Printing (1947)

your life [Music] work the art attributed more to man's progress than any other art by means of printing the fund of knowledge accumulated Through the Ages is available to everyone rich and poor alike printing is essential to all education all the other Arts rely on it religious movements depend on it business could not function without it nor could government because of the need for printed matter in practically all of man's activities printing now ranks fourth among the nation's great Industries the wide variety of products of the press and the demand for a constant Supply requires the efforts of many skill persons in printing firms ranging in size from the small Onan establishment to large plants employing hundreds of workers printing as a vocation attracts many young men and women because it offers real opportunities for steady work good pay and advancement the trade has several branches and numerous Allied Industries the most familiar Branch letter Press Printing has three distinct types of work these are first first composition the preparation of the type or other matter to be printed for the presses second press work the actual printing of the composed matter on paper or some other substance and third binder work the folding or joining together of the printed sheets into various forms so that they may be sent to the public in the composing room of a good-sized printing firm the duties are divided among several emplo employees specializing in various phases of the work the copy for jobs to be printed goes first to the markup man the markup man must have a thorough knowledge of the art of printing he decides what styles and sizes of type will produce an attractive result he indicates the parts to be set by hand compositors and those to be set by machine operators although a great part of today's type is set mechanically hand composit are employed by all large Commercial Printing plants newspapers and Publishing houses hand compositors usually set the large type called display line used in advertisements and other Printed Matter hand composition offers opportunities for artistic expression compositors who have the ability to create original ideas are highly paid Craftsmen the work requires manual dexterity good eyesight and thoroughness linotypes and other type setting machines are used for the part of the copy called straight matter consisting of many lines of the same length and size of type the linot type operator manipulates a keyboard to assemble lines of characters which come in contact with molten type metal to produce lines or slugs of type these slugs are molded in the length required by the job they are the right height for the presses and the words are spaced correctly in the line linotype operators must work speedily and accurately and be efficient in spelling punctuation word Division and printer's arithmetic some printing firms have monotype machines which consist of two separate units the keyboard and a casting machine when the monotype keyboard operator presses the keys punches driven by compressed air perforate a paper ribbon at the top of the machine when the operator finishes the ribbon is removed and placed in the casting machine the perforated paper controls the movements of the machine causing it to produce individual type characters set in properly spaced lines there are other kinds of type setting machines but the monotype and linotype are typical examples when a page of type has been set either by machine or by hand it is placed in a small proof press and printed on a large piece of paper this leaves wide margins around the type where the proof reader indicates mistakes to be corrected it is the proof reader's responsibility to find all errors in spelling punctuation and typography large plants employ persons usually women who do nothing but proofread but in some shops this job may be done by the foreman or head operator after mistakes have been corrected all the type and engraved plates for a single page must be assembled in large printing firms this work is done by Specialists called makeup men in the lockup Department workers called Stone men assemble many pages of type into single forms but there are several different ways in which the matter to be printed is prepared for the presses it all depends on the kind of press to be used platin presses are used on small jobs such as letter heads or hand bills some of these presses are hand fed on other small job presses an ingenious device feeds the paper automatically there are automatic cylinder presses for long runs of small work in offset presses the matter to be printed is first impressed from a zinc plate to a special rubber roller then transferred to the paper and for printing magazines books and newspapers there are immense high-speed rotary presses which printing both sides of the paper in one operation turn out thousands of folded copies per hour but no matter what kind of press is used a Pressman must be a skilled conscientious worker he is in charge of expensive machinery and materials and the quality of the work produced depends on his ability before a job can be printed the Pressman must make ready that is compensate for inequalities of pressure of the paper against the plate this is done by building up portions of the impression surface with thin pieces of paper cut to the proper shape so that the pressure is equalized a Pressman must know how to adjust his press to all kinds of paper and secure mechanical accuracy throughout he must have an eye for intensity of color and see that the inking is uniform at all times and pressmen should be able to supervise assistance for in many plans an experienced man may be responsible for the proper functioning of several presses operated by apprentices the printing trades acquire most of their new workers through apprentic ship or training on the job some vocational schools offer training which can be taken during apprentic ship or previous to it vocational school training alone does not always produce skilled workers but it does enable a person to decide whether he is truly interested and suitable for the work and the course of training is arranged to give the student a good background in printing usually a student starts with hand composition because all of the fundamental principles of printing are derived from it through a series of prepared lessons these principles are thoroughly fixed in the student's mind the lessons include instruction in spelling word division proof reading punctuation and printer's arithmetic after completing the hand composition course a student is eligible for work in The Press Room here he begins his study on a small hand-fed job press after mastering it he is Advanced to the small automatic presses but there is a great deal to be learned before a student can assume the responsibility of operating the large cylinder presses above all he must thoroughly understand the mechanism thus presswork is particularly fitted for young men who like to work with Machinery students studying to become linotype operators must have mechanical knowledge too but here the emphasis is on speed and accuracy usually anyone who has mastered the typewriter can learn to operate the linotype keyboard but he must also learn composition a student who successfully completes the course of study in some phase of printing at a vocational school is prepared to enter the printing industry on a basis leading to worthwhile remuneration the chances of securing employment are normally good for there are thousands of large printing establishments in the country and many small shops and newspapers and work in the printing trade is not seasonal it goes on the year around regardless of sunshine or rain working conditions are generally satisfactory as to housing hygiene and ours if you think you would be interested in printing as a vocation investigate its possibilities and prepare yourself accordingly for the phase of the work for which you are best suited the printing industry needs young men and women in its composing rooms where thoughts and ideas are fashioned into tyght it needs mechanically minded young men in its press rooms to operate the intricate machinery it is a growing industry high on the list of those offering stability of wages and employment a high proportion of salaried positions and real opportunities for advancement perhaps you will find a place for your tastes and talents in printing a vocation offering Splendid possibilities for your life work all