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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 4
Inventions. Pracesses, and Wrinkles
Inventions. Pracesses, and Wrinkles.
Paste from Straw.—
An English firm has turned another waste product to valuable account. The straw-boilings which accumulate in the manufacture of paper are purified by filtration, and reduced by evaporation to a stiff brown paste, forming an efficient substitute for gum arabic, which can be evenly spread on any substance, and which—most important of all—will not ferment.
To Prepare Cloth for Printing.—
A French contemporary says that to give cloth a proper sizing for good impressions in lithography, typography, or photography, it should first be soaked in boiling water alkalized with a little potash; after drying, pass it through a confined bath containing 2 parts of chlorhydrate of ammonia and 3 parts of dry albumen to 260 parts of water. After having been dried in the open air, the stuff should be sufficiently calendered.
New Appliance for Broadside Printing.—
The Patent Economic Broadside Engraving Company, Fetter Lane, London, has brought out a process, invented by a practical printer, which enables the letterpress poster-printer to rival the lithographer in color effects, and to surpass him as regards cheapness and simplicity. The invention is a compound for surface-printing; said compound being firmly fixed to a zinc plate, next engraved, and then tacked to a mounting-board. The composition can be freely cut with a sharp knife, rapidly hardens for the working, and is permanently fixed to the plate. The surface saves one-half the ink, which it takes and yields up more regularly than the best wood blocks. It has no grain and does not warp; and is not attended with waste, as all the old material can be melted and used over again. It requires scarcely any making-ready. Any size, from demy upwards, is supplied.
Ink for Zinc Labels.—
The proper ink for writing on zinc is nitro-muriate of platinum, which produces a jet-black indelible stain. Procure an ounce stoppered phial, into which put half-an-ounce of nitro-muriatic acid, composed of two parts of muriatic to one of nitric acid; then procure a small piece of platinum, such as the whole touch-hole of a gun, which must be put in the acid and the stopper left out; set the phial in the sun, or upon hot sand, until the acid has assumed a deep brown tint. A few drops of this should now be added to a little water and tried with a quill pen, adding drop by drop until a sufficient blackness has been obtained. The writing must be well washed in water as soon as it has blackened, and then it should be wiped dry and varnished. Or, dissolve in half-a-pint of common writing-ink two pieces of sulphate of copper the size of a hazel-nut, and write on the zinc with a quill pen.
Preparing Printing-Plates from Textiles.—
This invention, patented in Germany, by W. Sommer, Berlin, consists of a peculiar method of treating textiles so that they are adapted for printing. The material, the texture of which is to be printed, is put into a solution of 5 parts of alum and 38 parts of 50° alcohol; it is left in the solution for about twelve hours, and then put upon a frame. To protect it from dust it should be placed in a drying-box, and therein exposed for one hour to a temperature of 77° F. Beeswax heated to 131° F. is then rubbed upon the material while it is in the frame in the drying-box. The wax is visibly absorbed by the material, leaving the insterstices free, as on account of the heat the superfluous wax drops off. The textile material having been exposed in the drying-box for about nine hours to a heat of about 104° F., and after all the wax applied has been thoroughly absorbed, is to be coated with a preparation of 3 parts of gum dammar dissolved in 8 parts of pure turpentine. It is then dried in the drying-box for two hours, coated again with the same preparation, and finally thoroughly dried for two or three hours in the drying-box. When the textile material thus prepared is taken from the frame, it will be ready to be printed from, and will be found to be more durable than any printing-plate of metal or other material. After being mounted on wood or metal, it is available for any number of impressions.
Patent Justifying Quads.—
« Nut-quads » will have a new meaning if the following, from Invention, is correct: « We are pleased to notice that a patent has been granted to Mr J. Hayes, Preston, for a new or improved justifying-quad, which is possessed of the merits of justifying quad-lines in every kind of open composition, without the aid of the small spaces after the requisite amount of quad-space has been fitted up. The quad is cast in type-metal in two parts, one part having a brass screw and fluted nut attached. The quad is inserted in the line with other quads until the line is full, all but the 'space' required in the ancient style of justification, and the compositor has only to give the fluted nut a turn with his left thumb and the line becomes spaced out or justified. In distribution the process is quite as simple, and only requires that the justifying-quads should have a separate place in or on the case set apart for them. » We can quite believe that such a patent has been applied for and granted, though we have seen nothing about it in our trade exchanges. Any compositor would at once reject the idea as unpractical. The various styles of mechanical quoins—some of them really excellent—have not yet displaced the old wooden wedges in locking-up; but what are we to say to the introduction of similar mechanism into the compass of a nonpareil quad? At what price per pound could the new quad be supplied? How large is the nut which the comp is expected to turn with his left thumb? Does he re-turn the screw when he returns his letter? How long is the apparatus expected to last? If the quads exist in any more substantial form than the specification-drawings, we should much like to see a sample.