Machines
. An account by Savage, in his
Dictionary of Printing, 1841, says: “Cylindrical
printing, or, as it is generally termed,
Machine printing, is a new mode of obtaining
which took place in the year 1814. It has
caused a great revolution in the art, from the
facilities which it affords for printing sheets of
paper of a size of which no press worked by
manual labour is capable, nor, were it capable,
is the strength of one man equal to the exertion
requisite for the pressure necessary to produce a
respectable impression. In addition to this advantage
of printing sheets of such larger dimensions,
it possesses the power of multiplying impressions
so rapidly as to appear like the work
of magic. This may seem hyperbolical; but
the average rate of working at a press for
common work, that is, the general run of book
work, with two men, one to ink the types, and
the other to work the press, is but 250 copies an
hour, while a machine will produce 1,250 copies
in the same time; and considerably more might
be obtained, were not its powers restrained by
the limited human means of feeding it with
paper, it being found by experience that the
number stated is the extent to which one person
could supply it, he having regard to laying on
the sheets evenly, so as to preserve a regular
margin: but this speed was not deemed sufficient
to meet the wants that were felt, and the
`Times’ newspaper is now printed at a machine
where the paper is laid on at four places, one
forme of which, consisting of four pages, is
printed at the astonishing rate of 4,320 an
hour at its ordinary rate of working, a fact
which I have seen and ascertained myself, by
counting its motions with a seconds watch in
my hand. Mr. Richard Taylor has also a
similar machine at which the ’Weekly Dispatch’
is printed. Considering what has been
done, I cannot see a reason why the paper
should not be supplied at six or eight places,
if found necessary, so as to increase the number
printed to 6,000 or 8,000 in an hour; as the
wonder ceases when we remember that steam
is the moving power.” A comparison of these
facts with the methods employed and the results
attained nowadays is very curious.