The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century Part 12

[4] The revolving turret was invented and patented by Theodore R.

Timby, No. 35,846, July 8, 1862, and No. 36,593, September 30, 1862.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 117.--CROSS SECTION OF "MONITOR."]

Vessels of the "Monitor" type still form useful parts of the United States Navy, in which the "Monterey" and "Monadnock" are its most representative types. The "Monadnock," which is a double-turret coast defence monitor, is shown in Fig. 118. Although regarded by some as unseaworthy on account of the low seaboard and small buoyancy, the monitor has cleared itself of such suspicion, for in the recent war with Spain both the "Monadnock" and "Monterey" sailed across the Pacific Ocean by way of Honolulu to Manila, a distance of 7,000 miles, and joined the fleet of Admiral Dewey without mishap or delay.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 118.--MONITOR "MONADNOCK."]

No patriotic American citizen would expect to read an account of modern war vessels without finding special mention of those two splendid types of their cla.s.s, the battles.h.i.+p "Oregon" and the armored cruiser "Brooklyn," whose performances during the late war with Spain contributed so much to the honor and glory of the United States Navy, and demonstrated the skill and efficiency of our American s.h.i.+pbuilders.

Before the war began the "Oregon" was stationed on the Pacific Coast, where she had been built, and it was desired that she should join the fleet of Admiral Sampson in Cuban waters. Leaving Puget Sound on March 6, 1898, this floating fortress of steel, weighted with her enormous guns and 18-inch thick armor, made the long journey of over 14,500 miles around the southern end of the western continent, and up to Jupiter Inlet on the Florida coast, arriving there on the 24th day of May, and was not delayed an hour on account of her machinery, the only stops being made for coal. Immediately after coaling at Key West she took her place in the blockading line at Santiago, and in the great battle of July 3 quickly developed a power greater than that attained on her trial trip and a speed only slightly less, easily distancing all other s.h.i.+ps immediately engaged except the "Brooklyn," and in connection with the "Brooklyn" forced the fleetest of the Spanish cruisers to surrender.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 119.--BATTLEs.h.i.+P "OREGON."]

The "Oregon" is shown in Fig. 119. She is an armored battles.h.i.+p of the first cla.s.s, built by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, and launched Oct. 26, 1893. Her length is 348 feet, beam 69 feet, draft 24 feet, displacement 10,288 tons, maximum speed 16.79 knots, and coal capacity 1,594 tons. Her side armor is of steel plates 18 inches thick, and her deck is, 2 inches thick. On the turrets the armor is from 6 to 15 inches thick, and on the barbettes it is from 6 to 17 inches thick.

Her engines are of the twin screw, vertical triple expansion direct acting inverted cylinder type. The stroke is 42 inches, and the diameters of the cylinders are 34, 48, and 75 inches, respectively. The battery consists of four 13-inch breech loading rifles, eight 8-inch breech loading rifles, four 6-inch, twenty 6-pounder rapid fire guns, six 1-pounder rapid fire, two Colts, one 3-inch rapid fire field gun, and three torpedo tubes. The 13-inch guns weigh 136,000 pounds each, are 39 feet 9 inches long, are set 18 feet above the water, can be moved through an arc of 270 degrees, and throw a projectile of 1,100 pounds a distance of 12 miles, and with a power which at 1,000 yards would perforate a ma.s.s of steel 2 feet in thickness. The cost of the "Oregon"

was $3,180,000.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 120.--ARMORED CRUISER "BROOKLYN."]

The "Brooklyn" is shown in Fig. 120, and enjoys the distinction of having borne the brunt of the fight of July 3, 1898, having been hit over forty times in that engagement without being disabled. She was built by the William Cramp & Sons s.h.i.+p and Engine Building Company, of Philadelphia, was launched Oct. 2, 1895, and cost $2,986,000. She is an armored cruiser, and is one of the latest and most speedy of that type.

She is 400 feet 6 inches long, 64 feet 8 inches breadth, 24 feet draft, 9,215 tons displacement. Her engines are the twin-screw vertical triple expansion type, imparting a speed of 21.91 knots an hour. Her maximum indicated horse power is 18,769, and her coal capacity is 1,461 tons.

Her battery consists of eight 8-inch breech loading rifles, twelve 5-inch rapid fire guns, twelve 6-pounder rapid fire, four 1-pounder rapid fire, four Colts, two 3-inch rapid fire field guns, and four Whitehead torpedo tubes. Her side armor is 3 inches thick, her turrets 5 inches, her barbettes from 4 to 8 inches, and her deck from 3 to 6 inches. She also has a water line protection of cocoa fibre to automatically close up an opening made by a shot.

Although not a steam vessel, it would be regarded as an omission not to mention among war vessels the "Holland" submarine boat, brought into notice in 1898 by the Spanish American war, and designed to dive below the surface and make attack below the water level. Torpedo boats of this type have been acquired by, and now form a part of, the United States Navy.

Among all the types of steam war vessels which have claimed popular attention the most interesting in proportion to its size is the torpedo boat, for none represent such concentrated pent-up energy and deadly effect as this little demon of the sea. A mere sh.e.l.l in construction, with engine and boiler built for highest speed, and crew suffering untold discomforts and dangers below, this modern engine of destruction, with the speed of an express locomotive, and the helplessness and deadly intent of a scorpion, darts up to the monster battles.h.i.+p under cover of darkness, and before being discovered discharges a torpedo and delivers a mortal wound in the side of the big s.h.i.+p which sends her to the bottom, peris.h.i.+ng perhaps itself in the destruction which it works. The United States has 37 of these torpedo boats. The torpedo boat destroyer is a larger and swifter boat, whose special duty it is to overtake and destroy this dangerous little fighter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 121.--s.h.i.+PPING OF ALL NATIONS. RATIO OF STEAM TO SAILS.]

The growth of steam navigation during the present generation has been wonderfully rapid. The accompanying diagram, Fig. 121, from Mulhall's "Industries and Wealth of Nations," shows in 1860 30 per cent. of steam to 70 per cent. of sailing vessels, while in 1894 the ratio is 80 per cent. of steam to 20 of sailing vessels. The same authority estimated the total horse power of steam vessels in the merchant marine of the world in 1895 to be 12,005,000. Add to this the growth of the past five years, and about 4,000,000 horse power for the steam war vessels of the world's navies, which were not included, and the total horse power of the steam vessels of the world would not be far from twenty million.

This cursory review, in a single chapter, cannot adequately treat this great subject, for a whole library is needed to cover the field. Suffice it to say, however, that among the great scenes and acts in the theatre of human action, no figure has occupied so much attention, and none played so important a part in the drama of life, as the steam vessel.

Its stage setting has been the majestic waters of the earth, and on it the play of the great wars.h.i.+ps has vied in power and grandeur with the flash and vehemence of the lightning, and the whirl and turmoil of the elements. Tense with a deep meaning which no stage simulation could approximate, and with the smoke of conflict for a drop curtain, it has laid tragedies upon the pages of history, and changed the maps of the world; while behind the scenes the great pa.s.senger steamers, with their uninterrupted traffic of human freight, are more silently, but none the less surely, stirring the peoples of the earth into the h.o.m.ogeneous ferment of civilization, and slowly moulding nations into the solidarity of a common brotherhood.

CHAPTER XIII.

PRINTING.

EARLY PRINTING PRESSES--NICHOLSON'S ROTARY PRESS--THE COLUMBIAN AND WAs.h.i.+NGTON PRESSES--KoNIG ROTARY STEAM PRESS--THE HOE TYPE REVOLVING MACHINE--COLOR PRINTING--STEREOTYPING--PAPER MAKING--WOOD PULP--THE LINOTYPE--PLATE PRINTING--LITHOGRAPHY.

The art preservative of all arts it has been rightfully called. Before its birth generation after generation of the human family lived and died, and each was but little wiser, and but little better than its predecessor. Tradition was the misty, vague, and sometimes wholly false dependence of the living, and the experiences of mankind were, in the words of an eminent writer, but like the stern lights of a vessel, which only illumined the pathway over which each had pa.s.sed. But printing gives to the present the c.u.mulative wisdom of the past, and marks a great era of growth in civilization. It conserves and preserves man's thoughts and makes them immortal, so that each generation comes into existence with a richer legacy of ideas, and is guaranteed a higher plane of existence, and a more exalted destiny.

Printing from letters engraved on blocks of wood is an ancient art, having had its origin in China many centuries before the Christian era.

The Chinese method, which is still followed, was to write their characters with a brush on a sheet of paper, and while still wet, the piece of paper was laid face downward on a smooth piece of board to transfer the ink lines, and then all except the ink lines on the board was cut away. Thus they have one type plate for each book page. Printing with movable type, _i. e._, with a separate type for each letter, which may be repeatedly set up into forms of varying composition, is practically the beginning of the modern art of printing. This invention is usually ascribed to Johann Gutenberg, of Mentz, about 1436.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 122.--BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S PRESS, 1725.]

In the earliest printing presses the form was locked up in a tray, and placed upon a platform, and the platen was then brought down upon it by turning a screw in a cross bar above. The first printing press of this type was made by Blaew, of Amsterdam, in 1620, which had a spring to cause the screw to fly back after the impression was taken. The press upon which Benjamin Franklin worked in London in 1725 is of this pattern, and is to be seen in the National Museum at Was.h.i.+ngton. It is almost entirely of wood, and is shown in Fig. 122. About the beginning of the Nineteenth Century Lord Stanhope invented a press entirely of cast iron, in which the oscillating handle operated a toggle to force down the platen in taking the impression. The bed traveled on guide ways, and the tympan and frisket were hinged to fold back and lay in elevated position.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 123.--THE WAs.h.i.+NGTON PRESS.]

The "Columbian" press was the first important American improvement. It was invented by George Clymer, of Philadelphia, and is shown in his British Pat. No. 4,174 of 1817. A compound lever was employed for applying the power. The "Was.h.i.+ngton" press was patented in the United States by Samuel Rust, April 17, 1829. In this press (see Fig. 123) the platen is forced downwardly by a compound lever applied to a toggle joint and is raised by springs on each side. The bed is run in and out by turning a crank on a shaft which has a pulley and belt pa.s.sing around it.

As so far described the presses were worked by hand power. An important step in the advancement of this art was made by the introduction of _power presses_ worked by steam. These arranged the type on the surface of a cylinder. Probably the earliest form of rotary cylinder press is that invented by Nicholson, British Pat. No. 1,748 of 1790. Its main features are described as follows: "The types, being rubbed or sc.r.a.ped narrower toward the foot, were to be fixed radially upon a cylinder.

This cylinder with its type was to revolve in gear with another cylinder covered with soft leather (the impression cylinder), and the type received its ink from another cylinder, to which the inking apparatus was applied. The paper was impressed by pa.s.sing between the type and the impression cylinder."

The first practical success, however, in rotary steam presses was achieved by Konig, a German, who in 1814 set up for the _London Times_ two machines, by which that newspaper was printed at the rate of 1,100 impressions per hour. He obtained British Pat. No. 3,321 of 1810, No.

3,496 of 1811, No. 3,725 of 1813, and No. 3,868 of 1814. Konig's machine was in 1827 succeeded by that of Applegath and Cowper, which was simpler and more rapid.

Many improvements upon the methods for handling the paper were subsequently devised, and double cylinder presses were made which were able to print 4,000 sheets an hour. In 1845 the firm of R. Hoe & Co., which had already been for years engaged in the manufacture of printing presses, brought out the Hoe Type Revolving Machine. The first one of these was placed in the office of the _Philadelphia Ledger_ in 1846, and had four impression cylinders, printing 8,000 papers per hour. The constantly increasing circulation of newspapers, however, continued to make insatiable demands for more rapid work, and to meet this demand the Hoe company in 1871 brought out their continuous web press, in which the paper was furnished to the machine in the form of a roll, and after being printed was separated into sheets. This principle of action gave promise of unlimited speed, and required important reorganization in all parts of the machine. To meet these conditions of increased speed more rapid drying ink had to be produced to prevent blurring, paper of uniform quality and strength had to be made, means had to be devised for printing the opposite side of the web, and severing devices for cutting the web into sheets were needed, but perhaps the most important feature was the device called a gathering and delivering cylinder, whereby the papers could be gathered and disposed of as fast as they could be printed, and much faster than human hands could work. This was the invention of Stephen D. Tucker, and it is the mechanism upon which the speed of the modern press depends, for it would obviously be useless to print papers faster than they could be taken from the machine in proper condition. Many patents were taken by Messrs. Hoe & Tucker covering various improvements, prominent among which were No. 18,640, Nov. 17, 1857; No. 25,199, Aug. 23, 1859 (re-issue No. 4,429); No. 84,627, Dec.

1, 1868 (re-issue No. 4,400); No. 113,769, April 18, 1871; No. 124,460, March 12, 1872; No. 131,217, Sept. 10, 1872. The first rapid printing press of the Hoe Company was set up in the office of the _New York Tribune_ in 1871, and its maximum output was 18,000 an hour. This marked the great era of rapid newspaper printing, and following it many further improvements, such as devices for folding and counting the papers automatically, have been added, until to-day the great Hoe Octuple Press, shown in Fig. 124, is the wonder of the Nineteenth Century. It prints 96,000 papers of four, six, or eight pages in an hour, or at the rate of 1,600 a minute, and these papers are not only printed, but in the same operation and by the same machine are cut, pasted, folded, and counted automatically. Fifty miles of paper of the width of an ordinary newspaper pa.s.s through it each hour from its several rolls. The machine weighs over 60 tons, and is composed of about 16,000 parts, and yet its touch is so deft, and its members so delicately and accurately adjusted that it does not tear the tender sheet as it flies through the machine--so fast that one-fifth of a second only is required to print a page.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 124.--HOE OCTUPLE PRESS. PRINTS, CUTS, PASTES, FOLDS AND COUNTS NEWSPAPERS AT RATE OF 1,600 A MINUTE.]

The latest development in the printing press has been in color printing, which has recently been introduced in the ill.u.s.tration of some of the largest daily newspapers. Such a press contains from 50,000 to 60,000 parts, and its cost is from $35,000 to $45,000.

Collateral with the development of the printing press are three important branches of the art--stereotyping, paper making, and type setting.

_Stereotyping_ was the invention of William Ged, of Edinburgh, in 1731, and was introduced into the United States by David Bruce, of New York, in 1813. The stereotype is simply a moulded duplicate of the type face as set up, the duplicate being cast in the form of a single block of metal, by first taking an impression in plastic material from the faces of the type, after being set up, to form the mould, and then casting, in an easily fusible metal, an exact duplicate of this type face in this mould. This art prevents the wear on the movable type involved in printing, and also avoids the locking up into permanent forms of a large body of valuable type, since a form may be set up, stereotyped, and the type then distributed and set up into another form. Stereotyping, although used in book printing, was not thought practical for newspaper work until about 1861, because of the length of time required for the formation and drying of the mould and the casting of the plate; but about this time great expedition in the formation of the plate was attained by the employment of a steam bed to dry the mould, and a novel form of papier mache matrix, or mould, which could be conveniently disposed around the cylinders of type. The dampened and plastic papier mache sheets are beaten into the face of the type form by means of brushes, are then removed, dried, and used as moulds to cast the stereotype plate from. A stereotype plate can now be made in about seven minutes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 125.--PAPER PULP BEATING ENGINE.]

_Paper Making_ is an important adjunct of the printing art, and its formation cheaply into long rolls of uniform strength is an essential condition of success in the rapid web-perfecting printing press. A Frenchman named Louis Robert about 1799 was the first to make a continuous web of paper, and in 1800 he received from the French Government a reward of 8,000 francs for his discovery. His invention was subsequently taken up and carried to a success by the great English paper makers, the Fourdrinier Brothers, whose name has been given to the machine. In the Fourdrinier process rags are ground to a pulp by a revolving beater (Fig. 125) working in a tank of water. The pulp, duly beaten, refined, screened, and diluted with water, is then piped into the "flow-box" of the Fourdrinier machine. The "flow-box," shown on right of Fig. 126, is a deep rectangular chamber extending across the full width of the machine, from which the pulp flows out in a thin stream onto an endless belt of 70-mesh wire cloth which runs over end rollers. To prevent the stream of pulp from flowing laterally over the edges of the belt, two endless rubber guides or bands, two inches square in cross section, travel with the belt over the first twenty feet of its length, and run over two pulleys above the wire cloth. The upper half of the wire cloth belt is supported by and runs over a series of closely juxtaposed rollers. As the pulp pa.s.ses from the "flow-box" the particles of fibre float in it just as an innumerable mult.i.tude of particles of cotton fibre would float in a stream of water. To unite and interlace the fibres the wire cloth belt is given a lateral oscillating or shaking movement, which serves to interlock the fibres. Meanwhile the water strains through the wire cloth, leaving a thin layer of moist interlaced fibre spread in a white sheet over the surface of the belt. The separation of the water is further a.s.sisted by suction boxes which extend across close beneath the upper run of the belt and are connected to suction pumps.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 126.--FOURDRINIER PAPER MACHINE.]

The wire cloth with its layer of moist pulp now pa.s.ses below a roll which compresses the fibre, and then leaving the machine seen in Fig.

126 it pa.s.ses below a second and larger roll covered with felt, which presses out more of the water. The fibre next pa.s.ses to the "first press," where it is caught up on an endless belt and pa.s.sed between two rollers where more water is pressed out of the sheet. Then it pa.s.ses through a "second press," and finally the sheet commences a long journey up and down over a series of steam-heated drying rolls, by which the sheet is dried.

_Wood-Pulp._--When a purchaser of one of the New York dailies reads the morning's voluminous edition, he little realizes that he holds in his hands the remains of a billet of wood as large as a good-sized club, yet such is the case. Originally made from the fibres of the papyrus plant, and later from rags beaten into a pulp, paper for the printing of books and newspapers is now made almost entirely of wood. In the formation of paper pulp from wood two processes are employed, one known as the soda process, and the other the sulphite process. In both cases the wood is cut into fine chips, and then digested in great drums with chemicals to extract the resinous matter and leave the pure fibrous cellulose, which resembles raw cotton in texture. This industry was developed by Watt and Burgess in 1853 (U. S. Pat. No. 11,343, July 18, 1854), who invented the soda process; by Voelter (U. S. Pat. No. 21,161, Aug. 10, 1858), who devised means for comminuting or shredding the wood; and by Tilghman (U.

S. Pat. No. 70,485, Nov. 5, 1867), who invented the sulphite process.

The logs, usually of spruce or poplar, are first split, as seen at the bottom of Fig. 127, then placed in the chipper, where a revolving disc with knives cuts them into small chips, which are fed to an elevator and raised to a screening device, seen at the top, to remove saw-dust, dirt and knots. In the sulphite process the chips are then delivered into the digesters shown in Fig. 128, which are supplied with sulphurous acid generated in a plant shown in Fig. 129. In the digesters the gummy and resinous matters are dissolved by the heat and chemicals, and the woolly fibre left behind is bleached, washed, and dried, and afterwards made into paper upon the Fourdrinier machine.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 127.--CHIPPING LOGS FOR PAPER PULP.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 128.--DIGESTER FOR WOOD PULP.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 129.--SULPHUROUS ACID PLANT FOR MAKING WOOD PULP.]

It was stated by the _Paper Trade Journal_ in 1897 that the increase in paper making in the United States during the 15 years preceding amounted to 352 per cent., due chiefly to the growth of the wood pulp industry.

The Androscoggin Pulp Mill, established in Maine in 1870, was one of the pioneers in this field. In that State the industry had grown in 1897 to over $13,000,000 and gave employment to more than 5,000 men, but the State of Maine is excelled by both New York and Wisconsin in this industry, for in the same year New York mills had a daily capacity of 1,800,000 pounds; Wisconsin, 670,000; Maine, 665,000, and other States a less capacity. There are over 1,000 paper mills in the United States, and their combined daily capacity amounts to over 13,000 tons. In 1898 the United States exported over five million dollars' worth of paper, and over fifty million pounds of wood pulp. Of the total amount of paper produced in the world Mulhall estimated it in 1890 to be 2,620,000,000 tons annually. This amount is greatly increased at the present time, and by far the larger part of it is manufactured from wood.

In 1891 the _Philadelphia Record_ in an experimental test as to speed, cut trees from the forest, converted them into paper, and then into printed newspapers, all within the s.p.a.ce of 22 hours. At a later period in Germany, where the wood pulp art began, even this expeditious work has been excelled. The trees were felled in the morning at 7:35, converted into paper, and presented at 10 A. M. in the form of printed newspapers, with a record of the news of the forenoon. The great naval edition of the _Scientific American_ of April 30, 1898, consumed a hundred tons of wood pulp paper, and was therefore built upon a material foundation of 125 cords of wood, which cleared off over six acres of well-set spruce timber land. It is mainly wood pulp that has enabled books and newspapers to be made so cheaply, for they are now furnished at a less price than the cost of the paper made in the old way from rags.