Stereotype (letterpress)
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As stereotypy (from Greek στερεός, stereos for strong, hard, durable, spatially and τύπος, typos for -like ) refers to the method of set of movable type pressure sides by molding on a die and the cast in a metal alloy , a complete printing plate to create.
advantages
The stereotype offers great advantages. It made it possible at any time to print new editions from the plates it had produced. The Papierstereotypieverfahren even offers the possibility of cheaper storage arrays, so-called Matern , from which plates can be cast as needed. This method thus reduces the costs of work preparation for printing units.
History and Development
One of the puzzles surrounding the invention of letterpress printing concerns the question of whether stereotype was not used when the so-called Catholicon was printed in 1460. The reproductions of woodcuts in the book Der Seele Wurzgarten , printed by Konrad Dinkmut in Ulm in 1483, could also be regarded as the first products of stereotype . J. van der Mey and Johann Müller zu Leiden (1700–1716), William Ged in Edinburgh (1725–49), Valeyre in Paris (1735), Alexander Tilloch and Foulis in Glasgow (around 1775) and FJ Joseph Hoffmann in Schlettstadt im Alsace (1783) have been named one after the other as the inventor of stereotype. The process was first brought about by Earl Stanhope in London in 1800, and at the same time by Pierre and Firmin Didot and Herhan in Paris.
The stereotype came to be of great importance through the invention of Genoux in 1829, who formed the Mater from layers of tissue paper with a mixture of paste and whipped chalk painted in between.
In the Stanhopeschen or plaster process, the set form is fixed (clamped) in an iron frame and lightly oiled, whereupon the plaster is poured as a thin paste over the type set and properly incorporated with a brush or paintbrush. The plaster of paris solidifies in 15-20 minutes, then is lifted off and placed in a drying oven.
The pouring takes place in iron, lockable pans. First, a twisted iron plate is placed on the bottom of the pan, then the heated plaster mold facing downwards and now the twisted pan lid, which is blunted at all four corners so that the metal can run into it.
The whole thing is closed by a bracket and lowered into the molten metal furnace by means of a crane; After the pouring, the pan is wound up and placed on a cooling barrel filled with wet gravel. After the metal has completely solidified, the stereotype plate is straightened, the back is leveled and the edges are bumped.
In the case of the bottle casting invented by Daulé in Paris around 1830 , the plaster of paris remains in the frame with an inward protrusion that is large enough to allow space for a sprue to be emphasized. After drying, this mat frame is placed in the watering bottle, which consists of two leveled iron plates, of which the one facing the picture surface is pasted with paper so that the metal is less deterred when pouring. Both plates are connected by a hinge at the bottom and held together by a screw bracket during casting.
In the paper stereotype process, the mater is made from tissue and writing paper; Between the individual sheets there are thin, evenly spread layers of a pulp made of boiled wheat starch mixed with whiting or magnesia , probably also with asbestos or china clay . The mat paper is then placed on the mold, which is lightly oiled with a delicate brush or a roller covered with flannel , and either knocked evenly into the document with a brush, this process was known as beating the mater . Alternatively, the form with the material is pushed under a stationary roller, covered with felts and turned under the same; then one pushes it with the paper matrix on it into a heated drying press and covers it generously with felt and blotting paper to soak up the moisture; After just six to eight minutes, the mat is dry and can be removed.
After it has been trimmed, strengthened in larger areas that remain white during printing by gluing back pieces of cardboard or by filling it with a slightly drying paste made from a thin gum arabic solution, and a sprue strip glued on, it comes face up into the casting instrument which is very similar to the one used in Daulé's method; an adjustable iron frame, called the pouring angle, keeps it smooth and gives the measure of its thickness, and the casting can be done.
The cutting of the sprue, the planing of facets on the edges of the plates is done in newspaper printing plants with specially designed machines, which enables a great acceleration of operations, so that z. B. in the London Times , whose morning edition, the last printing plate can be completed within eight minutes, counting from the receipt of the sentence form by the stereotype writer. The stereotype has been made usable by the construction of small, compensatory stereotype facilities for the small business of book printing companies; these make it possible to produce panels up to a given size after a short practice with low investment costs.
See also
literature
This article is based on the article stereotype . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 15, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 300. Large parts of this have been taken literally. Literature mentioned there:
- H. Meyer, Handbuch der Stereotypie (Braunschweig 1838);
- Isermann, Instructions for Stereotype Casting (Leipzig 1869);
- Archimowitz, Die Papierstereotypie (Karlsruhe 1862);
- Böck, Die Papierstereotypie (Leipzig 1885);
- Kempe, guide through stereotype and electroplating (das. 1888).