TYPE AND TYPE-MAKING.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 2646, 3 May 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

TYPE AND TYPE-MAKING.

The following is from the Chicaiju Specimen , — Given : steel, lead, antimony, tin, copper, , a fertile imagination, willing hands, and the ; necessary utensils. Required : a means of i communicating the will of the people. ; We will take the metals after they have j been smelted or refined, and attempt to trace : them on their journey until a combination of several of them forms a little messenger ; of thought. The steel provides two elements for the ' manufacture of type, from which indis- ' pensable metal are made the mould and the punch — the mould being a combination of perfect pieces of rectilinear shapes so placed together as to form five of the six sides of a letter. The punch is a little bit of steel upon : which has been engraved with unerring : accuracy, and by hands well skilled anil . trained, a letter that shatl have for an e\act duplicate the cast type. This punch is driven, by machinery, into a fiat piece of polished copper, which is then carefully ' fitted with the proper side and head bearings. Now we have the mould of steel and the ' ; matrix of copper, and can leave them for a while and watch the combination of the metals forming " type metal." No chemist can successfully analyse that compound on account of the affinity the metals have In : ' each other, for the loss of an atom would » surely change the texture of the metal. N\>, : we are not to tell you of the exact propor- . ; tions of the elements that are used in the ; < composition, for that is a secret that the type-founder never divulges. He may tell < you that his type contains more copper th.ir, i any other, but how are you to ascertain < what he says is true if a chemist cannot tell ? ' Let us take for granted that he tells you the \ unvarnished truth. Does that for an instant enhance the value of his type ? Does copper, , i a comparatively soft metal, harden or ' : toughen antimony or tin, both harder and ■ tougher than copper ? ] Only by a proper combination of the four I metals — lead, tin, antimony, and copper--can a perfect type metal be made Of course, type will wear out. Nature never intended 1 that man should make anything that would 1 not wear out. ' Well, while we have been talking, the < metal has been mixed and poured into the ' large pans for cooling. ( Now we have a mould, a matrix, and a 1 compound — type metal. The metal is put '< into a furnace attached to a casting machine, 1 one of our necessary utensils, the mould, is ' attached to the mould-block on the machine, 1 and the matrix is placed in the mould. ' When the metal is heated to the proper * temperature the operation of casting is commenced. Were the metal too cool, it would not run properly, and the face of the letter would be uneven. Were it too hot, the antimony, that hardening and toughening « metal, would rise to the top and pass off in t the form of vapour. t The handle is turned, the pump in the } machine injects the molten metal into the c mould and against the matrix, and the letter s is cast. Again the handle is turned, and , \ another letter springs forth ; this operation is continued until the requisite number of c pounds of a letter are cast then another c matrix takes the place of our old friend. The x "jets," similar to the projection of an '.in- c finished bullet, are broken off the letters by v nimble-fingered lads, and the letters set on , long sticks by flaxen-haired lassies, after a their older sisters have finished the opera- t tion of rubbing two of the sides of our erst r while acquaintances. l>y the use of a simple a little contrivance, patented and made by our a employes, the jets are broken during the s processs of casting, the letters going into a c receptacle in front of the machine and the \ jets falling into another at the back. ]- On to the dresser, who makes a groove a where the jet was, and leaves the type a pair of becoming feet upon which to stand. He jj also dresses the two sides, hitherto tin a touched, by a light movement of a special file or scraper. t Out of the six surfaces, five have been carefully finished, and the sixth side, or face f, of the letter, is scanned through a magnifying v glass and all imperfect letters thrown asid» a to be recast. The "height to paper" an. 1 a the exactness of the body are points care- v fully examined during the operations of casting and dressing. n This completes the operation, and thctype is sent to the dividing room, where the proper wrapper and label are placed upon the type for the stock room. y