IMPROVED MANUAL PRESSES.

CHAPTER VI.

The

Of modern invented or improved Manual Printing Presses STANHOPE; Descriptions and Engravings of its various Parts; application of the principle to the old Press-The Ruthven-Presses of Ridley and others-Cogger and Scott-Clymer's Columbian-StaffordNapier-Treadwell's Treddle-Watts-Barclay-Medhurst-Stafford -Hope, of Jedburgh-Taylor and Martincau-Church-BabbagePouchee (for type)-Wilson-Hansard.

THE STANHOPE PRESS.

DUE respect to the disinterested spirit of the noble inventor, as well as a just estimation of the merits of the invention, requires that I should begin to treat of modern Manual Printing Presses with that of lord Stanhope. In a preceding chapter an ample account has been given of the principle upon which the Stanhopepress is constructed, with general references to the engravings. Here a perspective view of the press is given, and a description of the several parts will be inserted in detail.

The joiner's press requires great labour to produce an adequate impression from heavy works in small letter; it must, therefore, have been an important point to gain an accession of power, with, at the same time, a diminution of labour. This was first accomplished by the Stanhope press, which is capable of all the force of the common press, with, perhaps, a tenth of the labour.

In the formation of his iron press, earl Stanhope must have found many useful hints in M. Anisson's Premier Mémoire sur TImpression en Lettres, suivi de la Description d'une Nouvelle Presse exécutée pour le Service du Roi; in which he says-" Je me suis attaché principalement à rendre son action et ses mouvemens

les plus indépendans qu'il m'a été possible du maniement déréglé des ouvriers auxquels elle est confiée.” This has been particularly attended to in the Stanhope press, and nothing is left to the judgment of the pressman but the colouring.

After many expensive and tedious experiments, his lordship, aided by Mr. Walker, an ingenious mechanist, succeeded in this important invention to the full extent of his highest expectations; since which, the principle has been applied to the common joiner's presses, but without any very general success.

Since its first introduction, the Stanhope-press has been made by several persons at a price considerably lower than that charged by Mr. Walker, the original manufacturer, whose price was ninety guineas for a demy-press. Messrs. Fowler, Neal, Jones, and Co. of King's Arms Iron-Works, Cupar's Bridge, Lambeth, were the first to benefit us by the competition, and have made many upon the same plan for sixty guineas, the first of which has worked several sheets of this book. This diminution of the great expense of purchase was received with much satisfaction by the trade, being calculated to do away the only objection which was likely to preclude its general use. Whether their presses were as finely finished as those from the original manufactory, is a question of but little moment; they acted sufficiently well; but both of them were, from their very construction, subject to serious injury and mischief, they were peculiarly liable to break in that part immediately on a level with the table and platten, from the curved shape of the staple (the cast-iron frame answering to the cheeks, head, winter, &c. of the common presses, being so denominated) which sustained all the resistance to the power of the machinery, and to repair which, incurred an expense of eighteen or twenty guineas.

As the internal construction of the press cannot be shewn in the general view of it, we proceed to a dissection of the principal parts; and, with the assistance of a separate figure for each, shall describe their construction and use, and then refer them to their respective situations in the general view.

C

Fig. 1 shows part of the bar handle, with the apparatus by which it is connected with, and acts upon, the spindle, or screw. A is an upright pillar, or arbor, situated at the outer edge of the staple of the press, its lower end resting on a pivot, its upper being held by the top plate B, through which it passes, and receives the piece C, or arbor head; a coupling bar, E, connects this with a similar piece, D, the screw head, and in which is fitted the top of the screw. The top plate, B, is fixed to the top of the press by a screw, the head of which is seen in the figure. F shews the insertion of the bar handle in the arbor, and the figure, therefore, explains the means by which the pull operates on the screw. A material improvement for regulating or varying the power has been introduced, by elongating the hole in the coupling bar E, in the head D, and then by a screw making the coupling bar longer or shorter.

Fig. 2 is the screw, of which A is the thread. B, the top, is hexagonal, or what mechanics understand by six square, and is fitted into the screw head, Fig. 1. The piece shown at C forms, what is generally called, the toe of the spindle; it is here a centre of cast-steel, and somewhat rounded at its lower end; it is repeated in the figure, to show the pin by which it is inserted in the screw, and the shoulder formed by the pin with the lower part. This contrivance affords a ready method of adjusting the pull of the press; a thin metal collar or washer being dropped over the projecting pin on the shoulder, will evidently alter the pressure in proportion to its thickness; thus, a collar of 1-16th of an inch in thickness is found equal to one blanket, and somewhat more.

The screw works by its thread in the piece seen at fig. 3. This is called the box, which being fixed in the upper part of the press, performs the office of the head in the old press.

The screw and box made with the presses are cast-iron and as soon as they break, which it is pretty certain they will, I have them replaced by a wrought-iron screw and bell-metal box.

The lower end of the screw passes into a hollow cup, at the bottom of which is a steel centre, with a flat face, on which the screw bears by the pin C, in fig. 2.