What is the Work of the Photo Type Setting Machine Operator of a Newspaper?

He operates the key board or a machine which reproduces letters on film or sensitized paper for reproduction in printing The unexposed film or sensitized paper is placed in the photographic element of machine; then he examines the layout of the copy of typographical indications, such as spacing, typefaces and length of lines. He starts the machine and sets its dial according to typographical instructions on the layout copy.

After reading the copy, he depresses keys of the keyboard to reproduce required letters on film or sensitized paper; manipulates machine controls, as necessary, to change type size and spacing, and to adjust camera light to eliminate incorrect lines. When the operation is completed, he removes container with exposed film/sensitized paper and sends it to the developing room.

The Make-up, Photo-type setting:

He arranges Photo-composed type film and fixes it on positive paper in readiness for reproduction on printing plates. After examining the layout of the copy, he marks the positive paper to guide in arranging type, and also draws lines on positions for decora­tion purposes and tabular matter. He waxes proof-sheets of photo­composition and cuts out letters and lines as required. Later on, he places the cut-out pieces in position on paper, using measuring instruments for guidance.

He presses a sheet of tissue paper over photo-composition to ensure that wax holds pieces in position. Then he checks arrangements of composition and makes necessary alterations and passes on completed positive for printing reproduc­tion.

All type-setting machine operators generally work in noisy conditions where a number of people work on different machines.

Proof-Reading :

Proof-reading, by and large, is a work of comparison. To do this quickly and scientifically, a technique has been developed. For the purpose of making corrections on a printed copy, some internationally prescribed signs and symbols are used to denote the nature of the corrections to be made. Normally, this work is done in the “reading-room” of the press. After the compositor has composed the matter, a proof copy is printed, and passed on to the proof-reader. The Proof-reader compares the proof with the manuscript, detects the mistakes in the proof-copy and corrects them.

The work may be done in two ways:

The proof-reader may either put the proof and the manuscript side by side, and himself read and compare the two and make the necessary corrections; or a copy-holder may read the manuscript copy aloud, while the proof­reader makes the corrections of errors, omissions, etc. by using standard symbols.

The proof-reader also corrects the mistakes in spellings, grammar, punctuation, etc. in the manuscript. In making these corrections, he always uses the standard symbols. He also uses some prescribed terms to indicate capital letters, italics, paragraph divi­sions, etc.

Other Modern Printing Methods :

Offset:

This is the term used for high-speed lithography. Lithography is an art form which started originally by drawing on a polished stone with a grease pencil. The whole surface was then wetted and ink was rolled over it. The ink won’t stick to the wet stone but did build up on the grease lines. When paper was pressed to the surface the inked drawing transferred to it. The papers got a bit wet, but that did not hurt the print.

The high-speed litho press uses the same method, but the stone is replaced by a fine-grained aluminium plate and the grease drawing has become a photographically transferred image of such delicacy that it can print a dot 1/300 of an inch in diameter. The large printing roller that holds the aluminium plate with its moistened areas and freshly inked image spins against a rubber roller that does not pick up the inked image and offsets it to the printing paper. “Offset lithography” means dry paper.

Offset printing means more than that, however, in terms of freedom and economy of preparation. Because printing is done from a rubber “blanket”, the image transfers onto lesser grade papers of inexact surface quality and also holds nicely on textured papers. Printing plates are made quickly and economically and can be cleaned for reuse.

Offset printing technology is now so advanced that this process is used for the majority of the colour printing in most of the modern countries on high-quality paper it sparkles. Most modern literature is printed offset.

Letterpress:

This printing method has been in use since the T’ang dynasty in China. Its base is like the office rubber letter and pressing in on paper. Wood blocks were hand-cut removing the white part around the picture lines and letters so only the printing image was left at top surfaces. The block was inked with a wetted pounce, paper was placed on top, and the image was pressed off.

Letterpress printing presses mass-produce thousands of impres­sions an hour for metal-cast type and etched metal engravings. Letterpress can run directly from cast type without the added photo sets of lithography. Because of the typographic directness of letterpress, mostly all text books are printed by this method. Most newspapers, too, with their immediate need for fast typesetting, are still run on letterpress.

Letterpress, printed from sharply cast type and crisply etched metal, can be the finest in the world. The ink sits on top of the image and is pressed full-strength onto the paper. With quality coated and polished papers, the printed impression can be superb.

But pictures for letterpress must be made as photo-engraved cuts, a more expensive process than the quick burn down of litho plate-making. For long letterpress runs, strong metal must be used- copper engravings. They take time and are expensive. For full- colour printing, an engraving must be made for each of four colours- the magenta, cyan blue, chrome yellow, and black that mix on the paper into all colours. This four-plate need compounds the cost in comparison with lithography. As mass printing becomes more visual, offset lithography seems to be taking over.

For primarily all-type jobs, letterpress can give the best value, but for picture work and for large-quantity colour, offset probably will prove more economical.

Roto or Rotogravure:

This printing method has a respected place in the scale of efficiencies. Gravure is a process of etching a flat plate to varying depths that act as ink wells. When ink is flooded over the whole surface, more will be trapped in the deep spots, less at the shallow places, and as a flat blade is wiped over the plate, none will be left on the top surface. Paper placed over the plate will suck up the ink, more ink for darker tones, less from the shallow areas for the grays.

The gravure plate is wrapped around a rotary drum, and as the wiping blade controls it, high volatile ink hits the paper to make rotogravure a very high-speed printing method. Deep wells can supply rich amounts of ink to the paper for full and luscious effects. Most of the extravagantly colourful photos in the film magazines of Bombay are run roto.

Roto has its flaws. In its less careful versions for newspaper roto sections, you can see the wipe lines, giving type a smeared effect. Its strength lies in being able to hold smooth tonal gradations, as a photographer does. Both offset and letterpress print ink on paper from a flat plate. This necessitates breaking up a tonal picture into tiny dots of varying size, small dots making light grays and large dots making dark tones-the “halftone process”.

The dots range in placement from 65 to the inch for newspaper printing on inexpensive newsprint (you can see the separate dots if you look closely) to over 300 dots to the inch for fine offset printing. The “300-line screen” makes the dots impossible to see with the naked eye and tonal gradation becomes as smooth as that of a fine photograph. But the mass of high-speed offset is done with 110- or 120-line-screen halftone, often with strong restrictions on the total amount of ink that can be placed on the paper by the four-colour process. Printing four different wet inks in quick succession to make a full-colour picture can cause havoc if the amounts of each ink pressing on top of each other are too high. Major publications will allow only 80 per cent total ink coverage.

Roto, then, can give superb, dot-free pictures of high ink coverage. But gravure plates are expensive to make, so roto can compete only for large-quantity jobs-and jobs without too much text.

Screen process:

This is a printing method that has special uses. Heavy ink or paint is squeezed through a screen (silk cloth stretched on a frame) onto the paper. Portions that are to remain unprinted are protected by a plastic coating imbedded in the silk. Images can be either prepared by camera-room techniques or hand-cut into the plastic before it is applied to the screen. The advantage of screen process is heavy ink coverage. But halftones are not successful in small size, and the process, an outgrowth of the sign shop, is primarily a handcraft technique. For small-quantity booklet covers and posters-100 to 250-the screen process can give strong and colourful effects.