THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

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is made to pass over the form several
times, and by means of it the types re-
ceive the ink. This composition roller is
quite a modern invention. I canremem-
ber very well when, instead of this con-
trivance, they used what they called balls,
The ball was a mass of cotton, or some
such substance, covered with sheepskin,
and furnished with a handle on the
upper side. Two balls were generally
used at once, one in each hand. They
were struck gently on the form, after
the ink had been distributed on them—
the process being called beating. It
was pretty hard work to beat a form.
The invention of the roller was worth a
great deal to the printer.

I have said that there are several
different presses, or printing machines,
which are propelled by steam. On the
opposite page is an engraving of one of
those presses, called the Cylinder press.
This pattern has been in use, I believe,
longer than any other. It is not used
for the best of work, but more generally
for newspapers, and other publications
where a great degree of elegance is not
required. The Cylinder press is capable
of printing some three thousand copies
in an hour.

The printing machine which is repre-
sented in the engraving at the head of
this article, is one of the latest invention,
and one which will have a great deal
more interest among my little friends.
It is manufactured by R. Hoe & Com-
pany, of this city, and is called the
“type-revolving fast printing machine.”
The form is placed on the large central
cylinder, turning horizontally, and is
made to conform to it, by a process
which I cannot well describe to you.
Thero are four or more corresponding

cylinders, also revolving horizontally,
which, as the central cylinder turns
round, come in contact, in their turn,
with the forms upon it, and in this way
give the impression to the sheet, which is
introduced at different parts of the ma-
chine. The machine represented in the
engraving, has four impression-cylinders,
and four places where the sheet is: intro-
duced. Four persons are required to
put on the sheets, and the same number
to take them off. Ten thousand impres-
sions are printed in an hour by this ma- °
chine. Presses are made after this pat-
tern, with eight impression cylinders,
capable of printing® sixteen thousand
sheets in an hour.

We will suppose, now, that the press-
man has worked off his form. He then
takes it from the press, and washes it
thoroughly with lye, so as to remove the
ink from the types, taking care to rinse
it with clean water. Then it is placed
upon the imposing-stone again, and the
compositor who set up the matter—or
one of them, if two or more were engag-
ed in the composition—unlocks the form,
removes the chase, and prepares to re-
place the types in the case from which
he took them. This part of the busi-
ness is called distributing. The compos-
itor takes up a handful of the matter—it
having been previously wet for the pur-
pose, unless it was sufficiently wet by
the pressman, before he put it on the
stone—with his rule underneath, and the
face of the letters toward him. You
might imagine that it would take al-
most as long to put the letters back
again in the boxes, as it required before
to set them in the stick. But the com-
positor, from long practice, becomes very’
expert in distributing. He throws the’