A New Printing Machine.—

A new American job machine—the Eckerson—has attracted a good deal of attention in London. It does for ordinary jobs what the great modern machines have done for newspapers—enables them to be printed from the web. While built on entirely new principles, it is remarkable how far there has been a return to the original idea of the printing-press. The platen is flat and stationary, and by a vertical movement of the type-bed the impression is obtained. There are two inking-tables, one on each side of the form, which the rollers, five in number, use alternately, so that they only cross the type once for each impression, which facilitates the speed. When once the machine is started everything works automatically, down to the cutting and counting. There are single and double machines, the latter enabling two to be printed simultaneously, or two colors if desired. They are compact and solid, and work very steadily. With no noise or confusion, from 3,000 to 6,000 impressions per hour can be run off, as compared with about 1,000 from the ordinary cylinder machine.