est
sheet of all, the high lights and very light shades are cut, and the
rest of the sheet is pasted on the bottom one. In this way the solid
blacks and dark shadows on the cut have three thicknesses on the
overlay; the next shades two, and the light shades one, where the high
lights are cut out altogether. This is the common form of "cut
overlay" used in most offices; but there are many other kinds, some
being made on metal by chemical action. All kinds are fastened
carefully over the impression of the cut made on the heavy manila
sheet covering the cylinder, and the cut must not be moved on the form
after the overlay has been fastened on the cylinder, or the effect of
all the work will be entirely lost.

One of the great troubles which the printer has to contend with, is
electricity in the paper. The pressman is unaware of its presence
until he lifts a printed sheet from the pile and receives a slight
shock, and finds the sheets stick together. In the case of a cut form,
the ink is almost sure to be offset, and in printing the second side
of the paper the feeder will have to stop frequently to separate the
sheets. Much money has been spent and many devices originated to
overcome this trouble. Ink manufacturers make a liquid preparation to
be applied to the packing. A row of lighted gas-jets placed near the
point where the sheet goes on to the "flyboard," a heated steam-pipe,
and many other things have been used, but a new device by which
electricity is generated and carried into the press, and there
neutralizes the electricity in the paper, is the best of them all.

The printed sheets are counted automatically by the press, and as fast
as enough accumulate, they are piled on hand trucks and removed to the
shipping room. Here they are "jogged up" so that the edges are even
and are counted again by hand. If they are to be shipped away, they
are tied up in bundles or nailed in cases and marked for shipment. If
the bindery is connected with the pressroom, they are simply jogged,
counted, and piled on trucks and delivered in this way.

THE PRINTING PRESS

By Otto L. Raabe.

Throughout the stages of development of the book-printing press the
chief object has been to lessen the cost of printing. Whether the
direct purpose of an improvement has been to increase the working
speed of the press, to lessen the necessary operating power, to
simplify the mechanism, to strengthen the parts, to lighten the
pressman's l