BED & PLATEN Book Printing Machines American and British streams of ingenious regression in the quest for print quality A technical study by Douglas W. Charles with a foreword by Stephen O. Saxe PLANE SURFACE PRESS MMXVII BED & PLATEN Book Printing Machines American and British streams of ingenious regression in the quest for print quality A technical study by Douglas W. Charles with a foreword by Stephen O. Saxe PLANE SURFACE PRESS MMXVII A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S In addition to the late William Elligett, whose urging and generosity spurred this study, the following institutions and individuals are owed particular thanks. The author takes credit for all errors of fact or interpretation. Bodleian Library, Staff British Library Quick Information (Patents), Ziaad Khan Compuset Centre of Darjeeling, Bon Pradhan Full Circle Media Arts, Gregg Poppen Historiche Drukkerij Turnhout, Herwig Kempenaers Ketchikan Daily News, Lew Williams III Ketchikan Public Library, Staff Leeds (UK) City Council, Business and Patent Information Services, Staff Oxford University Press (Archives) Dr. Martin Maw, (Library) Staff Radcliffe Science Library,Staff St. Bride Printing Library, Clare Amos, Lyn Arlotte, Robert Richardson Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Elizabeth Harris, Stanley Nelson Hall Anderson Don Charles Mick Elligett Peter Marsh Stephen O. Saxe Dorothee Snoek iii F O R E W O R D The bed and platen printing machine seems to be the “missing link” in the story of the evolution of the printing press. The narrative, as usually presented, begins with Gutenberg’s adaptation of the wine press, followed centuries later by Blaeu’s improvements in the 1620s. In the nineteenth century we see the transition from the wood of the common press to the iron hand press of Stanhope and Clymer. We read how the Times of London on 29 November, 1814, overnight went from being printed on a “battalion” of iron hand presses, to being printed on a single steam-powered cylinder machine, the famous invention of Koenig & Bauer. And from then on into the twentieth century, we read that it was the cylinder press that achieved miracles of speed and productivity. But that is not the full story. Not long after the introduction of the iron hand press (Stanhope about 1800, Clymer’s Columbian about 1813) there were many minds at work on the idea of applying steam power to the iron platen press. Indeed, many of the same pioneers of the iron hand press—Phineas Dow, Erastus Bartholomew, Seth and Isaac Adams, Otis Tufts, and Stephen Ruggles—also worked on what came to be known as the “bed and platen” machine. As it happened, all of these men were working at the same time in Boston. They constituted what Douglas Charles has called a “Pool of Genius.” These men competed to produce a printing machine that could automate the work of the iron hand press. The cylinder press was satisfactory for high speed news printing, where fine presswork was not important. But cylinder machines were not satisfactory for book work. Their problems included difficult makeready, slurring, workups, misregister, and the wear on type. It was not until later in the century that the cylinder machine was refined to do quality printing. While this work went on, it was the bed and platen machine that became the predominant press in American printing offices. With skilled handling, it could rival the best work of the hand press, with far greater speed and economy of labor. Between 1830, when Isaac Adams patented his first press, until about 1880 when the bed and platen press finally neared its end, an estimated ninety percent of American book printing was done on Adams presses. In Britain, where the cylinder machine had first appeared, cylinders coexisted with bed and platen machines of a distinctly national character. These were widely employed—generally on quality work—but never dominated the industry so totally as in the United States. The success of the bed and platen press in midcentury America was complete, but it has never been documented. The British experience has been similarly ignored. While hundreds of iron hand presses are still in use, not a single bed and platen machine is known to have survived. We are fortunate that the previously untold story has been fully and ably detailed by Douglas Charles. It is safe to say that he knows more about the history and workings of the bed and platen printing machine than anyone today. Thanks to his efforts in gathering this complex information and presenting it here, the bed and platen printing machine can now be restored to its place of importance in the evolution of the printing press. —Stephen O. Saxe iv Foreword by Stephen O. Saxe Page iii Glossary • Page viii Introduction • Page 1 American Platens (introductory) • Page 3 Treadwell 1821 • Page 5 Booth 1822 • Page 15 Adams 1830 • Page 17 Tufts 1834 • Page 31 Adams 1836 • Page 41 Hoe 1847 • Page 61 Ruggles 1859 • Page 65 British Platens (introductory) • Page 67 Double platens Brown 1830s • Page 71 Hopkinson & Cope c. 1850 • Page 75 Napier 1853 • Page 91 Single platens Napier 1837 • Page 98 Holm 1841 • Page 99 Appendices • Page 107 Bibliography • Page 119 vi G L O S S A R Y Apron: Pointing board, feed board. Bed and platen: Excludes job presses. Herein, platen, platen press and bed and platen refer to the large platen presses typically used for bookwork in the 19th century. Belt shipper: Belt shifter. Blow: Pressman’s term for the air outlets of the Adams press delivery bellows. Bottombar: The lower transverse impression-resisting girder of a platen machine, correspond- ing to the winter of a handpress and the impression bed of a British double platen. Box: Bearing in which a shaft or journal is supported and rotates. Also a closely-fitted support through which a bar or rod moves. Carriage: Horizontally-reciprocating portion of platen machine, usually bearing the form rollers, friskets and tympans. In 19th century writing, often applied to type-bed assembly (as in handpress usage), but herein type-bed refers to the type-bed itself and its attachments. Chuck: Treadwell’s term for the dog-clutch on the verge that controlled his type-bed motion. Coffin: Sometimes synonymous with type-bed as a hangover from handpress usage. Crab: Another term for mouse roller. Cut: Any typographic plate or block bearing an illustration. An illustration. Cylinder; Cylinder press; Cylinder machine: Flat type-bed and cylindrical impression component. Dip line: The pitch line (pitch diameter) of a gear. Dog hand: Catch or pawl. Double platen; Double: Machine having one platen and two type-beds or two platens and two type-beds. Double-ended; double-feeder: Machine having one platen, one type-bed, and a carriage bearing two friskets upon which impressions were taken alternately. Duct: Fountain, in British usage. Ductor: Herein: The roller which takes the ink from thefountain roll and transfers it to the rest of the inking system. The word is variously used in source texts, sometimes denoting the fountain roll. In the U.S. pressroom it was the “duck roller”. End: A double platen machine’s two ends each consisted of type-bed, ink-table, table bolt or clutch, tympan and frisket. The wordend is italicized where necessary in the text for clarity. Feeder: Termed layer-on in Britain. Fly: Termed taking-off apparatus in Britain The human version was aflyboy in the U.S., a taker- off in Britain. Fountain roll: The roller which comprises the principal part of the ink fountain. Geared inking: Form rollers positively driven through contact with distributors running atop them, the distributors driven through gears by a rack on the side of a reciprocating type-bed. Gudgeon: Treadwell’s term for journal, v. pivot. Horse-whim: Vertical shaft with horizontal beam to which a draft animal was hitched. hp: Horsepower. Impression-bed: Heavily-girdered structure fixed in the machine frame which supported the type-bed during impression. viii Impression bolt: A pair of these threaded forged rods united the platen and the bottom bar or winter of the Adams and its US competitors. They resisted the force of the impression, relieving the frame castings of that duty. In; Out: An end is in when under the platen, out when in feeding position. Ink table: Also: Ink plate, ink slab. Flat surface upon which ink is distributed and carried to form rollers. May be fixed to the type-bed (British doubles) or stationary (Scandinavian). In lieu of the ink table, some presses (American) were fitted with cylindrical distributing drums. J.M. Napier’s doubles were fitted with both. Inker: Form roller, in British usage. iph: Impressions per hour. Equivalent of number of sheets printed on one side per hour. Jauns wheel: Treadwell’s term for the large bevel gear which drove the two bevel gears on the verge. Layers-on: British usage: Feeders. Machine; Press: British usage distinguishes the terms, using press to denote handpress. A machine derives its motion from a rotary power source such as a hand-crank, waterwheel, steam engine, etc. Mitre cog wheels: Treadwell’s term for bevel gears. Mouse roller: Aid to ink distribution consisting of a short roller (about the size of a proof brayer) mounted in a traveling frame and reciprocating axially across the face of a distributing drum to smooth the ink film. Standard equipment on the 1836 Adams, optional on Hopkinson & Cope’s doubles. Also crab. Nippers: Grippers. Pall: Pawl. Pitman: Heavy rod or bar connecting a crank with a reciprocating part of the machine. Connecting rod. Adams: Rod connecting crank with impression toggle. Pivot: Early 19th century term for journal.