tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}img"/> Fig. 35. Furniture Cabinet for labor-saving fonts of wood or metal furniture. Fig. 36. Imposing Stone Frame with labor-saving furniture in side. Fig. 37. Standing Galley, or Bank, with letter boards, galley racks, and galley top. In the composing-room of a generation ago—and unfortunately in some unprogressive places today—the strips of blank material known as reglet and wood furniture were usually kept in disorderly manner in a large box or drawer under or near the imposing stone. The material was usually obtained in lengths of one yard and a small hand-saw was at hand to cut any lengths required. In time there was an accumulation of all sorts jumbled together in the drawer in a manner to make it difficult to find needed pieces without loss of time. Often the quickest way to obtain the right piece was to cut off a longer one.

This wasteful method was the universal custom before the era of the labor-saving assortment stored in orderly fashion in a cabinet and placed within instant reach of the workman. The common-sense modern method is the well-stocked rack or cabinet with a compartment for each size of the series, with the compartments numbered and the larger pieces of the material numbered to correspond. An arrangement like this invites an orderly habit in persons who would otherwise be careless.

The usual style of furniture rack is shown in Fig. 35. This is made in several sizes to hold quantities large or small according to the requirements of the room. The position of a rack like this should be near the stone at a level near the height of the working surface.

Another style of furniture and reglet rack is that fitted into the frame of the imposing table or into an adjoining stand or cabinet. This is illustrated in Fig. 36. It will be noticed that all the different lengths present a surface flush with the outside of the frame. This is because the depth of the compartments is varied to accommodate the several lengths of furniture at the back, instead of at the front as shown in Fig. 35.

Special Cabinets

Fig. 38. Work Bench and Auxiliary Cabinet. Fig. 39. Cabinet for Script Type, Borders, or other small characters which can be kept standing face up. Among the new articles supplied for the compositor's use are cabinets for holding assortments of metal furniture, brass rules, leads, slugs, and small cases or drawers for special material. The tops of some of these cabinets hold the lead and rule cutter and the rule-mitering machine, with a small inclined shelf above, as shown in Fig. 38. These cabinets will hold a large amount of material in small space. When conveniently situated and properly supplied with material they save time and effort on the part of the compositor.