British Letterpress

Some Modern Inks

Benjamin Brundell — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:00:45 +0000

Adana's Selection of Ink Colours

Blacks

The aim of the ink maker is to produce inks which can be used straight from the tin without having to be doped by the addition of boiled oil, driers or similar materials. A first-class black should, without incorporation of any other material, possess the following properties:

High density and brilliance of colour.
Sufficient softness and freedom from tack to prevent plucking and picking of the paper.
Rapid drying on the paper but slow drying on the machine, so that the ink remains wet for 24 hours, or preferably 50 hours, on the rollers.
Such consistency and texture that it feeds well without hanging back in the duct, and does not fill up half-tones.
Speed of penetration so that the print does not set-off, even under the pressure of a considerable pile of superimposed sheets.
Quick hard setting, enabling backing up to be done soon after printing.
Freedom from spray, even on high-speed presses.
Applicability to a wide variety of different papers.

With regard to the last point, we all know that different classes of paper behave differently with the same ink. It is easy to formulate an ink which does not set off on one paper yet sets off markedly on another. Realizing that the printer's choice of paper is often limited by practical considerations, the ink maker so formulates his standard lines that they are usable on as many different papers as possible.

The modern introduction of high-speed presses has led to the making of special inks for these machines. An ink which has given excellent results on a comparatively slow machine may spray badly when it is tried out on a fast-running one.

During the past year or two, much attention has been paid to improving the setting of blacks and preventing set-off. There are now obtainable some new blacks, the physical properties of which are such that there is a very rapid and firm set on the paper, allowing of quick backing up, while set-off* is eliminated.

Non-skinning Bronze Blues

It is rarely indeed that the ink maker puts into his bronze blue inks any driers such as cobalt, manganese or lead. This is because the bronze blue pigment is itself a powerful drier, and being, of course, present in very high proportion, causes rapid drying and skinning.

Expressed differently, bronze blue, like cobalt, manganese and lead driers, is a catalyst for the reaction between linseed oil varnish and oxygen—that is, bronze blue is a substance which increases the rate at which the linseed oil varnish, which is present in the ink, combines with the oxygen in the air to produce a dry film. Catalysts are used for quickening up many chemical processes.

When the printer requires a bronze blue ink which will not skin on the rollers in, say, two days, the ink maker is faced with a problem of a different type from the usual problem of driers. It is, of course, impossible to reduce effectively the bronze blue which is at once the pigment and the drier. Tiie problem is best solved by using a substance, known as a "negative catalyst," which behaves in the opposite way to an ordinary catalyst; the negative catalyst reduces the rate at which the ink skins. By using the right negative catalyst in suitable proportion (only a very little is required), it is possible to produce a bronze blue of brilliant lustre which will not skin or dry on the rollers even in two days and yet will dry satisfactorily on the paper.

Coloured News Inks Although coloured news inks are by no means new, it is only in recent times that they have been used to any large extent for advertising purposes. Good quality coloured news inks, which work well and do not fill up even on long runs, are now obtainable at a price suited to newspaper work, and it is probable that the near future will see a considerable increase in the amount of coloured advertisements.

Aniline Inks and Syrups

Aniline inks are being widely employed nowadays with good results. These inks consist essentially of dyes dissolved in methylated spirit, while other ingredients are added to impart fastness to water, brightness, etc., and to prevent excessive drying on the rollers.

Aniline inks are much used in paper bag and similar manufacture. The drying of the inks is mainly dependent on the rate of absorption and evaporation of the volatile spirit, and since this is very fast, the printed sheet can pass directly from the rubber stereo to be processed into the completed bag.

Generally, a good aniline ink will be found suitable for most papers, but there are a few exceptions. For printing on kraft paper, for instance, special anilines are generally required in order to obtain the maximum brightness of colour. Special surfaces like tinfoil and cellophane also require special inks for best results.

Where transport charges become considerable, as is the case with exported inks, aniline syrups may be used instead of aniline inks. These syrups are so made that when one part of the syrup is mixed with two (sometimes three) parts of methylated spirit, the resultis an aniline ink. The stronger syrups (those to be mixed with three parts of spirit per one part syrup) are so concentrated that, in the case of some (not all) colours, the syrup may be rather too viscous and may not immediately mix with the spirit. It is, therefore, recommended that those syrups, which are convertible by adding two parts of spirit to one of syrup, should be used, as these never give trouble on mixing. These latter syrups are of course cheaper.

Special syrups are obtainable for use on kraft papers.

Letterpress Inks for Non-absorbent Surfaces

A little may perhaps be said about letterpress printing of black and coloured inks on surfaces such as cellophane, celluloid and glassine. Inks for these materials dry almost entirely by oxidation—there is practically no drying by absorption or evaporation. Consequently special quick-drying varnishes are used.

The printer should carefully avoid the introduction of any non-drying ingredients into such inks. For instance, in washing up previous to a run, particular .care should be taken to remove traces of wash-up liquid from the rollers and the forme. If the printing were done on ordinary papers, the presence of a little non-drying liquid would not matter so much— although here, too, there is an element of danger. On non-absorbent papers, however, the danger is considerably increased, because the non-drying liquid remains with the ink on the surface and may seriously hamper the hardening of the print.

Gold and Silver Letterpress and Photogravure Inks

When the first experiments were made towards producing metallic letterpress inks, the main difficulty was to combine the desirable properties of resistance to rubbing, extremely high lustre, and non-drying on the machine during printing. A very large amount of work was in fact done on this problem, with the result that exceptionally brilliant inks which do not wipe off, or otherwise misbehave, are on the market.

More recently, metallic photogravures have been introduced, and the efforts of ink makers' laboratories have resulted in the availability of very bright, firmly-adhering metallic gravures which work well on the machine.

Overprinting Varnishes

As is well known, there are two main types of overprinting varnishes, one containing a proportion of volatile liquid such as methylated spirit or turpentine, and the other composed entirely of non-volatile ingredients. Although the former type is excellent as far as it goes, it is probable that it will be increasingly displaced by the non-volatile varnishes. These latter are easy of application, being printable in much the same way as ordinary letterpress inks; they can also be safely used to overprint many colours which would bleed in a methylated spirit varnish.

Research has been in the direction of increasing the gloss and improving the working qualities of the overprinting varnish. Some modern preparations are quite soft and easily workable, and yield a hard, smooth film of extremely high gloss, not only when applied to a dry non-absorbent ink layer, but also when printed directly on to the paper. Coloured overprinting varnishes are also available.

Odourless Inks and Varnishes

For some purposes, particularly for printing on food wrappers, it is sometimes advisable to use an ink having as little odour as possible. Varnishes made in the ordinary way possess a slight smell which is imparted to inks made from them.

There are two methods of producing an ink which does not possess the smell of ordinary varnish. Either there can be incorporated with the ink a small quantity of a perfume which satisfactorily masks the other smells, or odourless varnishes (made by special processes) can be used. Both methods can be combined.

Offset and Litho Inks

Improvements in offset and litho inks have included the increasing of the water resistance and the strength of colour. For—good quality offset work, particularly where in competition with photogravure processes, great colour intensity of the ink is, of course, highly desirable, since the film of ink in the offset print is so thin.

One type of modern offset ink contains special water-insoluble dyestuffs in addition to the usual pigments, a device which results in great colour strength and quite satisfactory resistance to water.

Washing Up—Ink Removers

A variety of good ink removers have been in use for a long time and are well known, but a point of which many are unaware is that there are special removers for dry ink. A roller or type face which contains patches of dry ink will require a considerable amount of laborious scrubbing with an ordinary ink remover before it is clean, but with special solvents or solvent mixtures, it is only necessary to moisten the surface. After a few minutes the powerful action of the solvent uproots the dry film. Sometimes it may be preferable to remove the worst of the dry film with the special solvent and then to finish off with an ordinary ink remover. In this way, the cleaning of dry ink can be done in a tenth of the time usually employed. Of course, the solvent does not injure the roller or type face in any way.

With regard to the cleaning of ordinary aniline inks from the machine, methylated spirit is the standard medium for this purpose. The best anilines do not dry on the rollers too quickly, but if the rollers or other parts have been left inky overnight, it may be desirable to wet the surface with a special aniline ink remover before finishing off the cleaning with methylated spirit.

Progress in the improvement of printers' materials is nowadays so rapid that it is highly important for the printer to keep in touch with modern developments in the basic materials of the trade. The main advances in printing ink technology have been the progressive improvement of colours, varnishes, grinding methods, etc.; the introduction of outstanding properties in commonly used inks; and the discovery of entirely new types of inks. These notes are intended to give a few modern lines,
Blacks
The aim of the ink maker is to produce inks which can be used straight from the tin without having to be doped by the addition of boiled oil, driers or similar materials. A first-class black should, without incorporation of any other material, possess the following properties:
High density and brilliance of colour.
Sufficient softness and freedom from tack to prevent plucking and picking of the paper.
Rapid drying on the paper but slow drying on the machine, so that the ink remains wet for 24 hours, or preferably 50 hours, on the rollers.
Such consistency and texture that it feeds well without hanging back in the duct, and does not fill up half-tones.
Speed of penetration so that the print does not set-off, even under the pressure of a considerable pile of superimposed sheets.
Quick hard setting, enabling backing up to be done soon after printing.
Freedom from spray, even on high-speed presses.
Applicability to a wide variety of different papers.
With regard to the last point, we all know that different classes of paper behave differently with the same ink. It is easy to formulate an ink which does not set off on one paper yet sets off markedly on another. Realizing that the printer's choice of paper is often limited by practical considerations, the ink maker so formulates his standard lines that they are usable on as many different papers as possible.
The modern introduction of high-speed presses has led to the making of special inks for these machines. An ink which has given excellent results on a comparatively slow machine may spray badly when it is tried out on a fast-running one.
During the past year or two, much attention has been paid to improving the setting of blacks and preventing set-off. There are now obtainable some new blacks, the physical properties of which are such that there is a very rapid and firm set on the paper, allowing of quick backing up, while set-off* is eliminated.
Non-skinning Bronze Blues
It is rarely indeed that the ink maker puts into his bronze blue inks any driers such as cobalt, manganese or lead. This is because the bronze blue pigment is itself a powerful drier, and being, of course, present in very high proportion, causes rapid drying and skinning.
Expressed differently, bronze blue, like cobalt, manganese and lead driers, is a catalyst for the reaction between linseed oil varnish and oxygen—that is, bronze blue is a substance which increases the rate at which the linseed oil varnish, which is present in the ink, combines with the oxygen in the air to produce a dry film. Catalysts are used for quickening up many chemical processes.
When the printer requires a bronze blue ink which will not skin on the rollers in, say, two days, the ink maker is faced with a problem of a different type from the usual problem of driers. It is, of course, impossible to reduce effectively the bronze blue which is at once the pigment and the drier. Tiie problem is best solved by using a substance, known as a "negative catalyst," which behaves in the opposite way to an ordinary catalyst; the negative catalyst reduces the rate at which the ink skins. By using the right negative catalyst in suitable proportion (only a very little is required), it is possible to produce a bronze blue of brilliant lustre which will not skin or dry on the rollers even in two days and yet will dry satisfactorily on the paper.
Coloured News Inks Although coloured news inks are by no means new, it is only in recent times that they have been used to any large extent for advertising purposes. Good quality coloured news inks, which work well and do not fill up even on long runs, are now obtainable at a price suited to newspaper work, and it is probable that the near future will see a considerable increase in the amount of coloured advertisements.
Aniline Inks and Syrups
Aniline inks are being widely employed nowadays with good results. These inks consist essentially of dyes dissolved in methylated spirit, while other ingredients are added to impart fastness to water, brightness, etc., and to prevent excessive drying on the rollers.
Aniline inks are much used in paper bag and similar manufacture. The drying of the inks is mainly dependent on the rate of absorption and evaporation of the volatile spirit, and since this is very fast, the printed sheet can pass directly from the rubber stereo to be processed into the completed bag.
Generally, a good aniline ink will be found suitable for most papers, but there are a few exceptions. For printing on kraft paper, for instance, special anilines are generally required in order to obtain the maximum brightness of colour. Special surfaces like tinfoil and cellophane also require special inks for best results.
Where transport charges become considerable, as is the case with exported inks, aniline syrups may be used instead of aniline inks. These syrups are so made that when one part of the syrup is mixed with two (sometimes three) parts of methylated spirit, the result

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Simple Bookbinding

Benjamin Brundell — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:00:46 +0000

If you are thinking of assembling your folded pages using a domestic or office stapler, think again. Such machines use clumsy rectangular-section mild steel staples which are prone to rust. Bindery wire stitchers use slimmer wire, which for publications meant to last can be copper or stainless steel -- much less likely to corrode and rot the paper. We should therefore learn and apply simple skills no longer practised by the mass-producers

This will be sufficient to deal with a contribution to the Jubilee project [An OGP initiative]. A multi-section binding is not really more demanding -- it just takes longer -- and there are helpful books, new or second-hand; recreational classes at certain local adult education centres will take you further.

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St Brides

Benjamin Brundell — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:00:01 +0000

St Bride's Institute, London

The St. Bride's Institute is home to the renown St. Bride's Library, a wonderful collection of letterpress (and general printing) resources.

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Work Study at the Oxford University Press

Benjamin Brundell — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:00:51 +0000

SETTING THE SCENE: Management of printing came under increasing scrutiny after the Second World War when resources were in short supply and production needed to be ramped up. The UK especially sought advice from the USA to improve production. This article by JIM CHATTING describes an approach to improving productivity at the Oxford University Press.

Letterpress Printing Productivity Report

After the Second World war in the late 1940s there was a great deal of catching up to do by way of printing and the amounts of work available was far in excess of the capacity of the Press. The first Incentive Scheme at the Press was in the Letterpress Machine Room about 1949 when in order to achieve greater productivity a simple scheme was devised, in House, based on the make readies and number of sheets run. This scheme was discontinued after a short period

Not long afterwards with consultation between the management and the composing chapel a new scheme was agreed to be implemented based on a truly measured basis.

To establish values time studies were taken. The job operation or process was first broken down into defined elements that could vary both with number and time taken to perform them. Some complex jobs involving a large number of elements to complete one cycle could take several hours to study, such as was the composition of mathematical equations in hot metal letterpress and at a later date letterpress make readies on large perfector machines. Various elements of work were studied and these were observed by a number of different studymen on a number of different operatives when this was possible using a stopwatch and recording on study sheets The expected possible range of work was covered for a particular department or section.

Analysed, charted and graphed to give a pattern of element frequencies and time that was required for a particular element and with the addition of allowances for personal needs and contingencies the result was a Standard minute (SM ) value. These standard element times were combined to give an overall standard minute value for an operation or job. In some departments ( for instance the Bindery) the three dimensions of a book had a bearing on the speed with which it was processed and so extensive SM tables were needed by the assessing staff to credit the appropriate SM's for the work done. As far as possible for easier understanding the SM values were kept to as small a number as was consistent with the accuracy required.

Bonuses were calculated from the SMs earned, waiting time, if any, and the hours worked in a particular week including reconciling wrong clock card entries, missed entries and the missing daily work sheets or dockets as they were known. Assessing work was carried out by a number of mostly female assessors, though some craftsmen were involved for a time in the initial stages. There was also a worker representative elected by the chapel working in the work study department.

The Bonus scheme got under way with the Composing room Maths ship the first section to start. At the end of the year the Monotype keyboards and casters followed and over the next few months it was introduced progressively in all the composition areas.

Originally there had been quite strong resistance from the Machine room chapel after the first incentive scheme had bean discontinued and Bindery chapel was even more strongly opposed to the introduction of an individual incentive scheme. However now that they could see more money being earned by the Composing departments as a result of the productivity scheme the Machine Room asked for it to be extended to them. Later the Bindery also requested inclusion and this was done over a period of time.

At a later stage the Lithographic department was included and with the application of the Engineers the scheme was completed.

Various updates and maintenance changes were made to the scheme when methods and new equipment were installed and it continued running until the early 1980s.

At that point radical new approach had to be made. The original scheme had mainly been on an individual basis but a completely new scheme based on departmental performance rather than an individual performance was formulated much easier to maintain and easier to run. This meant that all members of a department had the same rate of bonus according to class depending on the productivity of the whole over a specified period. This scheme when fully implemented took fewer people to administer when compared with the number of assessors that were required for the original one which had been so detailed due to individual bonus calculations. By this time too the numbers of people employed in the Printing House had reduced from the starting level in 1950

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Thermography

Benjamin Brundell — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:00:17 +0000

Thermographic Printing (from Wikipedia)

Very high class social stationery was traditionally engraved -- this is an expensive process because a fresh plate must be engraved for every design. The incisions formed by the engraver are filled with ink and this is transferred to paper under great pressure. Printers longed for a way to create the same effect using their existing lead types and printing presses.

Thermography stepped in to meet this need. The process in outline is --

Print an article (say, an invitation) in the usual way
Dust the still-wet ink with a special thermoplastic powder ('Thermographic Powder')
Remove any surplus powder so that the powder only remains on the previously printed area
Apply heat to the invitation -- the powder reacts by fusing to the ink and lifting from the surface

The end result is a seldom-seen effect of type that stands proud of the surface of the card or paper.

The powder was available before machines could apply heat; and printers were encouraged to experiment with whatever they had available: an electric fire or grill could be pressed in to service to apply heat! Adana launched their first basic machine in 1950 which took already-dusted articles on a conveyor belt through a tunnel that held heating elements. Later iterations of machines from Adana and also Caslon took a freshly-printed document; applied the thermograpic powder; shook off the excess; passed it through the heating tunnel and dropped the document on the other side of the machine. Caslon took the machines further and developed products to sit at the end of automatic, high-speed presses.

Powders are available in three main varieties: clear (takes on the colour of the underlying ink); gold (to be used with a yellow base) and silver (to be used with a blue or grey base). Different grade powders are also available depending on the thickness of the strokes to be covered: thin strokes need a finer power, but this raises from the surface less than a coarser powder.

Practical Hints

Thermography relies on good printing early on -- poor printing cannot be improved by this process -- so you'll need excellent starting material
If the result is a dull, mottled surface then too little heat is being applied
Flat, blotchy results come from too much heat being applied
Thermographic powder will stick to anything, so greasy finger marks on card will attract the powder and so have a raised surface at the end of thermography
One approach to application is to stack the printed objects; pour powder over the surface to be thermographed; draw the top sheet up and shake off the excess. The second sheet will now be exposed from the pile and have the surplus power roughly where needed. Repeat this process
Rasied printing will mean your finished batch of sheets will be deeper at one side than another. This will distort cutting and you should use paper at the finished size when you begin thermography
Paper jams might result in paper touching the heating element of the machine: be ready to deal with a small fire!

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The Adana 5 x 3

Benjamin Brundell — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:00:10 +0000

Adana 5 x 3

It was April 1956 when the Adana 5 x 3 was unveiled. The machine replaced the H/S1 (High Speed 1) machine with it's tiny 3" x 2" chase. This new machine was supplied with a small interior chase of 2¼" x 4¼" which allowed more adventurous work to be undertaken than on the H/S1.

In terms of materials, it was one of the earliest Adana machines to be made of an aluminium alloy, rather than cast iron.

Production of the machine ended in the mid-1980s.

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Beck Isle Museum, Pickering, North Yorkshire

Benjamin Brundell — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:00:24 +0000

Beck Isle Museum, Pickering

The Beck Isle Museum, Pickering, North Yorkshire has a printing section based on a Pickering printer that closed in the 1980s. The section includes an 1854 Columbian and a Cropper Treadle Press. Friendly printers are often on hand to guide you through the process.

Beck Isle Museum, Pickering, North Yorkshire, YO18 8DU

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Early Rollers and Composition Rollers

Benjamin Brundell — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:00:32 +0000

Printers' rollers have occupied the greatest printing minds since the early 1800s. While the rotary letterpress machine should have improved production speeds, their potential was held back by the lack of rollers: just how could ink be transferred to the forme with speed and consistency? This article looks at early rollers, composition rollers and rubber rollers.

Early Rollers

Printers' ink ball or dabber

When using the original hand presses, printers used ink balls. A wooden handle and sheepskin bag filled with horsehair formed the ink ball, and these were used in pairs. The inker could 'mill' the ink between the balls and then apply ink to the forme before printing. This approach was used between in invention of the press and 1790, some 340 years.

With the introduction of the rotary press, printers simply modified their existing technology and built wooden rollers with a sheepskin cover filled with horsehair. While made with some precision, they could not coat the type effectively, and left a mark on the page where the stitching in the sheepskin cover did not transfer ink.

Composition Rollers

In 1818, Robert Harrild developed the first 'composition roller', made of glue (from calfskins) and treacle -- his development was based on the process used by the Staffordshire Potteries to add patterns to pottery. While this mixture was tacky enough to carry and transfer ink, the ingredients led to an instability of the roller. The glue gives up water in dry atmospheres and shrinks and cracks. In damper conditions, the glue takes up moisture and the roller swells. Thomas de la Rue added glycerol (US: glycerine) to that original mix. Glycerol has a tendency to absorb moisture from the air and this balanced to a degree the effects on glue to produce a more stable roller. Rollers still had to be made to suit the atmospheric conditions and seasons -- so rollers were made to different recipes in different parts of the world, and also depending on whether it was summer or winter.

Making Composition Rollers

Adding drain cocks for the composition material to the gatling gun

Just as printers were expected to make their own inks, they were also expected to be able to cast their own rollers. Presses (like the Arab) were supplied with roller cores (the central metal bar) and moulds for the composition. Printers would routinely melt down and re-cast composition rollers. A big problem was to prevent air bubbles from sitting on the edges of the roller, and causing small marks that transferred to the inked forme.

Commercial makers of composition rollers used a gatling gun to hold multiple moulds and pour composition mixture into all of them at one time.

Using Composition Rollers

Adana recommended four sets of rollers: two pairs of rollers each for summer and winter; one for colour work (including white) and one for black. Rollers would be used for colour first and then black. Rollers should be carefully cleaned and covered before storage using oil or petroleum jelly. An appropriate mix would be 10% medical paraffin plus 'suffers grease' (an engineers' jelly).

Composition Rollers Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages of Composition Rollers

They are the cheapest rollers to make of the major roller materials
Ingredients can be varied to suit local conditions
They are supplied soft (typically 15 - 20 shore) and this can roll ink to multiple levels within a forme
They are easy to wash up
Composition rollers have a very smooth surface that can deliver a sharp appearance on printed material

Disadvantages of Composition Rollers

They are less stable than other rollers in different temperatures and humidity
Cuts in the roller will spread and widen
They cannot be made to the same accuracy as other rollers
They occasionally swell at the end

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Adana T/P48 and Adana T/P71

Benjamin Brundell — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:00:55 +0000

Adana T/P48

Adana had a history of producing machines powered by treadle (rather than hand) before the T/P48 appeared. A patent held by the founder of Adana (Donald Aspinall) and an engineer demonstrates the principle from the 1920s; and the firm made a Adana Treadle Platen around 1926. This family of machines has an unusual approach of a D-shaped drum to act as inking cylinder with the flat area holding the chase. Inking rollers revolve around the drum and on to the forme -- this whole assembly moves to impress on a static back platen holding the paper.

Other construction details led to a loyal following of users: the stand was made from tubular steel, the main frame from a light alloy. This kept the weight to around 2 3/4 cwt. Cast iron was used where needed for strength: the platen and side arms.

In use, the unusual operating principle has some positive side effects -- the feed is to a static bed (as only the platen moves) so is easier to use than a moving back platen; the inking is adjustable and uses more rollers than other Adana machines; and the machine is chain-driven so there is less fatigue on the operator.

The T/P48 was launched as the T/P47 at the British Industries Fair in 1947 but restrictions on UK manufacturers meant the machine was not advertised in the UK until August 1949. Incidentally the T/P stands for Treadle/Power as the machine could be powered by foot or electricity. This serves to highlight the apparent arbitrary nature of Adana's naming system!

In 1971 the machine was updated as the T/P71-- but this appeared to be cosmetic: the open sides were panelled and the gearing was amended. Another version of the machine was sold with slower power for use in schools and took the name T/P71S.

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Cambridge Museum of Technology

Benjamin Brundell — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:00:38 +0000

Cambridge Museum of Technology (from Flickr)

The Cambridge Museum of Technology houses a print shop which includes iron hand presses, small presses and Linotype and Monotype composing machines.

Cambridge Museum of Technology, The Old Pumping Station, Cheddars Lane, Cambridge, CB5 8LD

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