essary radical improvements
in the machinery for making electrotypes. These improvements have been
steady in their development, but the fundamental points of the process
are practically those which have been in use from the start of
commercial electrotyping.

ELECTROTYPING BY THE WAX MOLD PROCESS

An electrotype is a facsimile printing plate duplicated from an
original. The original may be either type, a woodcut, a zinc or a
copper etching such as a line-cut or a half-tone, or it may be a
combination of type-matter and line-cuts or half-tones.

We commonly think of electrotypes as printing plates made of copper,
but any metal which can be electrochemically deposited may be used.
Because of their wearing qualities and economy, however, copper and
nickel are the two metals commercially used for electrotyping.

Briefly, an electrotype is made by taking an impression of the
original in a plastic substance, thus forming a mold or matrix;
depositing copper or nickel on the mold; removing the copper or nickel
shell from the mold and backing it with a semi-hard metal; trimming
the metal to printing-plate thickness, and bevelling, or blocking on
wood, the trimmed plate for printing-press use.

In modern practice more than twenty-five different operations are
necessary to make a finished electrotype ready for the press. They may
be enumerated, as follows:

_1. Case-making._ The flowing of a molding compound composed of
"ozokerite," a resinol-mineral wax, onto the case. The case is of
copper.

_2. Flashing the Case._ Passing a flame over the surface of the melted
ozokerite immediately after flowing the case in order to remove
air-bubbles.

_3. Case-shaving._ The automatic shaving of the top surface of the
flowed case after the ozokerite has hardened to give it a smooth, even
surface for molding.

_4. Graphiting._ Brushing surface of case with molding graphite to
prevent the pattern from sticking to the wax mold.

_5. Molding._ Making an impression from the original zinc line
etching, half-tone or type form in the waxed case. This is done by
means of a hydraulically operated molding press.

_6. Cutting-down._ The levelling off by hand, using a sharp trowel
shaped tool, of the splurge after the impression has been made.
Flashing is also used here to remove the burr left around the letters
after the cutting down process.

_7. Building-up._ The adding of wax by hand to the blank spaces in the
molded case so th