makes a considerable angle with the rod, which therefore acts upon a shorter radius to turn the screw; because the real power exerted by any action upon a lever, is not to be considered as acting with the full length of the lever between its centres, but with the distance in a perpendicular drawn from the line in which the action is applied to the centre of the lever. Therefore, when the pressman first takes the handle, F, the lever, C, acts with its full length upon a shorter length of leverage, D, on the screw, which will consequently be turned more rapidly than if the bar itself was attached to it; but on continuing the pull, the situation of the levers change, that of the screw, D, continually increasing in its acting length, because it comes nearer to a perpendicular with the connecting rod, and at the same time the lever, C, diminishes its acting length, because, by the obliquity of the lever, the rod, E, approaches the centre, and the perpendicular distance diminishes; the bar or handle also comes to a more favourable position for the man to pull, because he draws nearly at right angles to its length, All these causes combined have the best effects in producing an immense pressure, without loss of time; because, in the first instance, the lever acts with an increased motion upon the screw, and brings the platten down very quickly upon the paper, but by that time the levers have assumed such a position as to exert a more powerful action upon each other, and this action continues to increase as the bar is drawn forwards, until the lever, C, and the connecting rod, are brought nearly into a straight line, and then the power is immensely great, and capable of producing any requisite pressure which the parts of the press will sustain without yielding. The handle is sometimes made to come to rest against a stop, which prevents it moving further, and therefore regulates the degree of pressure given upon the work: but to give the means of increasing or diminishing this pressure for different kinds of work, the stop is made moveable to a small extent. A better plan is adopted by some makers of the Stanhope press, viz. to have a screw adjustment at the end of the connecting rod E, by which it can be shortened; it is done by fitting the centre pin which unites it to the lever, D, in a bearing piece, which slides in a groove formed in the rod, and is regulated by the screw. This shortening of the connecting rod produces a greater or less descent of the platten, when the handle is brought to the stop.

The carriage and platten are made of cast iron, each in the form of a box, with several cross partitions, which are all cast in one piece, and though by this contrivance metal is saved, yet it is exceedingly strong: the surfaces are made truly flat, by turning in a lathe. The slider, fig. 4, has a plate formed on the lower end of it, which is fixed by four screws upon the top of the platten, and thus they are united. The remainder of the apparatus and all the operations of working by the pressmen, are exactly the same as the common press. The iron frame of the press is screwed down upon the wooden base by bolts, which pass through feet, projecting from the lower part of the iron frame. Another wooden beam is fixed into the centre of the former at right angles, which lies upon the floor. The ribs for the carriage to run upon are supported from the wooden base by an iron bracket.

The advantages of the iron presses in working are very considerable, both in saving labour and time. The first arises from the beautiful contrivance of the levers, the power of the press being almost incalculable at the moment of producing the impression; and this is not attended with a correspondent loss of time, as is the case in all other mechanical powers, because the power is only exerted at the moment of pressure, being before that adapted to bring down the platten as quickly as possible. In the Stanhope press, the whole surface is printed at once, with far less power upon the lever than the old press, when printing but half the surface. This arises not only from the levers, but from the iron framing of the press, which will not admit of any yielding, as the wood always does, and indeed is intended to do, the head being often packed up with elastic substances, such as paste-board, or even cork. In this case much power is lost, for in an elastic press the pressure is gained by screwing or straining the parts up to a certain degree of tension, and the effort to return produces the pressure: now in this case, the handle will make a considerable effort to return, which, though it is in reality giving back to the workman a portion of the power he exerted on the press, is only an additional labour, as it obliges him to bear the strain a longer time than he otherwise would. The iron has very little elasticity, and those who use such presses find it advantageous to diminish the thickness of the blankets in the tympan to one very thin piece of fine cloth; the lever has then very little tendency to return, and the pull is easy in the extreme, re

quiring very little more force to move it at the latter, than at the first part indeed, it is so different from the other press, that when an experienced pressman first tries it, he cannot feel any of that reaction which he has been accustomed to, and will not believe, till he sees the sheet, that he has produced any impression at all; and for many days after he begins to work at an iron press, he by habit throws back all the weight of his body in such a manner as to bring the handle up to its stop with a concussion that shakes his arm very much; and in consequence most pressmen, after a few hours' work, feel inclined to give up the iron press; but when they have once got into a new habit of standing more upright, and applying only as much force as it requires, the labour of the pull becomes less than that of running the carriage in and out; and men who are accustomed to the iron presses only, would be scarcely able to go through the work of the old press.

This account of the Stanhope press is partly taken from Dr. Rees's Encyclopædia, where may be seen excellently drawn and beautifully engraved elevations and plan.

CASE.

CHAPTER II.*

Of Compositor's work-Description of a Fount-Upper Case-Lower Case -Capitals-Small Capitals-Accented Letters-Numeral LettersFigures-Reference Marks- Points Quadrats - Spaces-RulesSpace-rules-Braces-Superiors-Fractions Quotations - Two-line Letters-Flowers-Leads, or Space-lines-Greek and Hebrew-Mathematical, Algebraical, and Geometrical sorts.-Of casting-off Copy; various methods-Different Scales and Tables-Frame-Cases-Stone— Boards-Furniture-Side-sticks-Gutters-Cast-iron Gutters and Sidesticks-Quoins-Shooting-stick, &c. &c.—Chases-Observations on Composing-Schemes of Cases-Lord Stanhope's plan-Laying of Letter→→→ Distributing-Composing-Composing-stick-Imposing-Schemes of Imposing various sizes of Works-Dressing the Formes and making Margin -Tables of Signatures and Folios-Locking-up-Proofs-Expedition work-Companionships.

PRINTERS divide a fount of letter into two classes.

1. The Upper-case ;-2. The Lower-case sorts.

The Upper-case sorts are, Capitals, Small Capitals, Accented Letters, Figures, and References.

The Lower-case consists of, Small Letters, Double Letters, Points, Spaces, Quadrats, &c. each of which we shall treat of under distinct heads.

Of Capitals.

THE use of capitals has been considerably abridged of late years; and the antiquated method of using them with every substantive, and, sometimes, even with verbs and adverbs, is now

* It will be necessary to allow, in this chapter, of some slight repetitions of the preceding.

discontinued, except in very few instances. They are considered, in the present day, as necessary only to distinguish proper names of persons, places, &c. There are, however, some particular works, in which authors deem it essential to mark emphatical words with a capital: in such cases (and there can be no general rule to guide the compositor) we would recommend the author always to send his copy properly prepared, in this particular, to the printer, or he will become liable to the charge the compositor is allowed to make for his loss of time in following his alterations. The method of denoting a capital, or words of capital letters, in manuscript, is by underscoring it with three distinct lines.

Of Small Capitals.

THE small capitals c, o, s, v, w, x, z, so closely resemble the same letters in the lower case, as to require particular care in the compositor to prevent their mixing, as the difference can scarcely be discerned but by their being cast thicker than the others.

In manuscript, small capitals are denoted by having two lines drawn under them.

Small capitals are used for the purpose of giving a degree more of import to a word or sentence, than can be conveyed by printing the same in italic. They are also employed for chapter heads, running heads, &c., according to the fancy of the printer. The first word of every section or chapter is generally put in small capitals, after either a full capital of its own fount, or one of a size or two larger, accurately justified so as to line at the foot with the remainder of the line, and which, from this adjustment, is usually termed a cock-up letter. Small capitals are also much used for the catch-lines in the display of title-pages; yet, if the office have founts whose full capitals answer to the size, they are preferable, as being less liable to " clog up" in the working. They are usually cast to the roman only; but those founts which have italic small capitals, have a very elegant addition.