smalt

A potassium cobalt silicate glass of a deep blue color. It is pulverized under water for use as a coloring material in papermaking. It consists of 50 to 70% silica, 12 to 22% potassium oxide, and 6 to 16% cobalt oxide, and is prepared by fuzing crude cobalt oxide (called "zaffre") with silica and potassium carbonate. It must be pure; otherwise its color is adversely affected. It is usually used as a loading agent, and because of its resistance to acids, alkalis, heat, and moisture, its fastness is excellent; however, because of its relatively low coloring power it is expensive to use, and is, therefore, used mainly for the more costly handmade and better machine-made azures used for writing papers. Its high specific gravity usually causes it to sink through the pulp and color one side (the wire side) more than the other. At one time the term "smalt" was used to describe the vitrified pigment used for painting on glass and was not necessarily limited to blue.

Labarre, E. J. Dictionary and encyclopaedia of paper and papermaking. 2nd ed. London. Oxford University Press. 1952.


smash

A relatively large hole in a fabric characterized by many broken warp ends and floating picks.

Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology

US Government publication (Library of Congress), published openly in electronic edition by CoOL. Not a Gutenberg/pre-1930 public-domain text -- verify rights before reprinting rather than quoting.

U.S. National Bureau of Standards. Fabrics for book covers. Washington, D.C. U.S. Government Printing Office. (Product Standard PS 9-68). 1968.


smashing

The operation of reducing the bulk of the entire text block, as opposed to NIPPING (1). Smashing compacts and consolidates the text block. driving the air from between the leaves. Smashing is particularly important in edition binding because it is essential that the books be of uniform thickness so that the machines, e.g., rounding and backing, casing-in, etc., can be set up just once for the entire run of the edition.

Jennett, Sean. The making of books. 4th ed. New York. Praeger. 1967.

Strauss, Victor. The printing industry…Washington, D.C. Printing Industries in America. 1967.


smashing machine

A vertical press that is used to apply enormous pressure to material. Smashers are often provided with automatic conveyer belts, the books being piled at one end of the press on the belt in equal numbers in several piles and automatically conveyed under the smasher head. There the books are smashed either once or twice, as required, and then moved out of the press by the same conveyer, from which they are removed manually. The smasher remains for a preset time in its compressed position (DWELL TIME). It has no clamp to prevent the slippage of sections and can therefore be used to smash only those books that have so little swell in the spine that they will not RUN IN, otherwise they must first be nipped. See: NIPPING PRESS. At times it is possible to smash books with considerable swell by feeding them in pairs of two with the spines alternating and the fore edges projecting beyond the spines. See also: BUNDLING PRESS.

U.S. Government Printing Office. Theory and practice of bookbinding. Rev. ed. Washington, D.C. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1962.


Smith, Charles Philip

An English bookbinder and painter who received his education at Ackworth School and his art training at the Southport College of Art. He also studied under Roger Powell at the Royal College of Art, and was awarded a 1st Class diploma in 1954. Smith worked with Sydney Morris Cockerell from 1957 to 1960, and since then has worked as a free-lance creative bookbinder and painter. His bookbindings have been exhibited widely both in Great Britain and abroad, and are to be found in the collections of the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the New York Public Library Spencer Collection, and other libraries and museums, as well as numerous private collections.

Smith has been responsible for many innovations in construction and covering technique, design, and the use of materials. He created the BOOK WALL, as well as several new techniques in cover treatment, including the feathered ONLAY, and re-constituted and sectioned onlays, which allow a greater variety, subtlety, and fluidity of color and surface, all essential to his particular mode of expression. Smith is a member of the Crafts Centre of Great Britain (1956), the Guild of Contemporary Bookbinders (1959), and the Society of Artists and Designers (1967). He is also the author of The Lord of the rings and other bookbindings (1970), and New directions in bookbinding (1974).


smoke tanning

A method of tannage used in combination with an oil tannage, whereby the fat-saturated skins are subjected to the smoke of wood fires. The smoke from the charring wood contains aldehydes, acetaldehyde, and formaldehyde, which have tanning properties. The heat also assists in the oxidation of the oil, promoting further aldehyde and polymer production. Some volatile tarry substances also often become included in the skin. Smoke tanning, simply because it involves aldehyde formation from the partial oxidation of woody materials, can be used to tan hides and skins without the need to use fats. Although a minor tannage method, it is still being used in North and South America, as well as in China.

Reed, Ronald. Ancient skin, parchments and leathers. London. Seminar Press. 1972.


smoked tool

A finishing tool. the face of which is covered with carbon black, which is deposited on the leather to darken the impression in blind tooling a book. Originally, the carbon was deposited by holding the tool over a smoking flame; today, however, carbon paper is usually used to blacken the tool.

Cockerell, Douglas. Bookbinding, and the care of books; a textbook for bookbinders and librarians. 5th ed. London. Pitman. 1971.

Hannett, John. Bibliopegia; or, the art of bookbinding… London. Simkim, Marshall. 1848.


smooth calf

A smooth, uncolored calfskin, used rather extensively in the latter years of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries for covering books when the binding was to be marbled, or sprinkled, or just left plain. See also: SMOOTH CALF BINDING; TREE CALF.

Pleger, John J. Bookbinding. Rev. ed. Chicago. Inland Printer. 1924.


smooth calf

Plain or undecorated calf.

Public domain (Project Gutenberg, pre-1930 text)


smooth calf binding

A full calfskin binding lacking any tooling or other decoration, except for the title in gilt on the spine. This type of binding was popular in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries. See also: PLAIN BINDING.


smoothness

That property of a surface, e.g., cloth, board, paper, or other material, as determined by the degree to which it is free of irregularities, depressions, etc.


SMOUT

Workmen when they are out of constant work, do sometimes accept of a day or two’s work, or a week’s work at another printing house: this by-work they call Smouting.—M. In fact we only term it smouting when the business of a house is slack, or, in other words, when work is insufficient to employ fully the workmen regularly employed, and they go to some other house for temporary employment, till such time as there is sufficient for them in their own house, when they return.

Soaking Pull. See Easy Pull.—M.

Sockets for the Gallows. See Gallows Sockets.


smut tape

A tape used to prevent the offset of ink when pages are being numbered in a numbering machine. When numbers are printed on both sides of the sheets, the second number will cause the first to offset on the table, so that when the next sheet is laid in place it will be smeared. Smut tape prevents this by taking up the ink as it offsets and then moving before the next impression is made, so that a clean surface is brought into position for every sheet.


smyrna morocco

A sheepskin, split and embossed with an imitation MOROCCO grain pattern.

Harrod, Leonard Montague. The librarians' glossary of terms used in librarianship and the book crafts, and reference book. 3rd ed. London. Deutsch. 1971.


Smyth, David McConnell

An Irish-American, who was for the most part self taught. and who become a prolific inventor and one of the foremost pioneers in the design of bookbinding equipment. One of his first machines was an "all along" sewing machine which he patented in 1868. This machine used straight needles, the number depending on the long dimension of the book (but always one more than the number of tapes used). The notched (sawn) sections, open and flat, were fed by hand above the needles and positioned so that the needles protruded through the saw cuts. A spring-loaded. hand-operated rod passed thread to the hooked needles and retracted. The operator had to refold the section. closing it over the stitch before feeding another.

Smyth also patented a multiple-stitch, off-and-on book sewing machine in 1879. the same year the Smyth Manufacturing Company was organized. Since that time, the Smyth Company has developed more than fifteen versions of the Smyth sewing machine, including a machine that will simultaneously sew "two-up," i.e., two separate, but not yet cut apart, books (imposed for printing "two-up.") This model can take sections from 3 to 10 1/2 inches in width, up to 7 1/2 to 19 inches in height at a speed up to 85 sections a minute. The company has also designed and produced a number of other bookbinding machines, including case-making, gluing and pasting, book trimming, casing-in machines, etc.

David Smyth's contribution to book sewing was such that his name is virtually synonymous in the United States with machine book sewing. See a1so: MACHINE SEWING.

Comparato, Frank E. Books for the millions; a history of the men whose methods and machines packaged the printed word. Harrisburg, Pa. Stackpole. 1971.


Smyth-Cleat sewing

See illustration</> A method of machine sewing or lacing adapted from an earlier European method by the Smyth Manufacturing Co. in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It combines thread and adhesive to secure the leaves of a book. In a separate machine, the back of the sections are planed off leaving the spine as smooth as possible. This is a very critical part of the operation, because if the cut spine is not smooth and even, subsequent operations are affected detrimentally. The block of leaves is then placed spine down in the Smyth-Cleat machine and is moved into position where a circular saw cuts a number of cleats completely across the back from head to tail (the number depending on the long dimension of the book). The sawn leaves then move into the sewing position where a single hollow needle laces thread around the cleats in the manner of a fiddle or figure-eight stitch. The sewn text block is then ready rate of setting; however, if the book is to be rounded and backed, an adhesive other than a hot-melt is required. because of the DRYING MEMORY of hot-melt adhesives.


snail marble

A drawn marble pattern executed by dropping the colors on the size as for the NONPAREIL MARBLE and then drawing them into wavy lines. one by one with the aid of a stylus. thus producing snail-like forms. Variations of this pattern, which is usually used on the edges of books. include: 1) the gray snail. with green added to the gray until the desired tone is obtained; 2) the common green-gray snail, with black, light blue, yellow. pink, light red, gall water. and finally. the body color. which consists of one part black and two or three parts sprinkling water, all dropped on in the order given and drawn into snails; 3) the dark blue snail (a brilliant marble designed for light-colored bindings), which consists of black, light brown, light blue, lemon yellow, gall water and the body color, which consists of one part black and two parts indigo blue, sprinkling water plus a solution of shellac and ammonia; 4) the dark red snail (which was frequently used with half bindings having light colored spines and endpapers of the same pattern), consisting of black, light red, pink, light gray. gall water and the body color, which consists of two parts carmine lake, one part black and two parts sprinkling water plus the shellac-ammonia solution; and 5) the gray-green snail, consisting of black, claret red (two parts carmine lake and one part black), pink, gall water (which forms the required white veins) and the body color, which consists of one part black. three parts sprinkling water, as well as green.

Halfer, Josef. The progress of the marbling art…Translated by Herman Dieck, Buffalo. Kinder. 1893.


snakeskin

Leather produced from the skins of the larger snakes, and tanned by processes that include sumac, alum, and salt (tawing), and chromium salts. The skin of the python has a striking pattern of black and white; however, its scales are rather large. A more delicately patterned skin is that of the watersnake. Snakeskin has been used for covering books upon occasion and also for decorative bands on leather-covered books.

Philip, Alexander John. The business of bookbinding for librarians …Gravesend. A. J. Philip. 1935.

Waterer, John William. A guide to the conservation and restoration of objects made wholly or in part of leather. 2nd ed. London. Bell. 1973.


snuffing

The process of lightly BUFFING (2) the grain surface of a leather, usually by means of carborundum paper wrapped around a revolving cylinder. Snuffing is a degree of sandpapering between buffering and CORRECTED GRAIN, and the leather treated is said to be "snuffed."

Wilson, John Arthur. Modern practice in leather 367. manufacture. New York. Reinhold. 1941.


soak-fleshing

See: GREEN FLESHING.


soaking

1. The process of treating raw hides and skins with water. The restoration of moisture lost during curing and storage, as well as the removal of extraneous matter are of prime importance in converting raw stock into leather. The restoration of moisture is essential because: 1) the stock may otherwise be physically damaged by the action of washing under agitation, and flexing during green or lime fleshing; 2) sufficient moisture within the stock is necessary for solution and elimination of salts and globular proteins contained within the fibrous hide structure: and 3) the replenished water serves as a diluent as well as a vehicle for penetration into the fibrous structure of the astringent chemicals employed to effect hair loosening, plumping. and required alkaline action. Removal of extraneous organic and inorganic matter, except epidermis and flesh, by soak-washing is essential because: 1) solid matter in excessive amounts can result in both stock and machine damage during fleshing a nd unhairing; 2) manure and urine are ideal foods for bacterial growth during soaking. (Such matter, along with certain salts in the soaks, can result in discoloration and stains on the stock that cannot subsequently be removed): 3) the cementing effect of globular proteins upon dried tanned fibers reduces fiber mobility necessary for softness and good handle in the final leather; 4) curing salts transferred to the lime liquors affect the alkaline plumping action, reduce the rate of unhairing, and cause a contraction of the grain surface of the stock; and 5) the presence of extraneous matter presents a false and variable hide substance weight in determining the amounts of materials required for liming.

Because of many variable conditions. the time and temperature of soaking varies considerably according to the kind of stock being treated. Generally, few soaking aids are used in soaking cured and brined stock unless a considerable number of a given lot have been stored under exceptionally dry and warm conditions. In such cases. either sodium sulfide (63%) or sodium hydroxide may be used to the extent of 1.0 to 0.S pound respectively per 100 gallons of water. These chemicals are frequently employed in the soaking of dry stock. Excessive amounts will cause a high grain in the leather.

2. The process of wetting the grain side of a leather with water and the flesh side with paste to improve the pliability of the leather preparatory to covering.

Hewitt-Bates, James Samuel. Bookbinding. 8th ed. Leicester. Dryad. 1967.

O'Flaherty, Fred, and others, eds. The chemistry and technology of leather. New York. Reinhold. (American Chemical Society monograph series, no. 134. 1956-65. 4 vol.

Royal Society of Arts. London. Committee on Leather for Bookbinding. Report of the committee on leather for bookbinding… London. Bell. 1905.

Sharphouse, John Henry. The leatherworker's handbook. London. Leather Producers' Association. 1963.


soda

1. SODIUM CARBONATE. 2. See: SODA PULP.


soda ash

A commercial anhydrous SODIUM CARBONATE. It is used in the manufacture of leather to neutralize acids and to clean and prepare vegetable-tanned leather for acid bleaching.


soda pulp

A chemical wood pulp produced by high temperature digestion of papermaking material with sodium hydroxide. The soda pulp method is used in making paper from poplars, birches. oaks, and other deciduous trees. Papers containing a high proportion of soda pulp are very white and soft, and possess high bulk and opacity but low strength. Soda pulp is frequently used to give a soft finish to a sulfite-pulp base paper.

American Paper and Pulp Association. The dictionary of paper, including pulp, paperboard, paper properties and related papermaking terms. 3rd ed. New York. American Paper and Pulp Association. 1965.

Grant, Julius. Books & documents; dating, permanence and preservation. London. Grafton. 1937.

Langwell, William Herbert. The conservation of books and documents. London. Pitman. 1957

Strauss, Victor. The printing industry…Washington, D.C. Printing Industries in America. 1967.


sodium bifloride

A white salt (NaHF2), prepared by dissolving sodium floride in aqueous or anhydrous hydrofluoric acid. It is used to disinfect restricted-import hides and skins.


sodium bisulfite

An acid salt (NaHSO3), usually prepared by passing sulfur dioxide through a solution of sodium carbonate. It is unstable and is generally known only in solution. It is used to sulfite oils employed in fatliquoring leather, and, because of its capability of liberating sulfur dioxide, in bleaching leather.


sodium borohydride

A white solid (NaBH4), prepared by reacting sodium hydride or sodium methoxide with diborane. It is soluble in water. and is stable under alkaline conditions. It is used to reduce the effects of FOXING.


sodium carbonate

A mild alkaline (Na2CO3), also known as "soda" or "soda ash." It is prepared by dissolving ammonia in purified brine, the resulting solution being treated with carbon dioxide. It is used in leather manufacture, particularly in chrome tannages, to control pH, and, in the manufacture of paper, in the preparation of chemical pulps.

A laboratory handbook of pulp and paper manufacture. 2nd ed. London. Arnold. 1961.


sodium chlorate

A white. crystalline salt (NaClO3), formed either by the action of chlorine on hot aqueous caustic soda, or by the electrolysis of sodium chloride in solution. It is used in bleaching paper pulps and also to remove stains from archival papers. Its chlorine content, which is extremely difficult to remove. makes it detrimental to the permanence of paper. Its bleaching action stems from its strong oxidizing potential. It also supports combustion.


sodium chloride

Common salt (NaCl). which occurs naturally as rock salt, and is distributed over the land surfaces of the earth, as well as in sea water. It is used in very large quantities in brining, wet-salting, and dry-salting (curing) hides and skins for transportation and/or storage. It is also used to pickle sheepskins, and in deliming, bating, and other leather manufacturing processes.


sodium chlorite

The sodium salt of chlorous acid (HClO2). Sodium chlorite (NaClO2), an oxidizing agent, is used for bleaching and the delignification of wood pulp, dyeing, and other purposes. When an acid is added to an aqueous solution of sodium chlorite, it liberates chlorine dioxide.


sodium cyanide

A salt (NaCN), usually prepared by reacting methane with hydrogen cyanide, followed by neutralization with sodium hydroxide, or by passing carbon monoxide and ammonia over finely divided sodium carbonate at 600 to 650° C. It has been used to some extent as a (powerful) sharpening agent in lime liquors; however, its extremely toxic nature makes it dangerous to use.


sodium formate

A white. crystalline salt (HCO2Na), prepared by passing carbon monoxide through heated sodium hydroxide. It is soluble in water and forms complex compounds with chromic salts. It is used in chrome tannages to bring about greater tan fixation.


sodium hydrosulfide

A salt (NaSH), the anhydrous form of which is generally prepared by saturating a solution of sodium in alcohol with dry hydrogen sulfide. It is used as a sharpening agent in lime liquors and is equally as effective as, but less caustic in its action than, SODIUM SULFIDE.


sodium hydrosulfite

A crystalline salt (Na2S2O4), prepared by the reaction of sodium bisulfite with zinc, or by the action of sulfur dioxide on sodium amalgam. It is used in bleaching paper pulps, especially mechanical pulps, and in leather manufacture as a reducing agent in dyeing.


sodium hydroxide

A white, translucent, highly deliquescent, extremely caustic alkali (NaOH), prepared mainly by the electrolysis of sodium chloride. It is used in the manufacture of paper pulps, and can also be used for the rapid degradation of hair and other epidermal structures of hides and skins. it is seldom if ever used for this purpose in practical tannages, however, as it dissolves the hair (which is commercially valuable) and can severely damage the collagen of a skin unless very carefully controlled. Also called "caustic soda."


sodium hypochlorite

A salt (NaOCl). formed, together with the chloride, by the reaction between chlorine and cold dilute sodium hydroxide. It is used as an oxidizing agent in bleaching archival materials. Its chlorine content, however, which is extremely difficult to remove from the paper, makes it detrimental to paper permanence.


sodium nitrite

A colorless to nearly yellow salt (NaNO2), usually formed by the absorption of nitrogen oxide in a solution of sodium carbonate, and used in the application of developed dyes.


sodium p-toluenesulphon-chloroamide

See: CHLORAMINE T.


sodium peroxide

A nearly white compound (Na2O2), having vigorous oxidizing properties, and used in bleaching mechanical paper pulps and as a final stage in the bleaching of chemical paper pulps in some multi-stage bleaching sequences. It is dangerous to use because, when in contact with organic matter, it reacts so vigorously with atmospheric moisture that sufficient heat can be generate to cause organic matter to burn or even explode.


sodium silicate

An alkaline salt, prepared by calcining diatomaceous earth. quartz, or sand with sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate. The salt consists of varying proportions of sodium oxide and silica. such as Na2SiO3. It is used in the manufacture of paper for improving physical tests, increasing the retention of fine particles, and pH control. In this final use, it provides another means of increasing alumina in the stock preparation system. one that is accomplished by raising the pH value of the stock, thereby forcing the use of additional alum to lower the pH. Also called "water glass."

Crown Zellerbach Corp. Making pulp and paper. San Francisco. Crown Zellerbach Corp. 1958. 1 vol.

Miall, Laurence Mackenzie, and D. W. A. Sharp, eds. A new dictionary of chemistry. 4th ed. New York. Wiley. 1968.


sodium sulfide

A reddish-yellow compound (NaS), generally prepared by the reduction of sodium sulfate with carbon monoxide or hydrogen. It is soluble in water and is used as a sharpening agent in lime liquors. It forms both sodium hydrosulfide and sodium hydroxide when dissolved in water. Its action is much more caustic than that of SODIUM HYDROSULFIDE.

Reed, Ronald. Ancient skin, parchments and leathers. London. Seminar Press. 1972.


sodium thiosulfate

A salt (Na2S2O3). prepared by treating a solution containing sodium carbonate and sodium sulfide with sulfur dioxide, or by boiling sodium sulfite with sulfur. It is used extensively in photography because of the ability of its solutions to dissolve silver halides, and as an anti-chlor when sodium hypochlorite is used in bleaching archival papers. It is also used extensively in the chrome tannage of leather.


soft

Said of a paper of a soft nature and surface, which has little or no sizing. Such a paper requires but little pressure during printing.


soft cover

Sometimes said of a book cover other than one that is hard or a SELF-COVER. It is produced from any type of paper other than that on which the text is printed. A soft cover is not the same as a LIMP BINDING. See also: PAPERBACK.

Stevenson, George A. Graphic arts encyclopedia. New York. McGraw-Hill. 1968.


SOFT INK

Ink or varnish moderately boiled.—M. It is now generally termed Weak Ink.

The varnish of soft or weak ink is not so strong as that for fine ink; it does not require so much time and labour to distribute it on the balls and rollers, and it more readily covers the face of the type: on these accounts, as well as the expense, it is used for common work, as it enables the pressman to make more riddance; it is also used for machine printing, as the rollers passing rapidly over the forms with their own weight only, are found not competent to coat the face of the type with strong ink.

Soft Pull. See Easy Pull.—M.

Solace. See Ancient Customs.—M.

Solid Dig. See Bad Work.


soft sized

See: SLACK SIZED.


softener

See: PLASTICIZER.


softening the back

The process of applying water or paste to the spine of a book in order to soften the glue preparatory to rounding and backing, or to remove the old glue when pulling a book for rebinding.

Klinefelter, Lee Miller. Bookbinding made easy. Rev. ed. Milwaukee. Bruce. 1960.


Solander box

See illustration Part 1</> See illustration Part 2</> A more or less elaborate book or document box invented by Dr. Daniel Charles Solander, a botanist, during his tenure at the British Museum (1773-1782). The Solander box, which is generally of a drop-back construction. is made of wood, has dovetailed joints and a back shaped from a single piece of wood. The top and bottom are held in place by screws and glue. The box is secured by two spring catches fixed in the "fore edge" frames near the head and tail. When properly constructed the Solander box is very nearly dustproof and almost waterproof. The box. which can be made as elaborate as the maker desires, is generally covered in cloth, or, in more elaborate instances, full morocco. It may even have raised bands on the back (corresponding to the spine of a book) and may he tooled.

The drop-back Solander is intended to house a book. For document storage, specifically to facilitate removal from the box, a drop-front box may actually be preferable, although in a strict sense it may be argued that such an arrangement is not really a Solander box. Aside from this, however, the drop-back box has a distinct advantage over the drop-front type in that the former imposes virtually no strain on the hinge of the box because it is in a right-angle position when closed and assumes a straight line position when opened. The drop-front box. on the other hand, with its fixed back, strains the hinge at the hack because of the approximate 60' angle at the top when the box is open. If the top is accidently struck when the box is open the top may break off.

Harrison, T. Fragments of bookbinding technique.


solid

1 See: BUNDLING (1); NIPPING (1) SMASHING 2. Sec: CUT SOLID; GILT IN THE ROUND. 3. See: SOLID TOOL. 4. GOLD TOOLING which has no breaks, cracks, or other imperfections. 5. That part of a printing surface printed in full color as distinguished from parts that are grained, stippled. or otherwise made to print in gray or a light color. .

American Library Association. Editorial Committee. Subcommittee on library terminology. A. L. A. glossary of library terms, with a selection of terms in related fields. Compiled by Elizabeth H. Thompson. Chicago. American Library Association. 1943.

Cockerell, Douglas. Bookbinding, and the care of books; a textbook for bookbinders and librarians. 5th ed. London. Pitman. 1971.

Town, Laurence. Bookbinding by hand, for students and craftsmen. New York. Pitman. 1950 (1951).


solid board

A board made of the same stock throughout, as distinct from a combination board where two or more stocks are used. A PASTEBOARD (1) is not considered to be a solid board even though the same stock may be used throughout.


solid fraction

That part of a paper which consists of the fibrous material, as well as sizing, loading, pigments, etc. It is the ratio of solids to total volume. See also: VOID FRACTION.

Casey, James P. Pulp and pa per: chemistry and chemical technology. 2nd ed. New York. Interscience. 1960-61. 3 vol.


solid gilt

See: GILT IN THE ROUND.


SOLID MATTER

Matter that is composed without any leads between the lines, is termed solid matter; in the scale of prices of 1810 it is designated ‘without space lines.’ Previously to that time it was paid the same price as leaded matter, but then there was an advance allowed on it. See Scale.


Solid pick

A letter in a stereotype plate filled up with metal, resulting from an imperfect mould.

The American Printer: A Manual of Typography


solid tool

A finishing tool cut so that it produces a solid or completely filled-in Impression, as contrasted with an outline tool, which impresses an open figure, or an AZURED TOOL.

Coutts, Henry T., and George A. Stephen. Manual of library bookbinding; practical and historical. London. Libraco. 1911.


solid tooling

The solid ornamentation of a book with metal, usually gold, but sometimes aluminum, palladium, platinum, or silver.


solids content

The percentage by weight of the non-volatile matter in an adhesive.

Skeist, Irving. Handbook of adhesives. New York. Reinhold. 1962.


soluble nylon

A N-methoxymethyl nylon prepared by treating nylon 66 with formaldehyde, and used in non-aqueous resizing of paper. Its major importance is that it can be used in a 2% solution in methyl or ethyl alcohol and sprayed or brushed on the document (depending on the fragility of the paper) in cases where the paper is too weak to handle easily when wet or where it is suspected or known that the ink may be sensitive to water. It also imparts strength to weak papers.

Plenderleith, Harold James, and A. E. A. Werner. The conservation of antiquities and works of art; treatment, repair and restoration. 2nd ed. London. Oxford University Press. 1971.


solvent sizing

A method of sizing paper in which the size (rosin) is dissolved in a suitable solvent, and applied to the paper; the solvent is then recovered for reuse. (t 7)


solvent tannage

A non-aqueous tannage system which utilizes organic solvents, e.g., acetone, in lieu of water as the vehicle for the tanning agents.

Tanners' Council of America, Inc. Dictionary of leather terminology. 6th ed. New York. Tanners' Council of America. 1969.


solvents

Liquid substances which, to a greater or lesser degree, are capable of dissolving or dispersing other substances. In addition to water (the so-called universal solvent), acetone, ethyl alcohol, normal and isopropyl alcohols, ethylene glycol, naphtha, carbon tetrachloride, carbon disulfide, many esters, etc., are used as solvents. The fact that water is neither flammable nor toxic makes it a very valuable solvent; unfortunately, its adverse effect on some inks, colors, etc., makes the use of other solvents necessary at times.


SOP THE BALLS

When a pressman has taken too much ink, he is said to sop the balls.—M.


sorbitol

A hexahydric alcohol (C6H14O6), corresponding to glucose. It occurs naturally, and is also produced by the reduction of glucose in an aqueous solution. It is used in lieu of GLYCEROL as a plasticizer in certain adhesives, notably animal glues, and as a softening agent for textiles, paper, and leather. Sorbitol is cheaper than glycerin and its plasticizing effect is said to last longer because it is less volatile. See also: INTERNALLY PLASTICIZED.

Langwell, William Herbert. The conservation of books and documents. London. Pitman. 1957


sorghum guineense dye

A reddish-purple dye obtained from the leaf sheaths and stems of plants of the genus Sorghum, and used in dyeing Niger goatskins.

Fahey, Herbert, and Peter Fahey. Finishing in hand bookbinding…  San Francisco. The authors. 1951.


SORTS

The letters that lie in every box of the case are separately called Sorts in Printers and Founders language; thus, a is a sort, b is a sort, c is a sort, &c.—M.

In houses that have more founts than one of the same sized letter, it would preserve uniformity in the appearance of their work, if the following sorts were all of the same fount in the same sized type, particularly in lists of names, indexes, and articles that run on sorts, as by that means all the sorts in the office might be brought into use, when necessary, which would frequently be of great advantage, both for the convenience of the printer and the appearance of the work: under the present plan, where every fount varies in its proportions and appearance, the printer, in the before-mentioned cases, is put to a great inconvenience and expense, or else has to spoil the appearance of his work by mixing the founts. The adoption of this plan would also be of advantage to the type founder.

Capitals and small capitals.

Figures and fractions.

Metal rules and braces.

Points— , ; : . ! ? ( [ and references * † ‡ § ‖ ¶.

Superiors, and the pound £.

The following additional sorts would also be found useful, and conduce to the more regular appearance of printing.

Accented capitals and small capitals.

Capital and small capital Ç ç.

Points to superiors— , ; : . ’

The Spanish ñ.


SORTS

The letters in the several case-boxes are separately called sorts, in printers’ and founders’ language.


SOUNDINGS

When a pressman has got near the bottom of his heap, and, rapping his knuckles on it, the boards of the horse sound nearly as if he had struck the wood, he says, he is in soundings.


sour dip

An acid solution containing magnesium sulfate and fermenting corn sugar, into which some leathers are dipped before drying to improve their color and enhance their feel.

Wilson, John Arthur. Modern practice in leather 367. manufacture. New York. Reinhold. 1941.


SPACE LINES,

generally called Leads by printers. Thin pieces of type metal, cast to different thicknesses, and different lengths, quadrat high, to put between the lines of matter to make it more open; they are also used to branch out titles, small jobs, and parts of a work where necessary.   SPACE RULES

generally called Leads by printers. Thin pieces of type metal, cast to different thicknesses, and different lengths, quadrat high, to put between the lines of matter to make it more open; they are also used to branch out titles, small jobs, and parts of a work where necessary.


SPACE RULES

Fine lines, cast type high, in short thin pieces, to answer the purpose of brass rule in table work where a number of short pieces of a precise length are required. Two of them are generally equal to a pearl body.


SPACE RULES

Fine lines, cast type-high, and of even ems in length, for table and algebraical work.


Space Thick

*Space Thin*. See § 12. ¶ 1.


Spaces

Low blank types used to separate words.


SPACING

The adjustment of the distance between the words in a line, so that there shall not be any glaring disproportion; also extending a word or a line of capitals by putting spaces between the letters. See Composing.


spangles

Small discs and geometrical shapes of shining metal used for the further ornamentation of embroidered bindings. Spangles were never used to any great extent on velvet, but found their greatest use on satin embroidered books. They were usually held in position either by a small section of PURL, or by a seed pearl, in both cases very effectively, so that the use of gimp or pearl was not only ornamental but served the same protective purposes as bosses.

Davenport, Cyril James Humphries. English embroidered bookbindings. London. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. 1899.


Spanish

The name by which the best grade of ESPARTO (GRASS) is known. Cf: TRIPOLI.

Harrod, Leonard Montague. The librarians' glossary of terms used in librarianship and the book crafts, and reference book. 3rd ed. London. Deutsch. 1971.


SPANISH

Ñ has a peculiar nasal sound, like the French gn: the English have no sound like it, except in the last four letters of the word minion, which bear some resemblance to the last three of the word riñon, in Spanish: as niño, piña.

The note of interrogation is not only used at the conclusion of an interrogatory, but also placed, inverted, at the beginning, in order to warn the reader, unless the preceding words convey a sufficient warning; as ¿ Que es lo que vm. acostumbra? preguntó al enfermo.

The note of admiration is also inverted at the beginning of ejaculations, when the preceding words are not sufficient to prepare the reader; as ¡ Pastas dulces y viandas suculentas! exclamó suspenso y admirado el doctor.—M‘Henry’s Grammar.


Spanish grain

A grain pattern on leather produced by embossing the skin with a modified natural grain surface. This type of grain was formerly produced by drawing a hide or skin in a strong tan infusion so as to shrink the grain, resulting in a particular grain pattern due to the unequal shrinkage of the different parts of the skin.


Spanish leather

See: CORDOBAN LEATHER; CORDOVAN LEATHER.


Spanish marble

A marble pattern of soft colors, including pale green, old rose and brown (or fawn), with a MOIRÉ EFFECT. It was used in Spain from the early 17th century and is found on the more familiar later Spanish marble papers that have been used in both England and the United States since the end of the 18th century.

The best size for executing the Spanish pattern is said to consist of a combination of gum tragacanth and flea seed.

In mixing the colors for this pattern, each successive color requires more ox gall than the preceding one. The main, or body, color must also be thicker and mixed with more gall than any of the other colors.

The wavy effect of the early Spanish marbles was not nearly as even as in the later examples, and was almost invariably executed on a relatively heavy laid paper. The distinguishing moiré or watered effect, which sets the Spanish marble apart from all other types, is produced by a series of lines, shading from dark to light, crossing the entire sheet in a diagonal direction, and is the result of the method by which the paper is laid on the size after the colors have been dropped on. The sheet is held at two diagonally opposite corners and is kept in as upright a position as possible. With the sheet inclined toward the left, the corner held by the right hand is lowered until it barely touches the floating color. As soon as the paper starts to fall on the surface, it is slightly agitated with a regular motion, while at the same time being gradually lowered with the left hand until the entire sheet is on the size. If properly done, shaded stripes will appear on the paper when it is removed from t he size. These strips vary in width, depending on how much the paper was agitated while it was being lowered.

Hannett, John. Bibliopegia; or, the art of bookbinding… London. Simkim, Marshall. 1848.

Loring, Rosamond Bowditch. Decorated book papers…1st ed. 1942; 2nd ed. 1952. Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press.

Nicholson, James B. A manual of the art of bookbinding… Philadelphia. Baird. 1856.

Woolnough, Charles W. The whole art of marbling as applied to paper, book edges…Rev. ed. London. Bell. 1881.


SPANISH. [Query, Span-hitch.]

A slight kind of pull at a common wood-press.—Hansard.   SPECIMEN PAGE

A slight kind of pull at a common wood-press.—Hansard.


spatter papers

Another form of PASTE PAPERS. A very thin mixture of colored paste is applied to the paper by rubbing a stiff paste-charged brush across a hair sieve, which is held well above the paper and moved across the surface of the sheet as the fine specks of color are sprayed through it. Three or four colors are generally used in making these papers, which are often executed on a colored paper background.

This simple form of decoration was used for the sides of half bindings in calfskin and sheepskin in the early 19th century. They were produced all over Europe until about 1850, and were used as endpapers in books with marbled-paper covers but seldom for bindings in full leather.

A variation of this paper, used in France, England and the United States in the latter part of the 19th century, consisted of dull gray-blue or lavender-purple paper spattered with coarse black spots. This was done by striking a brush filled with color on a bar and distributing the color as it fell over the surface of the paper. These papers were used as covers for inexpensive books but seldom for endpapers. The earlier examples had a dull finish, but others, used mainly for music scores, had a glossy surface. This type of spatter paper was sometimes hung up before it was dry, the surplus color running down across the paper in uneven streaks. This dribbled pattern is almost always found in tones of brown or orange and black, and is considered by many to be less appealing than the simpler spatter papers.


special edition

To the bookbinder, an edition of a work that differs from a regular edition because of some distinctive feature, such as superior paper and binding, more extensive margins, illustrations not to be found in another edition, etc.

Grant, Julius. Books & documents; dating, permanence and preservation. London. Grafton. 1937.


special volume

A book defined by the Library Binding Institute as one that is undersized, oversized or odd-sized, or any volume that requires special handling.

Library Binding Institute. Library binding handbook. Rev. ed. Boston. Library Binding Institute. 1971.


specific adhesion

The adhesion which exists between surfaces which are held together by VAN DER WAALS forces of the same type as those which give rise to cohesion. See also: MECHANICAL ADHESION.


specific gravity

The ratio of the weight of an object to the weight of an equal volume of pure water at its maximum density, which is at 4° C. Because paper, leather, cloth, etc., do not lend themselves well to measurement of specific gravity, density is used more often as the reference in describing these materials.


specific heat

The number of calories of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of a material by one degree centigrade.


specification slip

See: BINDING SLIP.


SPECIMEN PAGE

When a new work is put in hand, a specimen page, that is, a page of the proposed size and letter, is composed, and pulled in a neat manner on paper similar to that which is meant to be used. This is to show the effect of the work when printed. It sometimes occurs, that two or three pages are required, of different sizes, and of different letter, before the author or publisher decides in what way the work shall be done. These are called Specimen Pages.

If the work be not proceeded with, these specimen pages are charged by the master printer to his employer; if it goes on, they are included in the general charge.

Spelling. See Orthography.


speckled calf

See: SPRINKLED CALF.


speckled sand edge

A book with edges that have been abraded with fine sandpaper and then colored by sprinkling or spraying. See also: SPRINKLED EDGES.


spent tannin

A vegetable-tanning material or solution from which all, or practically all, tannin has been removed.


sperm oil

A pale yellow oil found with spermaceti in the cachalot (sperm) whale, Physeter macrocephalus. When spermaceti wax is obtained by treatment with hot water, the sperm oil is pressed out. It is classed chemically as a liquid wax and is sometimes used as a lubricant for leather bindings, generally with other materials in LEATHER DRESSINGS.

Horton, Carolyn. Cleaning and preserving bindings and related materials. Chicago. American Library Association. (Conservation of library materials pamphlet no. l; Library Technology Project publications, no. 16). 1969.

Reed, Ronald. Ancient skin, parchments and leathers. London. Seminar Press. 1972.


spermaceti wax

A pearly white, fatty substance obtained from the cavities of the head of the cachalot (sperm) whale, Physeter macrocephalus, by hot water treatment. Upon cooling, the wax separates out and is pressed to remove some of the (sperm) oil. The wax is then remelted and washed with a weak carbonate solution before being cast into molds for setting into blocks. It has a softening range of 40 to 44° C. and is easily emulsified with water. It is sometimes used as a lubricant for leather bindings, usually in combination with other materials in LEATHER DRESSINGS.

Kingzett, Charles Thomas. Kingzett's chemical encyclopedia; a digest of chemistry & its industrial applications. Ed. by D. H. Hey, and others. 9th ed. London. Baillière, Tindell and Cassell. 1966.


spew

Material that exudes or is exuded. In the manufacture of leather, it is seen as a portion of the oily constituents of a leather that appears on the grain surface in the form of white crystalline fatty acids, or as a gummy deposit in the form of dark oxidized fatty acids.


SPINDLE

The screw to which the bar of the press is affixed, and which produces the pressure on the platen.

The upper part of the spindle is round, on which a screw is cut, that works in the nut fixed in the head; the next part lower is square, with a square hole in it to receive the end of the bar; the lower part is round and tapering and goes through the hose, to which it is attached by the garter, the spindle having a groove cut round it, into which the two semicircular ends of the garter enter and encircle it, by which contrivance the platen is raised on the return of the bar; the lowest end of the spindle is called the toe, which is hardened steel, and works in the stud of the platen.


spine

1. The collective fold-areas sections of a gathered book after sewing. Sometimes called "back." 2. That part of the covering material of a book which covers the folds of the sections of a book and which is the part usually visible as it stands on the shelf. It generally bears the title, author, name of the publisher (when an edition binding), and (in a library) frequently a location (classification) number, or a symbol of some kind. Also called "back," "backbone," or "shelfback."

Carter, John. A B C for book collectors. 5th ed. London. Hart Davis. 1972.


spine fold

See: BOLT.


spine lining

1. The process of reinforcing the spine of a sewn book, after gluing-up, rounding and backing, and before covering or casing-in. The spine lining material (which is usually a fabric) does not generally extend closer than within 1/8 inch of the head and tail of the text block. In edition and library binding, the lining material, or initial liner, if there is more than one, extends beyond the edges of the spine, and is attached to the boards of the case; any subsequent lining, however, stops at the shoulders of the spine.

The purpose of lining the spine is to support it and to impart a certain degree of rigidity, while still maintaining the necessary flexibility for proper opening; consequently the weight and stiffness of the spine lining material is of considerable importance. See also: SPINE LINING FABRIC; SPINE LINING PAPER. 2. A term used incorrectly with reference to the strengthening or stiffening of the area between the boards of the covering material of case bindings. This lining is more appropriately called the INLAY (1).

Middleton, Bernard C. A history of English craft bookbinding technique. New York. Hafner. 1963.

U.S. Government Printing Office. Theory and practice of bookbinding. Rev. ed. Washington, D.C. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1962.


spine lining fabric

The fabric used to line the spine of a book. It is generally made of cotton, napped on the side which goes against the spine, and of a weight that will help support the spine while not decreasing its flexibility.

The Library Binding Institute's Specifications for Library Binding call for cloth of a weight not less than 4.0 ounces per yard, a thread count of not less than 45 in the warp and 38 in the filling, and a breaking strength (by the strip method) of not less than 42 pounds per inch for the warp and 53 1/2 pounds for the filling. For books less than 1/2 inch in thickness, these specifications may be reduced to a cloth with a weight of 2 1/2 ounces per square yard, plain weave, single ply yarn, a thread count of not less than 33 in the warp and 25 in the filling, and a breaking strength (by the grab method) of not less than 44 pounds per inch for the warp and 40 pounds per inch for the filling. See also: SPINE LINING; SPINE LINING PAPER.


spine lining paper

A relatively heavy paper, usually kraft, sometimes coated, and with either a creped or flat finish. The paper, which is applied with the machine direction running from head to tail of the text block, should be of a thickness appropriate to the size and weight of the book. It is generally applied over the initial cloth lining of large and/or heavy hand- and library-bound books. Spine lining paper is seldom used in edition binding.


spine marking

The spine area of a tanned skin, which is sometimes of a darker shade than the remainder of the skin.


spinner

A marbling comb having a handle attached in such a manner as to allow the comb to be twirled in the marbling size in order to form particular patterns.

Town, Laurence. Bookbinding by hand, for students and craftsmen. New York. Pitman. 1950 (1951).


spiral binding

A form of MECHANICAL BINDING used for art reproductions, commercial catalogs, instruction books, books in single sheets, etc. The leaves are drilled or punched near the binding edge to take a spiral-twisted wire or plastic coil which is drawn through the holes. A tendency for the coil to be torn through the holes makes this type of mechanical binding unsuitable for publications likely to be subject to much use or careless handling. The binding margins of such publications are frequently less than 1/2 inch, and part of that is taken by the holes, which makes rebinding difficult if the publication must be sewn, as the holes can cause breakage of the needles and punches of an oversewing machine. Furthermore, in many cases, the type of paper used for these publications does not lend itself well to adhesive binding. Also called "coil binding," or "spirex binding."

Gazurian, Johnny A. The advertising & graphic arts glossary. Los Angeles. Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. 1966.

Melcher, Daniel, and Nancy Larrick. Printing and promotion handbook …3rd ed. New York. McGraw-Hill. 1966.

U.S. Bureau of Naval Personnel. Printer 3 & 2. Washington, D.C. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1952


spiral laid

A special type of DANDY ROLL, having the laid wires running around the circumference of the roll, producing lines parallel to the machine direction of the paper. This laid mark is characterized by the absence of chain lines.

American Paper and Pulp Association. The dictionary of paper, including pulp, paperboard, paper properties and related papermaking terms. 3rd ed. New York. American Paper and Pulp Association. 1965.


spirex binding

See: SPIRAL BINDING.


SPIRIT

See Devil.—M. Every chapel is haunted by a spirit, called Ralph. When any man resists the decision of the chapel, and it is determined to enforce it, Ralph, or the spirit, is said to walk; and whatever mischief is done to the resisting party to enforce submission, which is always performed secretly, is invariably imputed to Ralph, or the spirit. See Chapel.


spirit of salts

An old name for HYDROCHLORIC ACID.


SPIT

The iron spindle on which the drum or wheel and the rounce are fixed, to run the carriage in and out with. It is square in the middle part, where the wheel is fixed, and has a square end for the rounce to fit on: it works in two pieces of iron, screwed to the outsides of the frame of the wooden ribs.


splash papers

Decorative end- and cover papers produced by sprinkling the paper with alum water, followed, after pressing for several hours, with colors, e.g., yellow, dark red, bright red, green, purple, and brown. Generally the lighter shades are splashed on first. Usually one or two colors, sometimes in combination with black ink, are used for these papers, which are burnished after being colored.

Cowie's bookbinder's manual; containing a full description of leather and vellum binding…7th ed. London. Strange. (186-).


splice

1. A join made by bringing together two pieces of film or paper, by means of an adhesive or heat, so that they function as one piece when run through a camera, processing machine, split boards or other apparatus. Lap splices are those in which the two pieces overlap and are joined, while butt splices are those where the two pieces are abutted and welded with no overlap. 2. The joining of the ends of two or more webs of paper to make a continuous roll. Materials used for this include adhesives, gummed tapes, or splicing tissue.

Harrod, Leonard Montague. The librarians' glossary of terms used in librarianship and the book crafts, and reference book. 3rd ed. London. Deutsch. 1971.


split

Any one of the several layers of a hide or skin produced by the mechanical operation of SPLITTING (1), e.g., grain split, middle split, or flesh split. In ordinary usage, however, the term usually indicates an under layer of a hide or skin, i.e., a layer other than the grain layer, or the leather made therefrom. A grain layer split is generally referred to as a SKIVER. If the name of the animal from which the split originates, or the word "hide" or "skin," or the part of the animal from which it is taken, is included in the description, then the word "split" must be used as a noun, e.g., pig split, hide split, butt split, and not as an adjective, e.g., split pigskin. Cf: SPLIT HIDE.

British Standards Institution. British standard glossary of leather terms. B. S. 2780: 1956. London. British Standards Institution.


split back-gauge

A type of movable BACK GAUGE of a paper cutting machine made up of two or more sections. Split back-gauge machines are designed especially for trimming books and pamphlets (in edition and pamphlet binding), and are unlike machines designed for cutting piles of paper, which have solid back gauges. Each of the sections of the split gauge may be set at a different distance from the knife, so that the trimming gauge for two or three different margins of a book may be set simultaneously. This permits trimming a book or a pile of books or pamphlets without changing gauges or waiting for entire lots to go through the trimming of one edge. If the split gauge is in three sections, the middle section is generally set for trimming the fore edge, and the left and right hand sections for trimming the tail and head edges, respectively.

The split gauge trimmer was used extensively in edition binding until largely superseded by the THREE-KNIFE TRIMMER. When both types are used in one bindery, the three-knife machine is generally used for pamphlets (periodical issues) and the split gauge machine for books.

Goodwin, Bancroft L. Pamphlet binding…Chicago. United Typothetae of America. (Typographic technical series for apprentices, pt. 5, no. 30). 1925.


split boards

See illustration</> The boards of a book that are made up of two or more plies of board glued together, except for a distance at the inner edge into which the slips or tapes are glued when the boards are being attached. Generally, if two boards are used they are of different thicknesses, with the thinner of the two adjacent to the text block. If three boards are used, the thinnest is placed in the center and does not extend all the way to the inner edge, thus providing the space for the tapes or slips. In the past some "split boards" were made by splitting a single ply board, either by hand or by machine, thus eliminating the cost of laminating.

The split stopped an inch or so short of the head and tail of the board (in case binding), which made it possible to make the case separately and then attach it to the text block by gluing the tapes into the splits of each board.

Split boards are used today almost exclusively in hand binding and then only for books sewn on tapes, although the technique has also been used occasionally for books sewn on recessed cords.

Hewitt-Bates, James Samuel. Bookbinding. 8th ed. Leicester. Dryad. 1967.


split cover

A two-piece pamphlet cover consisting of separate sheets for upper and lower covers side stitched to the pamphlet. A strip of cloth is glued to the spine and onto the sides, thus covering the stitching.


split fountain

A type of ink fountain by means of which two or more inks of different colors may be run simultaneously on the same printing press or ruling machine. The trough of ink that feeds the press or ruling machine is the "ink fountain," which may be split into two or more compartments by means of dividers.

Strauss, Victor. The printing industry…Washington, D.C. Printing Industries in America. 1967.


split hide

The outer or grain layer of a hide from which the under or flesh side has been removed to produce a reasonably uniform thickness of less substance than the entire hide. The resultant leather is generally slightly thicker than 1.5 mm.

Waterer, John William. A guide to the conservation and restoration of objects made wholly or in part of leather. 2nd ed. London. Bell. 1973.


Split leather

Leather split by machine. Two or more pieces or splits are thus obtained either of which may be used. The inner layer is usually of inferior quality. Sometimes leather is split simply to secure uniformity of thickness in the outer parts.


split stitch

A fine chain stitch used on embroidered bindings, and executed by beginning each successive stitch slightly within the one immediately preceding.


splitting

1. The process of dividing a hide or skin horizontally into two or more layers. Before the introduction of splitting machines, a hide was reduced in thickness by SHAVING (2) after tanning. The modern splitting machine has a flexible knife in the form of an endless band moving at high speed over a pair of large pulleys. When the leather to be split is placed on the bed of the machine and pushed forward, it is gripped by pairs of rollers and propelled forward in such a manner that the band knife cuts it into two layers. The propelling rollers are made up of a large number of small ring rolls with rubber centers which allow for initial variations in the thickness of the hide. The knife can be adjusted to slice through the thickness of the hide at any desired depth below the grain surface by adjusting the level of the rollers. While the machine is in operation, the band knife is automatically sharpened by grinders on its underside.

Splitting may be done while the hide is in the limed or partially limed condition, or following tannage. Hides are sometimes split in the limed condition so that a grain layer of desired thickness may be taken off and tanned separately from the splits. A gain in yield of the resultant grain leathers may be expected as a result of the slight "letting-out" of the fiber structure consequent to splitting before tannage. In certain tannages, such as vegetable tannage of leather for purposes not requiring the full thickness of the hide, savings in materials and shortening of processing time may also be effected.

When the hides are to be split in the unhaired or limed condition, the stock is plumped to a condition of sufficient firmness or solidity so as to be fed through the splitting machine smoothly in order to split off the grain layer of desired thickness uniformly across the full width and length of the hide. The fibers have a more vertical position when the hide has been plumped and will stand up against the beveled cutting edge of the band knife with less tendency to leave gouges or uneven ridges and valleys.

Although it may be highly desirable (or necessary) to reduce the substance of a hide or skin by splitting, the operation may also have undesirable effects. The strength of leather is not uniform throughout its thickness, and the grain layer, which contains the thermostat mechanism of the living skin, is relatively weak. As nearly all of the strength of leather lies in the corium, the strength of a grain split will depend upon the thickness of the corium layer which it contains. Splitting always causes a loss of strength per unit width and the sum of the strengths of the splits is always less than the strength of the unsplit leather. In fact, the breaking strength of the grain split of a vegetable-tanned calfskin, for example, will be between 3.5 and 12% of the unsplit skin, while the breaking strength of the flesh split will be between 54 and 70% of the unsplit skin; thus the leather loses between 18 and 42.5% of its strength because of splitting.

2. Separating the plies of a paper or board.

Reed, Ronald. Ancient skin, parchments and leathers. London. Seminar Press. 1972.

Sharphouse, John Henry. The leatherworker's handbook. London. Leather Producers' Association. 1963.

Wilson, John Arthur. Modern practice in leather 367. manufacture. New York. Reinhold. 1941.


spokeshave

See illustration</> A wheelwright's drawing knife used for shaping and finishing spokes, and used by bookbinders for paring leather and beveling boards. It has an adjustable blade which may be flat or curved. The tool is modified for paring by widening the gap between the blade and the guard to prevent clogging. In addition to this, the bottom of the blade is generally ground at a shallower angle, because a steep angle would result in too much of a scraping action. Because it is safer (in that there is little or no possibility of cutting completely through the leather), as well as faster, the spokeshave has largely replaced the paring knife.

Corderoy, John. Bookbinding for beginners. New York. Watson-Guptill. 1967.

Harrison, T. The bookbinding craft and industry; an outline of its history, development, and technique. London. Pitman. 1926.

Middleton, Bernard C. A history of English craft bookbinding technique. New York. Hafner. 1963.


SPONGE

Sponge is used both by compositors and pressmen—by compositors, to wet matter that is tied up previous to distributing it—to wet matter that is not tied up, to prevent it going into pie—and in correcting to wet matter, particularly if it be small letter, when it is necessary to transpose it: by pressmen, to wet their tympans with.


spot binding

An economical form of SPIRAL BINDING, consisting of a short spiral at the head and tail of the book or, sometimes, a short spiral at the head and tail and in the center.

Book Production. Tricks of the trade. New York. Bookbinding and Book Production. 1944.


spot marble

A general type of marble consisting of a base or "ground" color, usually of a dark shade, followed by colors of lighter shade. The color containing the greatest amount of gall is dropped on the size last so that it will spread out and crowd the other colors together.

Zaehnsdorf, Joseph William. The art of bookbinding…London. Bell. 1890.


spotting

1. See: FOXING. 2. A form of geometrical powdered decoration on a leather binding, with the background occupying a larger area than the ornament. See also: GOLD-POWDERED BINDINGS; SEMÉ.

Coutts, Henry T., and George A. Stephen. Manual of library bookbinding; practical and historical. London. Libraco. 1911.

Philip, Alexander John. The business of bookbinding for librarians …Gravesend. A. J. Philip. 1935.


SPOTTISWOODE PRESS

This is a beautiful contrivance, and was, as I understand, the invention of Andrew Spottiswoode, Esq., who has several of them in action in his extensive establishment. It is moved by steam, and prints two forms at the same time, which pass alternately under the platen, producing at its average rate of working seven hundred impressions of each form in the hour.

The frisket is attached to the tympan at the bottom near the tympan joints, so that when the tympan is lifted from the form by the machinery they open at the upper end, contrary to the usual way in presses worked by manual labour, and the printed sheet is left by the tympan resting on the frisket, where the paper was previously laid on.

I believe this is the first successful application of steam, as a motive power, to printing presses with a platen and a perpendicular pressure. I heard the late Alexander Tilloch, Esq., say that he intended to apply it to the presses with which the Star newspaper was printed, but he never carried it into effect; and Mr. Koenig came to England solely for this purpose; but after some years passed in making experiments, assisted by English capital, he was completely foiled in the attempt, and afterwards worked upon Mr. Nicholson’s plan, and produced a machine to print with cylinders.—See Machine.


sprays

A cluster or mass of leaves, branches, etc., tooled in blind or gold on the covers of a book. They are generally built up with a combination of tools and gouges.

Cockerell, Douglas. Bookbinding, and the care of books; a textbook for bookbinders and librarians. 5th ed. London. Pitman. 1971.


spread

1. Two facing pages. See also: CENTER SPREAD. 2. The quantity of adhesive used in the joint area of an adherend. See also: DOUBLE SPREAD (2); SINGLE SPREAD. 3. The entire inside section, when unfolded, of a folder or broadside.

Skeist, Irving. Handbook of adhesives. New York. Reinhold. 1962.

Winans, Leonard G. The book from manuscript to market. New 370. York. Grosset 8 Dunlap. 1941.


spreading

The tendency of an oil to creep over the entire surface of water on the fibers of a hide or skin. This behavior is of importance in the process of fatliquoring and stuffing leather.


spready hide

A hide or skin with a poor or ill-defined shape, or a hide with a large area in relation to its weight.


spring channel binder

A mechanical binding used to hold less than 1/2 inch thickness of paper. The back of this type of binder has a spring steel channel, the leaves being held between the sides of the channel by spring pressure. The boards are hinged to the edge of the channel, and, when both are thrown back and pressed together, the channel is forced open for removal or insertion of sheets. It is not necessary to punch or drill the paper for this type of binder.

U.S. Government Printing Office. Theory and practice of bookbinding. Rev. ed. Washington, D.C. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1962.


SPRING OF A FORM

When a form has a great quantity of furniture in it, and is locked up very tight, it frequently springs up in the middle, so as to endanger its bursting upward; it is then said, the form springs, or it is termed the spring of the form.

In this case it is advisable to examine the furniture, for some pieces may not be planed square by the joiner, and to change them for others of the same size that appear perfect, and do not lock up very tight; tighten the quoins gradually, and frequently plane down while you are locking up; these measures will generally remedy the evil.


spring-back

See illustration</> 1. A device or technique invented by the Englishmen John and Joseph Williams, in about 1799 and used ever since in the binding of large blankbooks. The spring-back consists of a strip of millboard, or other hard binder's board, the length of the boards of the book and of a width that, when curved, will fit around the spine and onto the sides of the text block at least one fourth of an inch on both sides. The board is first soaked in water and a strip of kraft paper four times its width is then glued around it. The purpose of the paper is to stiffen the board further so that it will maintain its form after it is curved to the proper shape. The assembly is curved around a core (the thickness of the book), or by means of a BACK-MOLDING IRON. A cloth liner is then glued to the interior of the curve, overlapping the edges by inches on either side. These overlaps are glued to the LEVERS. After the spring-back is attached, both ends are softened, paste is applied, and the ends of the spring-back are bent over to form the headcaps.

The purpose of the spring-back is to cause the book to lie flat so as to facilitate its being written in. It acts as a spring, and its pressure on the sides of the book near the spine causes the book to snap open and shut. The levers assist in this snapping effect, which is enhanced by the fact that the machine direction of the lever boards is at right angles to the length of the spine.

2. The degree to which a sheet of paper will assume its original flat condition after being folded and then released.

Nicholson, James B. A manual of the art of bookbinding… Philadelphia. Baird. 1856.

Pleger, John J. Bookbinding. Rev. ed. Chicago. Inland Printer. 1924.

Vaughan, Alexander J. Modern bookbinding; a treatise covering both letterpress and stationery branches of the trade…New ed. London. Skilton. 1960.


sprinkled calf

A calfskin that has been given a speckled appearance by a sprinkling of coloring matter, or, more often, ferrous sulfate. It has been used in England since the 17th century, if not earlier. See also: MOTTLED CALF; TREE CALF.


sprinkled calf

Calf so treated with acid that it looks as if it had been sprinkled with a dye.


sprinkled edges

The head, or all three edges, of a book which have been cut solid and sprinkled, usually with an earth pigment, such as bole, dissolved in a non-spirit solvent. Sprinkled edges are intended to be decorative and to prevent the edges from appearing to be soiled. The technique has been used since the 16th century, generally on trade and edition bindings, ordinary library bindings, and also on dictionaries and similar publications. Venetian red has always been the color most often used, possibly because it does not clash with other colors, such as endpapers or the leather covering. A good deal of the early sprinkling is very fine and even, so much so that at first glance it appears to be a solid color.


sprinkled edges

Cut edges of books sprinkled with color, that the marks made by handling may be less evident.


sprinkling

The process of sprinkling or spattering irregularly shaped spots or splotches of coloring matter on the leather covers of a book, usually calfskin or sheepskin, or on the edges, to achieve a decorative effect. Traditionally, sprinkling was done by means of a large brush knocked against an iron bar, but it is now usually done with a brush and sieve, or by means of a mechanical device. See: MOTTLED CALF; SPRINKLED CALF; SPRINKLED EDGES.


sprinkling water

A mixture of soap dissolved in alcohol, boiled, and mixed with water for use as a size in the execution of certain marble patterns. Hair vein and Turkish marbles require a stronger expanding medium than ox-gall for the first color, and sprinkling water forces the color and gall into veins. In addition, sprinkling water produces oval spots which enhance the attractiveness of the vein. See also: VEINING LIQUID.


SPUR

The point that pricks the hole in the paper at press, to make register with.


SQUABBLE

A page or form is squabbled when the letters of one or more lines are got into any of the adjacent lines; or that the letter or letters are twisted about out of their square position.—M.

Stack of Books. See Pile of Books.


SQUABBLE

A page or form is squabbled when the letters are twisted out of a square position.


square

1. The name applied to a book when the width of the cover is more than three-fourths of its height. 2. An L-shaped measuring device, made of steel, and used both for measuring and for obtaining square or right angle corners. 3. A book which has had its boards (covers) cut at perfect right angles.

Johnson, Pauline. Creative bookbinding. Seattle. University of Washington Press. 1963.

Town, Laurence. Bookbinding by hand, for students and craftsmen. New York. Pitman. 1950 (1951).


square back

See: FLAT BACK BINDING (1).


square blanks

The length of brass on the face of which the bookbinder or tool cutter cuts the design of a finishing tool.


square corner

A book corner in which a piece of the covering material is cut at the corner so that one turn-in overlaps the other considerably without the need of additional folding. See also: CORNER MITERING; LIBRARY CORNER.

Harrod, Leonard Montague. The librarians' glossary of terms used in librarianship and the book crafts, and reference book. 3rd ed. London. Deutsch. 1971.

Palmer, Elbridge Woodman. A course in bookbinding for vocational training. New York. Employing bookbinders of America. 1927.


square form

A cattle hide with a minimum amount of tissue in the neck, leg and belly areas. The "square form" has resulted from programs of breeding cattle to produce a body conformation which will yield the greatest amount of lean beef per unit weight of animal. Dairy breeds, on the other hand, have an overall distribution that is much less than "square."

Wilson, John Arthur. Modern practice in leather 367. manufacture. New York. Reinhold. 1941.


square sheet

A paper or board which has equal tensile strength and tearing resistance in both machine and cross directions. Although not so stated, the implication of "square sheet" is that the paper is handmade.

American Paper and Pulp Association. The dictionary of paper, including pulp, paperboard, paper properties and related papermaking terms. 3rd ed. New York. American Paper and Pulp Association. 1965.


squared

1. Paper or board that is trimmed on at least two sides to ensure exactness of angle. For all high quality printing and folding jobs, and particularly in a work-and-tumble imposition, the paper must be squared before printing. In other impositions it is only necessary that the side guide edge and the gripper edge are at a right angle. 2. Another term for sectional and/or scale paper.


squares

The marginal difference between the edges of the text block and the edges of the case or boards of the book. Normally, squares vary both in proportion to the size of the book and according to taste. They are described relatively from the least extensive, or pinhead, to the most extensive, bold, with neat, ordinary, and full being intermediate sizes. Books with projecting index tabs will have very extensive squares on the fore edge. Cf: CUT FLUSH; YAPP STYLE. See also: STILTED.

Crane, W. J. E. Bookbinding for amateurs…New York. Scribner. 1903.

Horton, Carolyn. Cleaning and preserving bindings and related materials. Chicago. American Library Association. (Conservation of library materials pamphlet no. l; Library Technology Project publications, no. 16). 1969.

Sharphouse, John Henry. The leatherworker's handbook. London. Leather Producers' Association. 1963.


squares

The portions of the board that project over the edges.


squares

The portion of the covers projecting beyond the edges of the book.

Bib-li-op-e-gis-tic: Pertaining to the Art of Binding Books


squares

The portions of the boards that project beyond the edges after the book is cut.

The Art of Bookbinding: A Practical Treatise


squares

the portion of the boards projecting beyond the edges of the book.


squares

The portion of the boards that project beyond the edge of the leaves of the book.


stab sewing

See: SIDE SEWING.


stab stitching

See: SIDE STITCHING.


stab-sewn endpaper

See illustration</> A type of endpaper consisting of a single leaf and a folio attached to a strip of linen. The endpaper is attached to the text block by sewing through holes drilled through the leaves of the book in a staggered pattern. The thread is passed back and forth through the holes in a crisscross pattern using two needles. This type of endpaper is said to be useful when a book is to be re-covered (recased) hut not resewn. It provides a strong endpaper attachment and reinforces the first and last few sections or leaves of the book.


Stabbed

A pamphlet or book of one or more signatures held together by thread or wire staples driven vertically through near the back edge is said to be stabbed.


stabbing

1. See: JAPANESE SEWING; SIDE SEWING; SIDE STITCHING. 2. See: HOLING OUT. 3. The process of punching or drilling holes for the sewing needles, as in oversewing, overcasting, etc.

British Federation of Master Printers. Preliminary technical course in printing. London. British Federation of Master Printers. 1967. 7 vol.


stabbing

The operation of piercing the boards with a bodkin for the slips to pass through; also the piercing of pamphlets for the purpose of stitching.


stabbing

The term used formerly for piercing the boards with a bodkin for the slips to pass through; more generally |179| known now as “holeing.” The operation of piercing pamphlets for the purpose of stitching.


stabbing

The operation of piercing the boards with a bodkin for the slips to pass through. Also the piercing of pamphlets for stitching. Also the process of fastening pamphlets together with staples of fine wire, done on a machine.


stabbing machine

A hand- or power-operated device for the simultaneous punching of holes through the sides of a pile of leaves preparatory to SIDE SEWING or SIDE STITCHING. See also: JAPANESE SEWING.

Perry, Kenneth Frederick, and Clarence T. Babb. The binding of books. Rev. ed. Bloomington, 111. McKnight & McKnight. 1967.


stabbing machine

A small machine used for making the holes through the backs of pamphlets.


stability

The permanence of a paper or board as reflected in its ability to resist changes in any of its characteristics upon exposure to various conditions during use or storage. See: BRIGHTNESS REVERSION; BRITTLENESS; COLOR FASTNESS; DIMENSIONAL STABILITY; DURABILITY (OF PAPER); PERMANENT PAPER; YELLOWING.


stabilized

A material, such as leather or paper, whose moisture content is in equilibrium with that of the surrounding atmosphere. See also: CONDITIONING.


STACK OF PAPER

When paper is received into the warehouse from the stationer, it is piled up in tiers of four, five, six, or eight bundles in each tier, and is called a stack of paper, or a pile of paper.

The warehouseman in piling his paper considers the height of his room, that he may not take up more of the floor than is absolutely necessary, to enable him to stow as much as possible: thus, if he receive one hundred reams, and has height, he will make a stack of six in preference to two or four or five. He crosses the joinings of the bundles in each tier to bind them together, as a bricklayer does in building a square pillar; and I have always found the stack strengthened by laying on every third or fourth tier a number of stout wrappers spread over the bundles.

Paper should never be stacked without interposing something between the bottom of it and the floor, to prevent any water that might accidentally be spilled coming in contact with it, which would certainly mildew and spoil it if it were not perceived at the first; and even then it would require a great deal of trouble to prevent it: where there are not regular stages made, some short pieces of old poling laid a little distance from each other upon the floor will answer very well.


stag hide

The hide of an ox that is castrated later in life than a steer, often when a year old. The longer castration is delayed, the more the hide will resemble that a bull. It has no recognized designation on the hide market, but is classed as steer or bull depending on which it more nearly resembles.


STAGE

A platform raised a few inches from the floor, to pile books or paper upon, for the purpose of preserving the bottom of the pile from injury, in case of water being spilt in the warehouse.

Where there are no regular stages in a warehouse, substitutes, which answer the purpose very well, may be easily provided, by taking an old paper board, or any pieces of board, and putting three pieces of an old pole under each of them on which to pile the books.


stain

A suspension or solution of a dye or other coloring matter in a suitable vehicle. The principal difference between a stain and other coloring agents is that the former has little or no power to opacify; consequently, when applied to leather. for example, a stain imparts color while still allowing the grain pattern of the leather to remain clearly visible. The two types of stains most often used in coloring leather in restoration work are spirit stains, which are dyes dissolved in methylated spirit, and water-soluble stains, which are dyes dissolved in water. Those most often used today for this purpose are the synthetic dyes, such as those prepared from aniline tars. Spirit stains tend to give greater penetrating power and are faster drying than water-soluble stains. Both types are available in powder form, or as prepared solutions.

Buck, Mitchell Starrett. Book repair and restoration; a manual of practical suggestions. Philadelphia. Brown. 1918.

Middleton, Bernard C. A history of English craft bookbinding technique. New York. Hafner. 1963.


stained edges

The edges of a book that have ben stained a uniform color, as distinguished from SPRINKLED EDGES, marbled edges, etc. If only the head edge is so treated, it is termed "stained top."


stained label

A colored (usually rectangular) panel printed or painted directly on the spine covering of a book as a background for the lettering. It is intended that it have the appearance of leather.


stained top

See: STAINED EDGES.


STAINING OF PAPER

The master printers of the metropolis, till within a few years, dined together annually at some good coffee house or tea gardens in the vicinity of London; and one of the regular toasts after dinner was, “<i>The well-staining of Paper</i>.”


staking

The process whereby the fibers of a leather are separated to a degree, thus softening the leather and improving its feel and handle. The process involves flexing the skin, either by hand or machine. Staking by hand is done by pulling the skin in all directions across a blunt blade fixed in a stake. The staking machine consists of a table that is divided into two parts with an opening of about 10 inches between them. The machine is equipped with two jaws, one above and one below the table. The upper jaw has a rubber roll at its end, while the lower jaw has a bladed opening into which the roll of the upper jaw may sink. The operator slides a portion of the skin between the jaws, which then come together and pull back. As they do so, they force the leather to flex sharply over the blades of the lower jaw and around the roll of the upper jaw. The operator holds the skin in place against the backward movement of the jaws and shifts the position of the skin after each motion of the jaws. There are also machines with automatic clamps that hold the skin when the jaws are staking it. Instead of a roll in the upper jaw, some machines have a smooth blade which forces the skin into a slot; both blade and slot pull backward with the skin between them, flexing it sharply along their path.


staling

Another term for putrefaction. See: PUTREFACTIVE DAMAGE.


stamp

1. A finishing tool, cut in brass, bearing figures or patterns in relief. Stamps range in design from a simple dot to the most intricate lacework design, and can be used by hand or in a blocking machine. In a more restricted sense, however, the simpler tools, or those meant to be used by hand; they are probably more correctly referred to as hand tools, fancy hand tools, or UNIT TOOLS. 2. An engraved design on a block, or the impression of a block or stamp on the covers of a book, as distinct from a decoration executed by a roll, or one cut into the leather. See: ARMORIAL BINDINGS; BLOCKING (1); BLOCKING FOIL; BLOCKING PRESS; PANEL; STAMP.

Bailey, Arthur Low. Library bookbinding. New York. Wilson. 1916.

Gaskill & Cooper. Firm. Bookbinders tool engraving and furnishing establishment. Philadelphia. n.p.


stamp

The brass tools used in finishing to impress a figure upon the leather; they are distinguished by hand-stamps and stamps for the press.


stamp

The brass tools used in finishing to impress figures upon the leather; they are distinguished as hand stamps and stamps for the press.


STAMPS

3 & 4 W. 4. c. 97. s. 12. It is among other things enacted, That * * * * “if any Person shall fraudulently use, join, fix, or place for, with, or upon any Vellum, Parchment, or Paper any Stamp, Mark, or Impression which shall have been cut, torn, or gotten off or removed from any other Vellum, Parchment, or Paper; * * * * then and in every such Case every Person so offending, and every Person knowingly and wilfully aiding, abetting, or assisting any Person in committing any such Offence, and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall be adjudged guilty of Felony, and shall be liable, at the Discretion of the Court, to be transported beyond the Seas for Life, or for any term not less than seven Years, or to be imprisoned for any Term not exceeding four Years nor less than two Years.”


stanchgrain

A hard, firm sheet of very white PARCHMENT, produced by means of special finishing compositions. Stanchgrain was an English technique of modifying parchment to produce a firm, smooth, grease-free writing surface of uniform whiteness. The composition used for this consisted essentially of lime and flour; or lime, quicklime and flour, eggwhite and milk, all mixed together and spread on the skin, which was then dried slowly outdoors in the sun.

Reed, Ronald. Ancient skin, parchments and leathers. London. Seminar Press. 1972.


Stand

The frame on which the cases are placed.


STAND STILL

A compositor is said to stand still, if he be out of copy, or out of letter: a pressman, if he has not a form to lay on, or is prevented working by any other cause. A compositor says he is standing still for copy, or for letter—a pressman says he is standing still for a form, &c.


standardized lettering

A simplified method of lettering the spines of library-bound serial publications, in which all unnecessary words, abbreviations, and decorative stamping are omitted. Years and months are placed in alignment on volumes of all sizes and titles are placed in alignment within each group size.

Feipel, Louis Nicholas, and Earl W. Browning. Library bookbinding manual…Chicago. American Library Association. 1951.


standing instructions

The overall instructions pertaining to the binding of a library's books, given to the binder io lieu of preparing a binding slip for each volume. It is in effect a "blanket order" to the binder.

Tauber, Maurice Falcolm. Library binding manual…Boston. Library Binding Institute. 1972.


standing press

A large floor press, at one time used extensively in virtually all binderies for operations requiring the application of great pressure; it is used today almost exclusively in hand binding. Pressure is applied by means of a platen which usually is powered by turning a screw, first by hand, then with a short bar, and finally, in operations requiring very great pressure, by means of a long pin. The size and weight of this type of press permit exertion of very great pressure.

The standing press is used not only for the final pressing of a book, but also during the operation of cleaning off the spine and to press the backing shoulders out of the sections of a book pulled for rebinding.

It is not known for certain if standing presses existed in binderies before the end of the 15th century; however, as the use of paper in bookmaking had become more widespread by this time, resulting in increased production of books, the importance of a large press capable of simultaneously pressing a number of books may have become apparent. In addition, a heavy press was needed because the paper of that time was bulky and spongy as compared with parchment. The form of the early standing press, with its single screw and descending platen, changed very little until the introduction of the hydraulic press. See also: BOOMER PRESS; BUILDING-IN MACHINE; FRENCH STANDING PRESS; REMOVABLE PRESS.

Hewitt-Bates, James Samuel. Bookbinding. 8th ed. Leicester. Dryad. 1967.

Strauss, Victor. The printing industry…Washington, D.C. Printing Industries in America. 1967.


standing press

A fixed heavy press with a perpendicular screw over the centre.


standing press

A large press with screw for pressing many books at once.


STANHOPE PRESS

The merits of the Stanhope press, and its superiority, are so well established in the minds of printers, from long experience of its valuable properties, that any additional praise from me would be an act of supererogation; I shall therefore confine myself to giving engravings of it, and a rather full description.

Fig. 1. Fig. 2.

Fig. 3. Fig. 4.

Figs. 1. and 2. are elevations, fig. 3. a plan, and fig. 4. a section. A A is a massive frame of cast iron, formed in one piece: this is the body of the press, in the upper part of which a nut is fixed for the reception of the screw b, and its point operates upon the upper end of a slider, d, which is fitted into a dovetail groove formed between two vertical bars, e, e, of the frame. The slider has the platen, D D, firmly attached to the lower end of it; and being accurately fitted between the guides e, e, the platen must rise and fall parallel to itself when the screw, b, is turned. The weight of the platen and slider are counterbalanced by a heavy weight, E, behind the press, which is suspended from a lever, F, and this acts upon the slider to lift it up, and keep it always bearing against the point of the screw. At G G are two projecting pieces, cast all in one with the main frame, to support the carriage when the pull is made; to these the rails, H H, are screwed, and placed truly horizontal for the carriage, I, to run upon them, when it is carried under the press to receive the impression, or drawn out to remove the printed sheet. The carriage is moved by the rounce or handle K, with a spit and leather girths, very similar to the wooden press. Upon the spit, or axle of the handle K, a wheel, L, is fixed, and round this leather girths are passed, one extending to the back of the carriage to draw it in, and the other, which passes round the wheel in an opposite direction, to draw it out. By this means, when the handle is turned one way it draws out the carriage, and by reversing the motion it is carried in. There is likewise a check strap, f, from the wheel down to the wooden base, M M, of the frame, and this limits the motion of the wheel, and consequently the excursion of the carriage. The principal improvement of Earl Stanhope’s press consists in the manner of giving motion to the screw, b, of it, which is not done simply by a bar or lever attached to the screw, but by a second lever; e. gr. the screw, b, has a short lever, g, fixed upon the upper end of it, and this communicates by an iron bar, or link, h, to another lever, i, of rather shorter radius, which is fixed upon the upper end of a second spindle, l, and to this the bar or handle, k, is fixed. Now when the workman pulls this handle, he turns round the spindle, l, and by the connexion of the rod, h, the screw, b, turns with it, and causes the platen to descend and produce the pressure. But it is not simply this alone, for the power of the lever, k, is transmitted to the screw in a ratio proportioned to the effect required at the different parts of the pull; thus at first, when the pressman takes the bar, k, it lies in a direction parallel to the frame, or across the press, and the short lever, i, (being nearly perpendicular thereto,) is also nearly at right angles to the connecting rod h; but the lever, g, of the screw 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, k, the lever, i, acts with its full length upon a shorter length of leverage, g, 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, g, continually increasing in its acting length, because it comes nearer to a perpendicular with the connecting rod, and at the same time the lever, i, diminishes its acting length, because, by the obliquity of the lever, the rod, h, 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 effect 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 platen 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, i, 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. Another plan is adopted by some makers of the Stanhope press, viz. to have a screw adjustment at the end of the connecting rod, h, by which it can be shortened; it is done by fitting the centre pin which unites it to the lever, g, 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 platen, when the handle is brought to the stop.

The carriage of the press is represented with wheels, m, m, beneath, to take off the friction of moving upon the ribs, HH. These wheels are shown at fig. 4., which is a section of the screw and the platen, with the carriage beneath it: their axles, n, are fitted to springs, p, and these are adjustable by means of screws, r, so that the carriage will be borne up to any required height. This is so regulated, that when the carriage is run into the press, its lower surface shall bear lightly upon the solid cheeks, G, which are part of the body of the press, and these support it when the pressure is applied, the same as the winter of the old press: but the wheels by their springs act to bear up great part of the weight of the carriage with the types upon it, and diminish the friction, yet do not destroy the contact of the carriage upon the ribs, because this would not give the carriage that solidity of bearing which is requisite for resisting the pull. This is only at the time when the carriage is run into the press, because as it runs out, the ribs on which the wheels run rise higher, and therefore the wheels support the whole weight. The manner in which the wheels run in rebates or recesses in the edges of the ribs is shown at fig. 1. The carriage is made of cast iron, in the form of a box, with several cross partitions, which are all cast in one piece, and although made of thin metal, are exceedingly strong: the upper surface is made truly flat, by turning it in a lathe. The same of the platen, which is likewise a shallow box: the slider, d, has a plate formed on the lower end of it, which is fixed by four screws upon the top of the platen, and thus they are united. At the four angles of the carriage, pieces of iron are screwed on, to form bearings for the quoins or wedges which are driven in to fasten the form of types upon it in the true position for printing. The tympan, P, (fig. 2.) is attached to the carriage by joints, with an iron bracket or stop to catch it when it is thrown back: the frisket, R, is joined to the tympan, and when opened out, rests against a frame suspended from the ceiling. The register points are the same as in the wooden press, and all the operations of working are exactly the same. The iron frame, A, of the press is screwed down upon the wooden base, M, by bolts, which pass through feet, s s, projecting from the lower part of the iron frame. Another wooden beam is fixed into the former at right angles, so as to form a cross, which lies upon the floor. The ribs, H, for the carriage to run upon are supported from the wooden base by an iron bracket, T.

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 platen as quickly as possible. This great power of the press admits of a saving of time, by printing the whole sheet of paper at one pull, the platen being made sufficiently large for that purpose; whereas, in the old press, the platen is only half the size of the sheet. In the Stanhope press, the whole surface is printed at once, with far less power upon the handle than the old press. 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 packed up with elastic substances, such as scaleboard, pasteboard, and the felt of an old hat. 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 presses have very little elasticity, and those who use them find it advantageous to diminish the thickness of the blankets in the tympan; the lever has then very little tendency to return; in fact, if the pull be so justified as that, when the bar is pulled home, the end of the lever, i, that is attached to the connecting rod, h, passes in a small degree the centre of the second spindle, l, the pressure is past its maximum power, the press bar has no tendency to return, and the pressman can rest upon his pull in fine work, without any exertion.

Stationers’ Company. See Donations.

Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4.

William Savage, A Dictionary of the Art of Printing, 1841