PRESS

(Ft. pre e.) The midline by which books, , are printed. Very little improvement in the construction of this instrument took place from the first introduction of the art into Europe till the late Earl Stanhope applied the powers of his mind to the subject, and introduced a new pre of a decidedly superior construction. The old pre was nude of wood, with an iron screw that had a bar fitted in it; to the lower end of this screw was attached, horizontaly,atilt piece of wood, called the platen, which was brouch' down by meaus of the screw, and pre ed the paper upon the U'e of the types; and thus the impre ion was obtained. This pre has, however, entirely given place to pre es made of Iron. Lord Stanhope's pre is constructed of iron, with a screw; but the bar is fixed to an upright spindle, to which a lever is attached connected with a second lever fixed to the top of the screw by a connectinz bar. These two levers are placed nt different angles to each other; and when the platen is brought down to the face of the types, and power is wanted, the two levers take such a position with each other so as to act with the greatc ower entirely by levers. This pre has ere at power, and consequently creat strength, and is made of a size to print larger sheets of paper than any other; but for the common run of printing it does not work so easy as the Stanhope pre . These two are looked upon as the best pre es. There nre a variety of others which are great improvements upon the old construction, and which are held in estimation by printers, but the limits of this work will not admit of the details of their respective merits. The book pre , in the warehouse department, used for pre inj books previous to their delivery, is the common screw pre , with a perpendicular screw, and screwed down by means of an iron bar: it is also used for pre ing paper, when wetted, previous to being printed on, for the purpose [s. 993]