you are comfortable with.  This amount will grow with practice.  Your grip should be just enough to hold the type but not too firm.

Advance each character from the line of type between your folded finger and thumb.  It’s best to remember what characters you hold; so you don’t have to look at them and delay the process.  Note the character and find the right place in the case for it.  Have this ready to drop and hover over the right compartment, release the type to drop from about 1″ — 2″.  Any more might damage the type; and you should never throw type back in the case.

If you drop a letter in to the incorrect box then search for that and correct the problem before moving on to the next piece of type.  type dropped on the floor or another hard surface might be damaged and so should be inspected before it is returned to the case.

Spaces can be problematic because multiple space widths might have been used.  If you can tell space widths from one another then they can be distributed in the same way as letters.  If you’re not yet able to distinguish between each space then reserve these on the galley to sort later on.  It’s useful to place them side-down on the galley and run your finger over them to ensure they are the same sidth as each other.

Related Articles

1. Finding Second-Hand Type
   How to find and buy second-hand type
2. Type Synopses
   The obscure join between maths and printing — making sure each letter is in the right proportions
3. Type Fount Proportions
   An excerpt from the British Printer explaining research into type synopses

Type (from Edinburgh City of Print)

We use the term ‘point’ today without worrying just how big it is. We all know that a point is roughly ¹/₇₂nd of an inch, but at the turn of the century the point was anything but standard. I look here at just how big a point is and how we arrived at this figure.

When typefounders were small and spread over the UK it was natural that printers would use a local foundry. Founders used their own names — and not point sizes — to describe how big their type was. Names like Brevier (c. 8pt), English (c. 14pt) or Great Primer (c. 18pt) were used but the sizes were not standardised between founders. You might buy 40lbs of Brevier type from Miller and Richards in Edinburgh and find that it would not be the same size as Brevier type from Stephenson, Blake in Sheffield.

While printers used local founders this did not matter too much, but at the turn of the century when printers wanted to use American types or continental types difficulties arose. At the same time the Metric system was taking hold in continental Europe: British founders had to do something.

The British Printer from 1901 ran a series of articles covering the discussion; and it gives a good insight in to the attitudes of the different foundries. The question was simple: why do British founders not standardise on the American Point?

The American Point had come in to being because the Mackellar, Smiths and Jordan foundry in the US had joined the American Typefounders Company and they had the largest stock of type and matrices. Their point was adopted by the whole group and was embodied by a piece of steel with a flat, overhanging strip bolted to the top and bottom. This piece of steel was 288pt at 62° and the gap between the two overhangs meant that the base piece would not wear. The size of one point was defined as 0.01387″ or 0.035146cm.

The manager, Mr. Benton, made the remark that the British Standard Point (remember that type was sold by name and not point size) at 1/72nd of an inch was so close to the American Standard that a little accumulation of dirt would bring the two sizes together. The feeling of the British Printer was that we should all use the American point. This would mean type, materials and other printers’ requisites could all be used interchangeably: no doubt that this would be good for the printer in the long-run.

The British Printer canvassed opinion from the UK founders, and their responses illustrate the perspectives of those firms –

• Messrs. V & J Figgins said: ‘…in our opinion there is no prospect of the printers adopting any point system whatever, and those doing so will only add to their difficulties.’ The BP commented only that this quote served a purpose by ‘…shewing the attitude of the foundry’.
• Stephenson, Blake said that they were moving to the American Point system and would — for a time — be running both named sizes and the point system
• H. W. Caslon were noted as a ‘progressive firm’, and said that adopting the system would be a ‘…great advantage’, and they had got this in hand in 1886

The general view was that most UK foundries had adopted a point system; and most used the American Point. Once all founders moved to the system, Caslon had said they would ‘…rejoice to know that a great reform has been accomplished.’

Related Articles

1. Haddon and the Introduction of the American Point System to England
   Some background to the name behind on of Britain’s best-known jobbing platens
2. The Monotype System
   The system that spawned a great name in letterpress and the typography we use today
3. Finding Second-Hand Type
   How to find and buy second-hand type

Lagonda Platen Press

This article from the British Printer, 1945.  I find the Lagonda interesting because of the unusual design — buried under item 4 is the idea that these machines could be sat side-by-side to print colour work: four machines one each for red, yellow, blue and black.  Perhaps an idea that, while excellent, came just as full-colour letterpress printing was being taken less seriously.

A most important development in automatic platen printing presses, embodying several new mechanical features, is shortly to be presented to the trade.

The “Lagonda” the name of the new machine, is being manufactured by the Lagonda Company, the world-famous automobile makers at Staines, Middx. This, their very first entrance into the field of printing engineering, was prompted by the wish of the directors to maintain their greatly augmented wartime staff in full post-war employment.

With this determination in view, the Lagonda Company secured the services of Mr. F. J. Clarke, the well-known printing engineer, whose first design for them resulted in the production of the new auto-platen.

The “Lagonda” is undergoing very exhaustive tests and immediately following their successful completion, the machine will go into general production with a view to marketing them comparatively early next year. We give below full details of the construction, range and performance of the “Lagonda” –

1. The Impression. A full-size crown folio forme, 15 in. x 10 in. can be printed without throwing any extra strain on the machine. A very strong semi-steel platen and specially reinforced ribbed main casting. Micrometer adjustment of the impression is provided. The check action of the platen is controlled by electric Solonoid and push-button by the operator. There are no levers to fiddle with. The type bed and platen are ground finish.
2. Inking Mechanism. Every detail of the inking mechanism from ink duct to the forme roller has received very careful and scientific design. Double reciprocation for perfect milling of the ink is introduced so that the ink on the rollers is never in a stationary state. The ink drum carrying the supply to the forme rollers is not large enough in diameter to carry surplus unused portion, therefore virgin ink is always available. Runners on the ends of the forme rollers are V-shaped to prevent skidding over the forme, and the circumference of the forme rollers will carry sufficient ink to roll a full-size forme. Ink checking device is incorporated. All rollers on machine are covered with a dust cover which can be pushed back for cleaning.
3. Feed and Delivery. This is entirely a new idea embodying a straight fine feed and delivery, both driven by one common member taking a sheet from the pile on the left side of the platen and delivering it on to the moving lays on the platen and after impression has taken place, the sheet is delivered by grippers from the forme to delivery table, at the right side of the platen. The main idea of this is to make one machine a unit of a multi-colour machine, several of which can be coupled up and operated by a master switch, four or more colours can then be printed at one loading. Many of the medium-size printers have felt the need for a two-colour machine of small size. The Lagonda auto-platen will give him the same result, and he can still use his two machines as separate units when desired. There are no cumbersome parts in front of the platen, the operator can get over his platen for make-ready.
4. Main Drive. The machine is driven by electric motor and V belt, and provided with three speeds (standard equipment) or (variable speed control extra), the belts are moved by simple arrangement from larger to smaller V pulleys, all attached to the machine. Push buttons are used for operating the clutch and brake, these are conveniently placed both in front and back of machine on a control panel.
5. Capacity of Work. From a visiting card to crown folio size, in thickness of stock varying from 7-lb. bank paper to 12-sheet board. Small formes of cutting and creasing can be done and a special steel plate provided to be secured to the platen surface. Spraying the printed sheet to prevent set-off can be supplied with each machine at small extra cost.
6. Equipment. A full set of spanners and screwdrivers. Two chases, one full size and one card chase.  One set of clothed rollers and one set of stocks. Two sets of rubber suckers for use with thick card.
7. Simple Operation. The aim has been to provide a first-class machine to run at very high speed of 5,500 prints per hour without vibration and with simplicity of operation. Any printer can operate this machine after a few minutes’ instruction. Service depots will be established in every district.

The incursion of the Lagonda Company into the field of printing engineering is not going to stop at the introduction of the auto-platen. We are informed that they have several projects in view, and from the long conversation we had with Mr. Clarke and two of his associates, much of it we regret “off the record” at this early stage — we gather that the company will be springing one or two more surprises on the printing industry before very long.

The sole distributors of the “Lagonda” for this country and overseas are The Victory Kiddel: Printing Machine Co., Ltd., Clifford’s Inn, Fleet Street, London, E.C.4.

Related Articles

1. Platen Presses
   Presses that use a ‘clam shell’ approach
2. History of the Jobbing Platen
   The workhorse of commercial small-scale printing in the UK
3. Stanhope Press
   Earl Stanhope’s original iron press

Type on Imposing Surface (from Edinburgh City of Print)

Note: this is an historical article looking at the legal position in the mid 1960s, and not an authoritative statement of the printer and the law to-day.

Conditions of Contract

Most printers used a standard form of conditions of contract based on the BFMPs suggestion.  These conditions allowed printers some degree of flexibility in what was delivered (allowing for 10% variance in quantity in colour work!), what happened to materials supplied by the customer and who held liability for what was printed.

The standard conditions included accommodations for the less obvious threats of flood, drought, fire and war.

Copyright

Although now superseded the by Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act of 1988, the Copyright Act of 1956 tidied up the legislation around this notoriously tricky area.  Copyright is the right to reproduce or modify another’s work.  The Act made provision for exactly the same result being separately and equally copyright provided that they were each created using an independent process.  Copyright was not a right to a ‘novelty of idea’.

No indication was needed to show that something was copyright, although the © symbol could be used to protect works internationally.  Special rules governed the period of copyright and also who had the copyright if a writer was employed by a newspaper or other publisher.  Copyright could only be assigned between people through written agreement.

The Act also mandated that the publisher (and not the printer) was responsible for delivering a copy of any of their newly printed books to the British Museum; and also five other libraries if they requested a copy.

Imprint

I can’t find any definitive ruling on today’s position on a Printer’s Imprint — the technical name for the addition of the printer’s name and usual place of business or abode to his printed work.  In the 1960s it was a different matter because the Printer’s Imprint Act 1961 had amended the Newspapers, Printers and Reading Rooms Repeal Act 1869.  Those regulations were complex:

• The imprint — the printer’s name, and his usual place of business or abode must be added to any article to be published or dispersed
• The imprint must be on the same side as the printed matter for a single-sided job, and on the first or last page of a multiple paged work
• Curiously (and suggested to be an error in drafting the law) this law did not apply to Northern Ireland
• Some items were exempt from needing an imprint: Bank of England notes; bills of exchange, loading or bonds; insurance policies; receipts; court proceedings; parliamentary papers and also works by public officers in the execution of their duties
• Another exemption allowed for articles with names, addresses, business or professions not to have an imprint.  This meant that letter– and bill-headings did not need an imprint.  Neither did catalogues or price lists
• Greetings cards were also exempted as they were simply a conventional message, rather than designed to convey a particular message

Penalties for not adding the imprint were severe, with a fine of up to £5 per copy, rather than per work.  The courts had also ruled that work that required an imprint, but did not carry one, could not be charged for.  So a printer might not be able to recover the cost of the work.

Election Printing

Special rules surrounded this area, too.  The Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act 1883 was amended by the Representation of the People Act 1948 to include everything to promote an election candidate.  These Acts required the name and address of both the printer and publisher to be included on every work.  A fine of £100 was available to prosecutors for failing in this duty.

File Copies

The Newspapers, etc. Act of 1869 required a copy of each newspaper printed, along with the customers details, to be held for six months.

Country of Origin

Each country had different rules for how things printed in Britain should be marked when sold or exported abroad.  Examples include:

• France asked that magazines printed here but published in France needed to include the words Imprime en Grande-Bretagne in heavy type on the first page at least 4mm high
• Denmark demanded that the words Trykt i [name and location of printer] be added
• Canada allowed anything under 1″ in diameter to go without a mark but anything larger had to be marked with name, city and country

Other Laws naturally applied that had a wider reach, like libel or obscene publications.

Related Articles

1. The Printing Industry in 1965
   A summary of the what the UK’s printing industry looked like in 1965
2. Organisation of a Printing Office
   Your dreams have come true! You’re now General Manager of a printing works, but just how should you organise your empire?
3. Printing Industry
   The activities that go with running a business: with a distinct letterpress slant

Have a look around: you might be able to select your next press or learn a little more about the equipment you have.

Related Articles

1. Cylinder and Proofing Presses
   Presses using a cylinder to impress the paper on the forme
2. Heidelberg Cylinder Presses
   “The finest letterpress machines ever made”
3. Platen Presses
   Presses that use a ‘clam shell’ approach

Letterpress Numbering Machine (from Flickr)

Another advantage of the letterpress process is that the act of impression allows numbering machines to be used: the printing surface is changed each time the paper hit it.  Litho, by contrast, must use the same, static plate for each impression.

Capitalising on this, specialist manufacturers designed numbering machines known as ‘numbering blocks’ or ‘clocks’ by different printers.  The principle is that when the impression is made this pushes down a plunger which forces numbered wheels to rotate.  These numbers are inked and so leave a different number with each impression.

Numbering is needed on many documents: invoices, receipts and draw or raffle tickets being the best examples.

Numbering machines are very clever pieces of equipment as they have to jointly meet the specifications of a numbering machine, but also a piece of the letterpress forme.  As such they demand a lot of care and attention: they should be thoroughly cleaned after use with a specialist fluid, then oiled with a high-quality light machine oil and finally stored in a sealed box.

In terms of using them to print there are some special precautions to take —

• In order to positively depress the plunger, you might have to use a very hard packing perhaps using a brass or lead rule to take the force of the plunger.  You should cut an outline to receive the brass or lead from the packing to assure that the end result is roughly the same depth as the original
• If you’re using a cylinder press (a proofing press, Wharfedale or a Vertical Miele-type press) then you need to make sure that the plunger is depressed first as the cylinder travels over the numbering box: this will make sure the numbers are in the correct position to receive the ink and impression
• Think carefully about printing first and then numbering in a second run so that re-numbering does not have to be done for the sake of a single spoilt original

Common problems, and their solutions are —

• Speed
  Numbering machines are tested to 16,000 impressions per hour which is around twice the usual speed of the fastest letterpress machines.  Problems with numbering machines are rarely from too high a speed; but there is some anecdotal evidence that too low a speed can cause problems
• Numbering block does not advance a number
  When locking the numbering machine up, care should be taken to make sure that the lockup is not too tight for this will prevent the machine from working correctly
• Nearby characters are not printing
  If prefixes are needed for the number (for example, to number books sequentially as Book No. 1 / Invoice No. nnn) then the type in the forme should be at least two inches away from the numbering block.  There is a tendency for rollers to bounce on the higher-than-type-high plunger and so not deliver ink on these prefixes.  A rather extreme alternative is to file a piece of type to fit in place of the plunger
• Rollers are causing the numbering block to advance
  As well as raising the height of the rollers, it might be possible to cut away the portion of one roller that will pass over the plunger

Manual Numbering

Numbering by hand is still an option for shorter runs, and might be preferable where time is not in short supply.  One tip is to avoid any registration marks — for example, the pre-printed ‘No.’ — so that the manual numbering does not show as being out of register.

Numbering Schemes

Over time many printers developed timesaving schemes in printing numbered work.  Two are described below.

For those printing ten-up (that is, ten numbers to each page) it should be possible to pre-print the last digit in the forme (numbers 0 to 9) and then use ten numbering blocks in front of those numbers which will advance on each impression.  So, once the numbering blocks are at 87 that will print 870, 871, 872 to 879. across the page.  On the next pass the final digits remain the same but the numbering block moves on by one, so printing 880,881, 882 etc.

If no numbering blocks are available, or larger types are needed (runners numbers in a race, for example) then it’s possible to get through twenty forme changes for 99 numbers rather than 99 forme changes.

• Set and print ten of each of the second character.  Place them in ten piles of 0 to 9
• Change the forme to now have a number 0 in the first position.  Take a sheet from each of the ten piles and print these.  It will generate a 00, 0 (from the second pass) and another 0 (from the first).  Pass 9 will create 09
• Now change the forme to have a number 1 in the first position.  Using the sheets from the piles, your first print here will create a 10, 1 (from the second pass) and another 0 (from the first pass)
• Continue changing the first number until you reach 99!

Related Articles

1. Edmondson-style Rail Tickets
   The characteristic stiff card railway tickets, and how you can re-create them
2. Buying and Running an Arab
   What to look for in an Arab press
3. Lockup and Rising Spaces
   How to get your lines of type together and forming a solid unit in the chase