The Project Gutenberg eBook, Paper-Cutting Machines, by Niel Gray, Jr.

Title: Paper-Cutting Machines

A Primer of Information about Paper and Card Trimmers, Hand-Lever Cutters, Power Cutters and Other Automatic Machines for Cutting Paper (Typographic Technical Series Part 1, No. 10)

Author: Niel, Jr., Gray

Release Date: December 28, 2010 [eBook #34774]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAPER-CUTTING MACHINES***

TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES—PART 1, NO. 10

PAPER-CUTTING
MACHINES

A PRIMER OF INFORMATION ABOUT PAPER
AND CARD TRIMMERS, HAND-LEVER
CUTTERS, POWER CUTTERS AND
OTHER AUTOMATIC MACHINES
FOR CUTTING PAPER

By

NIEL GRAY, Jr.

PUBLISHED BY THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA
1918

Copyright, 1918
United Typothetae of America
Chicago, Ill.

Composition and electrotypes contributed by
The Stone Printing and Manufacturing Company
Roanoke, Va.

PREFACE

The paper-cutting machine is a recent development in the industrial world. Its importance in the graphic arts is only just being recognized. That it has heretofore been considered an apparatus of minor importance is proven by the lack of information on the subject, either historical or technical. No mention is made of a paper-cutting machine in the eleventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, either in the index or under the various trade headings. Mention is omitted entirely from De Vinne's History of Printing. There are no references to it in many other standard books, nor in the engineering libraries; neither are there any comprehensive articles on the subject in any of the trade journals, either American or foreign. A few scattered references may be found in dictionaries and manuals having to do with bookbinding and presswork.

This manual on the paper-cutting machine has the distinction of being, as far as the author knows, the first book ever written on the subject. It will endeavor to help toward a better understanding of this important mechanism, its use and care, and it may also serve as a starting point from which subsequent treatises may be written.

The difficulty of making a successful machine of this kind to meet the new demands for accuracy, speed, convenience, and safety, has been overcome gradually in recent years and there are now several machines quite efficient and adequate to meet these demands of the modern manufacturer. To coördinate a number of inanimate pieces of steel and iron, to operate at high speed with precision, requires fine skill. The evolution from the first cutting machine—the old hand-operated wooden plough and press—to the present power-driven steel mechanism is like the advance from the old wooden sailing vessel to the modern steel ship.

The objects of this manual are to acquaint the beginner with the essential features of the machine itself and to provide clear, comprehensive information which will enable him to become a competent operator. It is not possible within so small a book to give complete detailed instructions for all the different conditions which may arise in the many kinds of work done in establishments where paper-cutting machines are used. Each of these places has its own particular requirements; and while the machine can do its part quickly and efficiently it needs the intelligent and skillful operator to get good results. The instructions given herein for a few cases, which have been made as general as possible, indicate the complexity of this operation as carried on in modern workshops. There is necessity for a careful study of the subject in any important industry to insure this part of the work being successful and profitable.

Not all the kinds of cutting machines in use in the printing and bindery industries are considered in the following pages, but simply the typical machines in common use for cutting and trimming printed paper. There are many other styles, such as die-cutting presses, automatic book-trimming machines, punching, stabbing, and eyeletting machines, rotary cutters and revolving-blade cutters attached to presses and other paper machines. These might properly be classed under the title, but as they are chiefly specialized machines the limits of space do not permit a consideration of them here.

CONTENTS