Making Books (1947)

this man is an author he writes stories he has just finished writing a story he thinks many people will like to read it so he must have the story made into a book let's see how the book is made first The Story Goes to the printing shop this Workman is a typ Setter he starts the job of preparing the story so it can be printed he types the story on this machine letter by letter every time the typ setter touches a key a mold for a letter slides into this box many molds together make a line every time the lever goes up melted metal pours over the letter molds inside the [Music] machine when the metal cools off it hardens and makes a line of words it takes many lines like this to make a page as the typ setter works on new lines a man takes the finished lines over to a long table here he arranges the lines for each page this page is to have a picture the picture takes up the space of many lines the composer then goes to the next page with a piece of wood the composer marks the end of each page when many pages like this are ready a Workman takes them to another part of the printing shop then this Workman takes the lines of type for many pages and fits them into a metal frame he must be careful not to mix them up long and short pieces of metal keep the pages apart and fill out the edges this key locks the lines and pictures tightly in the frame he locks them on all sides then he evens all the lines so that none of them will stick up then all is locked still tighter so that the lines and pages won't come apart but the words and lines of type are of soft metal they would soon wear out in printing in this shop they are made into copper copper is hard let's watch how the is done this operator covers the lines and pages with a plate of wax then he pushes it into the press down goes the press and out comes the wax plate with all the pictures and letters pressed into the soft wax next and other worker dips the wax plate into a large tank which has copper in it the copper goes into all the places where the letters have pressed into the wax it forms a solid plate it has the same letters and same pictures as before but it is much stronger many books can be printed from copper plates now the plates are cut apart this sharp saw easily cuts through the hard copper each of these small plates has the words and pictures for just one page of the book next the plates go over to the printing press here this Workman makes the plates ready for printing on this press that is why they call him the ready man the space where you see him now is called the Press bed 64 Pages fit on one bed the ready man fits every plate tightly to the bed in the right order there are two beds on this press one for each side of the paper both press beds of this printing press must be filled with plates before the printing can begin now one push of a button and the big press starts the paper travels around the drums rollers spread the ink evenly over the plates first one side of the paper is pressed to one set of plates then the other side of the paper to the other set sheet after sheet the printed Pages begin to pile up at one end of the press this Workman now examines the sheets to see if they are nicely and clearly printed now let's see what happens to these sheets after they're printed here in the book binding plant they first come to the folding machine each large printed sheet will be folded until it reaches the size of a single page and the Machine goes on folding and folding until all the printed sheets have been folded this man checks the folders to make sure that the pages follow each other in the right order then all the folders are taken to another part of the binder this part is called the Gathering Room these girls stack the folders in piles and put each pile into its proper bin they see to it that there are always folders in every bin this machine gathers the folders in the right order from the first page to the last page of the book One By One The Machine gathers all the folders for one book at the end of this long machine the folders are coming out all the pages for the book here other girls take the assembled folders to other machines here a machine sews them together again then each folder goes into the machine separately this machine sews the folders together with strong thread the sewing will keep the pages from coming apart after the books have been sewed they go on to the trimming shop this machine trims the pages to just the right side with three sharp knives first with one knife for the long side of the book then with two knives for the two short sides but the books are not yet finished they still need covers strong book covers are made from paperboard first the paperboard is cut just the right size next cloth from this roll is glued over the paperboard this makes covers that are strong and good-looking at last the name of the book is stamped on the cover in shining gold letters now the covers are ready for the pages of the book to be put inside them one push and the book has a cover around it another push and the cover is glued tight here they go all finished and ready for shipping to all parts of the world the story has been made into a book for readers everywhere