Read Ebook: Type Cases and Composing-room Furniture A Primer of Information About Type Cases Work Stands Cabinets Case Racks Galley Racks Standing Galleys &c. by Stewart A A Alexander A

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PAGE

INTRODUCTORY 5

EARLY TYPE CASES 9

SIZES OF TYPE CASES 11

STRUCTURE OF TYPE CASES 12

CASES FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES 14

COMPOSITOR'S WORK STANDS 16

CASE STANDS AND RACKS 18

THE MODERN TYPE CABINET 20

IRON CASE BRACKETS 22

WOOD RUNS AND STEEL RUNS 24

EXTENSION FRONTS AND BACKS 25

FURNITURE RACKS 26

SPECIAL CABINETS 28

REVIEW QUESTIONS 30

GLOSSARY 32

INTRODUCTORY

The essential articles of furniture in a modern composing room may be classified broadly, omitting obvious details for the present, under the following heads:

In addition to the foregoing brief summary there are numerous other items of composing-room equipment, large and small, provided for the particular needs of the work carried on in the place. Many of these items, however, are not in extensive use, as in many places the needs they would serve might not warrant the expense of their installation. The specialties of the printing industry nowadays affect the composing-room as well as the other departments.

A particular article which is useful and profitable in one place may be quite superfluous and an unnecessary expense in another. The kind and quantity of the work done in any workroom usually governs the kind and the extent of the equipment provided--making allowance always for the customary variation in individual judgment and the proprietor's ability to purchase.

There is a wide range of choice from a plain wooden double stand with two pairs of cases, at which two persons may work, costing six to ten dollars, to a latest pattern steel working cabinet, also providing for only two workers, costing one hundred dollars, or even more.

There are, however, certain articles and facilities fundamentally necessary to carry on the work of a composing room. The particular form of these--whether simple and inexpensive or elaborate and costly--is a question for the proprietor or manager to consider.

The articles of furniture classified under items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, in the foregoing list, are those treated in this book; those referred to in item 7, Imposing Tables and Lock-Up Appliances, being considered in a separate volume . Proof Presses, item 8, are also treated in a separate book .

COMPOSING-ROOM FURNITURE

The early type cases are shown in pictures of the time as made of a single tray containing all the characters of the font and resting in a slanting position on a rude frame or "horse," at which the compositor is usually seated. All the boxes of the case are represented as of the same size, which probably was not the fact even in early practice any more than it is today. Early designers and artists no doubt overlooked or ignored what they considered an unimportant detail, just as today they often persist in misrepresenting the true outline of the printer's lower-case. One does not need to take much thought or to have much experience to understand that in all printed languages some characters are used more than others and therefore more types of these letters and larger boxes to hold them should be provided.

For a long time the large single case with boxes for the entire list of characters was used, and these are still common in many European composing rooms. In English and American workshops, however, the pair of cases, one above the other, for many years has been the rule for large fonts in book and news work. These cases, being smaller and holding but a part of the font, are more convenient for storing and for moving from place to place about the room as they are needed for use.

Early American cases came from England and naturally they conformed to the customs of the time and place of origin. Probably in no other important particular has the tendency of printers to hold to past methods been more strongly emphasized than in their refusal to adopt any important change in the style of the most used type cases and the arrangement of the types in the boxes. Force of habit and dislike for innovation have kept practically unchanged for two and a half centuries the relative positions of the chief characters in the case. At the same time there has been universal acknowledgment that the adoption of some of the suggested improvements would add greatly to convenience and economy; and further, that many of these improvements could be adopted with an effort and expense so small as to be out of all proportion to the advantages obtained.

The standard type case of today is 32 1/4 inches wide, as it lies on the work-stand, and 16 5/8 inches--or slightly more than one half of the width--from the front to the back or upper edge. The usual depth of the outside frame is 1 3/8 inches, the minor inside partitions being slightly lower than the outside frame and middle crossbar, thus making the normal depth of the boxes approximately 1 inch. These dimensions vary only by fractions of an inch from those given by Moxon, and they seem to have been quite uniformly adhered to as an acceptable size for printers' cases.

Other sizes of cases, however, have been made and quite commonly used during the last half century. Those now listed in the dealers' catalogs are known as three-quarter size and two-third size . There is also another size known as the Rooker case, used to some extent in newspaper composing rooms, the dimensions being 28 1/2 x 14 inches, which is about one-fifth smaller than the standard case. It holds nearly the same quantity of the smaller sizes of type and has the advantage of occupying less room.

When printing offices employed but few workmen and there was small equipment, the need for economizing space did not seem a pressing one. Large cases with small fonts, and open-frame working stands with few or no racks or shelves for storage of extra material, were not considered extravagant so long as the original cost was small. The employment of larger numbers of workmen, however, and the consequent additional equipment of cases, with racks, cabinets, imposing tables, and other facilities concentrated in city buildings where the cost of rent, light, heat, etc., is high and constantly increasing, have made the utilization of waste space a matter of urgent necessity. The three-quarter, two-third cases, and even smaller sizes, which can be kept in smaller racks and cabinets, have therefore been found convenient in many places, but these must be provided with suitable racks or cabinets of the proper size. The smaller cases are sufficient to hold many of the usual small fonts, as well as the ordinary auxiliary material, like type borders, ornaments, small electros, etc. Small cases, with their lesser weight of contents in type metal, often give distinct advantage in the ease with which they may be handled.

In many composing-rooms the fractions and commercial signs are not now kept in the regular cases, but in special cases apart from the font.

Type cases are made of wood thoroughly seasoned to prevent as much as possible any shrinking after they are finished and have remained for some time in the usually dry air of a composing room. It is not so common a custom now, as it was formerly, to sponge type on the galley before distributing and to allow the surplus water to flow into the case, thus subjecting parts of the case to excessive dampness. The old type cases, under such careless usage, were quickly warped and cracked. The splitting of the bottom and the separation of the partitions allowed small types to drop out and to shift under the partitions. These defects were partially overcome by papering the bottoms of the boxes, the proper accomplishment of which was at one time considered a part of the compositor's duty.

The modern American type case is better made than its predecessors, being so far superior in several essential particulars as to be a distinct achievement in factory woodwork. A type case, with 49 to 100 or more small boxes, is not a simple thing to make by hand labor. While the making of the outside frame and the bottom involve no special difficulties, the box partitions and their proper fastening to each other and to the bottom of the case require patience and skill. Only a highly developed system of specialization could provide the cases of today at the prevailing cost.

The bottom of the old-time case warped and split easily because it was made of a single thin board. The modern case has a bottom made of three-ply wood, the middle layer having the grain across that of the other two. These three layers are thoroughly glued together and the upper side is smoothly covered with a strong paper before the partitions are fastened to the bottom. The common styles of case have a strong bar of the same thickness as the outside frame across the middle. In several styles there are two or even more crossbars. These crossbars serve not only to divide the main sections of boxes, but they also act as strong braces to which the bottoms are fastened, giving greater rigidity to the entire case.

The bottom of the case is fitted into a groove made in the outside frame, so that it cannot be easily separated. This groove being slightly higher than the lower face of the side frame, upon which the case slides back and forth in the rack, keeps the bottom up far enough to allow it to pass clear of the runs, or of any case or shelf below. The partitions are made by strips across the full width of each section of the case from outer frame to outer frame or to crossbar. The strips are crossed at the corners of the boxes by mortising each piece one half of its depth at the proper place--one from above and the other from below--and dovetailing the cross pieces together. The corners of the boxes are then re-enforced by brass clasps made to fit over the top of the partitions and held by a long pin driven down through the dovetailed partitions and clinched at the bottom of the case. .

While wooden cases are used by printers chiefly for holding type fonts, they are now also used for a large variety of auxiliary material which it is necessary to keep more or less carefully classified in convenient containers. The increasing quantities and varieties of this material now needed in an average composing-room make convenient receptacles and orderly, systematic arrangement a necessity if the work is to be carried on without excessive waste. In no other trade is there a greater multiplicity of details to be considered in order to obtain a finished product, and a thoughtless, unnecessary waste of time, effort, or material in attending to these details adds enormously to the expense of the product. And so it is becoming the practice of good managers to use cases more abundantly than formerly and to store them in convenient racks and cabinets, so that this large mass of material may be kept classified and may be obtained quickly when needed.

Besides the ordinary pair of upper case and lower case, many styles of single cases are made to hold a complete font of capitals, lower case, figures, points, etc., and others are planned to hold small capitals in addition. Some are made for fonts of capitals, figures, and points only; some for figures only , for fractions, accented letters, special characters and sorts, for leaders, type borders and ornaments, etc. A large variety of cases are planned for labor-saving fonts of brass rule. Others are made especially for spaces and quads, for leads and slugs, and for metal furniture. These are made in many sizes, from the small space-and-rule case, 5 inches by 6 1/4 inches, which can be placed beside the compositor's galley, up to the mammoth metal furniture case, 18 inches by 72 inches, covering a space equal to the top of a double stand. Dealers' catalogs now show from seventy-five to a hundred or more different kinds of cases for printers' use.

When the type case is placed at a height at which the compositor may stand erect before it, the boxes are more readily reached by the hand if the back of the case is at a slight elevation. A case lying perfectly flat must be somewhat lower, in relation to the compositor's arms, than when it is resting at an inclination, in order to take types from it with the same facility. Consequently the custom is to place working cases and working tops or shelves at an inclination upward from the front to the back.

This inclination serves also as the most convenient kind of a rest for galleys upon which loose lines of composed matter are handled. Lines of small type will not stand upright without support of some kind, even on a perfectly level, smooth, rigid surface. The universal custom, therefore, is to place galleys of type matter in a slanting position, so that the ends of the lines will be higher and all the matter will rest firmly against the lower rim of the galley. A galley in this slanting position, with the first letter in the line resting against the lower rim and the words reading upward, is the safest and most practicable manner in which to make corrections, lift out or insert whole lines singly or in groups, or to handle types generally in certain difficult composition, making-up pages, etc. After the pages are tied up or surrounded by side supports in some manner they may be conveniently handled on a level surface. Ordinary linotyped matter, which consists of a single piece for each line of words, and consequently is not liable to pi, may be, and usually is, handled throughout on level tables; but types are easily and safely handled only when they may be placed against the lower rim of an inclined galley.

A simple and inexpensive working stand to hold type cases for composing is that shown in Fig. 18. This is made of wood and has a rack in the lower part for holding extra cases. It will be noticed that because the rack is wide enough to take the full-size case, the top of the stand is several inches wider than the case, and the side frames are therefore too far apart to support the ends of the case. To enable the cases to be held safely, an extra arm is placed inside near the side frame to hold one end of the case. The surplus space beside the working cases is usually furnished with a sloping shelf or narrow galley rest convenient for holding a galley, leads, or other articles, thus allowing the case to be kept clear for composing.

A rack used to hold cases that are not often used is shown in Fig. 22. Racks of this kind are made in different sizes to hold ten to thirty cases, and in double tiers to hold forty to sixty cases.

Tall racks which hold cases too high to be reached comfortably by a person standing on the floor are not to be commended. While they may occupy less floor space and because of this seem to be an advantage where there are a great many cases that are seldom used, this advantage is usually more than offset by their disadvantages. The upper cases are difficult to handle and are liable to be pied. If the tall racks are near a window they obstruct the light.

A double stand of similar character to Fig. 18 is shown in Fig. 21, in which the space below is fully utilized for two racks, one for full-size cases and the other for two-third cases.

Many foremen do not approve the small size cases for type in common use, preferring to have all the cases of a standard size, so that they may fit the regular racks and stands and be interchangeable throughout the department. To provide for this, double stands are made which have a double tier of racks for full size cases, as shown in Fig. 20. This double stand has the extra space on the top utilized by a narrow galley shelf in the middle between the inclined case supports.

Another class of wooden case-stands is made with the frame having a flat top or table upon which is fastened a set of iron brackets to hold the working cases in an inclined position. These styles are illustrated in Fig. 23.

The closed-in cabinet is the modern plan for a compositor's working stand and for holding cases of type in common use. This is a frame or stand enclosed at the sides and back to exclude dust and debris from the cases. The case runs are thin and close together and the fronts of the cases are made with extra high rims, so that when all are pushed into place they present a closed front also.

The printer's cabinet is now made in a multiplicity of styles and in several sizes. The frames are usually of hard wood, but during the past few years they have been made of pressed steel. Usually they provide for one or more tiers of standard wooden cases for type, etc. Some of the latest patterns combine in one structure racks for type cases and facilities for holding assortments of the various kinds of material which a compositor ordinarily uses, with provision for some special material, as well as ample working space for galleys, etc. They are planned to concentrate the frequently used material near to the compositor's hands, to enable him to save the time occupied in going from place to place about the room.

The old-style working stand or cabinet as illustrated in Figs. 20, 21, usually made it necessary for a workman to stand directly in front of a number of cases which he rarely used but which might be frequently used by other compositors. In small workshops this arrangement offers no inconvenience and there need be little loss of time or patience among courteous fellow workmen. In large departments, however, especially where floor space is pretty fully occupied and the working spaces are narrow, a permanent workstand directly over a group of cases that are frequently used by several persons has been found to be an annoying and time-wasting arrangement.

About thirty years ago a radical change of this practice was proposed, and is now being gradually adopted for modern equipments. This plan places the working stand on one side of the cabinet and the case rack on the other side, so that there is freer access to cases by all workmen. The original styles of these stands and cabinets were called "Polhemus," after a New York printer, John Polhemus, who arranged his composing-room in this manner.

The case-front side of the cabinet is provided with a galley top for holding standing matter, etc., while the opposite side is surmounted with brackets for type cases, galley shelf, etc., and is used as the working stand.

Polhemus cabinets and others embodying this plan have been made in a variety of sizes--single, double, and triple cabinets, the larger sizes providing for galley racks and sorts drawers, as well as the three tiers of type cases.

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