Jobbing Facilities.
There is no department in the art that is better provided with means for its efficient prosecution than job printing. It is true that an establishment fully provided with all the old and new conveniences will involve a very considerable outlay; yet a beginner in a small way, who has to count the cost carefully, may avail himself of many facilities which were unknown a score of years ago. The smaller the capital, the more need for the exercise of a wise discretion in the selection of material. Regard should be had to the special line of work to be undertaken, and the type and presses adapted to that line should be selected. If the master himself shall work with head and hand, perseveringly and early and late, and shall do good work at fair prices—never cutting-under to secure a job at non-paying rates,—and shall be obliging in manner and punctual in delivery, and shall waste no dimes in drink or other useless expenses, the growth of his business will be only a matter of time; and he will gradually be able to order just what that growth necessitates, until he shall find himself the proprietor of a well-appointed office and a paying business. In his first outlay and in all his additions, the best of every kind should be gotten, if possible, as cheap things always prove dear.
It matters little how well appointed an office may be, there will be no gains in it unless the proprietor, counting the cost carefully, makes sure that every job shall pay a reasonable profit.
When a job is taken in, it should be fully entered in a volume, giving all particulars in regard to the number of copies, style, and price. This may serve as a Day Book or Blotter. A memorandum-slip, like the following, may be filled out for each job, and kept on file after the work shall have been completed:—
No. of Order
_____________________
Size of Card, Paper or Book, when finished
_____________________
Quality
________________________________________________________
Number of Copies
_______________________________________________
Style of Type
__________________________________________________
Size of Form
___________________________________________________
Colour of Ink
__________________________________________________
Time of Composition
____________________________________________
Time on Press
__________________________________________________
Proof wanted
___________________________________________________
Goods to be called for
_________________________________________
” ” delivered
__________________________________________
Price
__________________________________________________________
Paid in advance, $
_____________________________________________
Date
____________________________
It will be satisfactory to keep what may be called an Estimate Book, in which may be entered the particulars of estimates given for various kinds of work, whether the job be secured or not, these particulars will be time-saving when a similar piece of work comes in for estimate. Samples of paper, of all grades and colours, may be kept in a convenient receptacle, cut up into various sizes, and with memoranda written on each sample to denote the cost per ream, the weight, and the number of pieces in a sheet.
A useful thing to have in a job office is Ames’s Paper and Card Scale, for fractional sizes, showing the number of pieces of any required size that can be cut from a sheet without waste, with a table giving the number of sheets required to cut 1000 pieces, and another showing the cost of paper by the quire, sheet, and hundred sheets, at any given price per ream. Besides the above, we may mention Le Blond’s Chart, a very compact affair, showing the number of any given size of card that can be cut out of a card sheet 22 × 28 inches.
The modern printer has every convenience that can be desired in the way of cases, and his type and other material are amply provided with receptacles well adapted for each special use. There are not only large and small cabinets, filled with job cases of various styles and capacities, but there may be had cases for rules, leads, and furniture, as well as blank cases for indefinite uses. We give representations of these.
All cases should be labelled, and the label should be printed in the same type that is contained in the case.
Capitals and lower-case job types should not be laid together in the same boxes. The saving of time in a year will pay for extra cases.
Job type-cases should be kept in cabinets, and not in stand-racks, as the latter cannot be used without interfering with the hand whose stand may contain the case wanted. Various kinds of cabinets are shown on pages 219-221, 231 and 234, some of which are constructed to hold cases and quad and space boxes.
All matter should be cleared away as soon as done with. This work can be done by careful boys. Standing galleys, or cabinets with galley tops, for type to be kept awhile, will be found useful and convenient; but matter preserved for occasional future use were better papered up and labeled or stored away locked up in a chase cabinet. (See p. 231.) A rack with sloping boards to support the forms will prove to be a safe and convenient place for keeping the forms of type which need to be held standing.
Labour-saving leads, and slugs, and reglets, cut to varying lengths, when not in use, should be kept in cases specially provided for them. And so with labour-saving brass rule, quotation furniture, rule, etc. It is economical as well as tidy to have appropriate places for every thing.
For fixed measures, or measures not often changed, the standard screw composing-sticks are probably the best; but for jobbing and table-work, where the measure is frequently altered, it will be well to use the new styles, such as are shown above; no screw-key or screw-driver being required, the latter can be quickly and easily set to a new measure.
The boxwood quoin will probably continue to hold its place, though not a few printers favour the use of the newly-invented iron articles offered by various manufacturers, such as Webb’s Mechanical Quoin, Ames’s, Hoe’s, Allen’s, and Hempel’s Patent Quoins. The latter quoin has, from its durability and easy application, crowded out all competitors.
Among the very handy things to have about an office, we may enumerate the circular and hollow quadrates, shown on pages 77 and 78; corner quadrates, cast in type-metal; and also the brass line-formers, shown on page 79, that enable the workman to curve lines expeditiously.
Even so simple a thing as a shooting-stick, commonly made of hickory or ash, is now to be had in brass or iron. These latter are certainly more durable, but dangerous in careless hands.
A novel invention is Armstrong’s Patent Combined Mallet and Shooting-Stick. This is desirable for general use, and for locking-up forms on the press, or of service where room for the use of the ordinary mallet and shooting-stick is limited to a confined space.
A mitering machine and lead-cutter are among the necessary adjuncts of a printing-office.
Perforating Rule is slightly higher than type, and is used in printing coupons and tickets which require to be partially severed while going through the press. It is made of brass or steel. A more convenient (as well as more expensive) article is Ames’s Patent Perforator: its knife, or perforator, lies below the surface of the type while the rollers pass over the form, and rises and makes a clean cut when the impression is on, without injuring the rollers.
Machines for perforating round holes are manufactured of several sizes. The lowest-priced machine may be worked on a counter, and will perforate every kind of card-board or paper. We give a cut of this style.
Imposing Stones may be had with drawers and cases underneath; but these we do not deem advisable, unless the printer be cramped in room, as the cases may be wanted when the stone is in use while imposing or correcting forms. For common use, the plain stone with a single drawer, and without a rim, will be found the nicest. When made otherwise, the rim should be fitted snugly to the stone, or the interstices will become filled with types, dropped in while correcting.
A very convenient device for the compositor is the Copy-Holder. This, however, is for the book compositor rather than for the jobber. Its utility consists in bringing the copy nearer to the eye of the workman, and in leaving all the boxes at command and uncovered by the manuscript or printed page. There is also a Lamp-Holder which will be found handy where gas is not accessible.
Card Cutters are made of several styles, and at prices from fourteen dollars to forty-five; and Paper Cutters are yet more numerous, some of them simple and low-priced, and others massive and costing twelve hundred dollars. We give an engraving of one of moderate price. An extensive run of business only would require the employment of a large paper cutter.
Several contrivances for facilitating press operations have been invented. We may mention Megill’s Patent Gauge Pin, of sizes suitable for various margins. Two small teeth, projecting from the lower side of the head of the pin, press into the tympan sheet and prevent the gauge from moving. There is also the Extension Feed-Guide, which furnishes a gauge below the edge of the platen, and is held firmly in place by the tympan-clamp.
When long numbers are printed, the Automatic Counter may be attached to the press. It counts only when the form is being printed, and shows the exact number in plain figures up to 100,000. Several styles of counting machines are made.
An ink fountain has been contrived for attachment to the Gordon job press, or any other press with similar plate distribution. It is quite a cosey little thing, and is operated by the impression arm of the press.
Iron furniture is made in sets containing twenty-one pieces, adapted for use on the eighth, quarter, and half medium job presses.