FROM REEL TO READER

Evening Star, Issue 20059, 27 December 1928, Page 5

FROM REEL TO READER

Elaborate Modem Equipment for Production of the ‘Evening Star’’ EACPI part forging a link in the great chain of daily newspaper production, the machinery and equipment installed in the ■ Star’s ’ new buijding is so intricate as to be almost incomprehensible to the average person, yet in the complete installation the guiding principles have been speed, safety, and modern ellicicncv. MAMMOTH PRINTING PRESS. ' .Wliat a midget is the machine which for years has turned out the issues of the ‘ Star ’ nightly with perfect punctuality when compared with the mammoth Goss, which is destined ' to produce the ‘ Star ’ at a high speed when tire change over is made! This Goss unit typo press is a mammoth, and its selection was made with a complete realisation of its .durability and speed, combined with all the latest embodiments of modern engineering. If the Goss in the new building were placed alongside the old Goss rotary press, which for thirty years has turned out millions of copies right up to schedule time with unfailing regularity, the Bond street plant would be dwarfed. With a length of 57ft over all, a width of 10ft, and standing lift above the floor level, this huge four-unit press is undoubtedly the big engineering attraction of the wonderfully modem equipped newspaper home which dominates Lower Stuart street. 3(1,000 COPIES AN HOUR. When the control button is pressed the two 45 h.p. motors will drive the Goss at a speed at which 36,000 copies per hour can be produced. This will ensure the ‘ Star ’ being issued so rapidly that the latest news will be out at the earliest moment and being read in every home in Dunedin and the surrounding districts with the least ■ possible delay after the paper goes to press. The folding mechanism of the Goss is typical of the new era of high speed. In a smooth, frictionlcss, and noiseless motion the rotary folder docs its work. The double rolls of paper, each four pages wide, arc placed at cither end of the machine, two rolls being used at each end. The numerous inking rollers (there are fifty-six of them in use on the machine) are brought into position by one movement of a lever on each printing unit. The stereotype plates, expeditiously made by the autoplalc, are carried across to the Goss. The patented quick plate lock-up is an outstanding feature of,the press; it is an improvement of great value in ensuring a quick start. ’ The manual labour involved in locking the plates on the cylinders has been greatly reduced, and the, time necessary for the operation practically eliminated. By a half turn of a “ T ” wrench two plates arc securely locked almost instantaneously on the cylinder. SIMPLICITY AND SAFETY. By the use of this device the danger of plates working loose after they arc once locked in position—a mishap which might seriously damage the machine—is obviated, for Ht is impossible for the clips to recode from the plates without the wrench being first inserted and given a half turn. The device is also “ fool proof ” in so far as it is impossible for the operator to only half-lock the plate,, for after the wrench is inserted in the socket and partially turned it cannot be removed until the plate is completely locked. This will ensure safety at the rush periods which are always encountered at printing hours. / In the big pit under the rotary press is the motor equipment.This consists of a pair of 45 h.p. Witton-James motors, which’ can be driven separately or coupled together both electrically and mechanically. The controls for the motors are placed at various positions round the machine, ancUulso at the control station on the floor above, enabling the press to be started or stopped from any position at which the operators arc working and watching the functioning of the machine. Each motor is fitted with a small auxiliary starting motor which automatically comes to a standstill when the speed of the press is sufficient for the big motors to take over the load. On the driving ride of the press, disconnection can be made of any one of the press units if breakdowns should occur during printing, in which case the other units could continue printing. INK SUPPLY A FEATURE. Another modern feature of the printing room is the huge tank under the concrete .floor for holding the ink for the printing. This is pumped through pipes to various parts of the machine, thus doing away with the old method of barrel filling of the ink fountains. The regulation oi the flow of ink is simply controlled by screws. Good inking makes for the success of a newspaper as a finished product, and any adjustments found necessary can bo made from the ends of the fountains. The rotary press is a wonder of mechanism, and nothing,fascinates more than the gentle rhythm of the drive as the endless bands of paper sway gently as they rush headlong up and down through a series of rollers and the inked stereotyped plates. Undoubtedly one of the latest and best time-savers is the “ stop press ” box, a device by which late news may be printed direct front linotype slugs in a space left blank on the stereotype plates. NERVE CENTRE OF THE BUILDING. The electrical control appliances for the whole building and plant are installed on the mezzanine floor in the machine room. The rotary press control consists of two panels, each with a complicated system of levers and switches, both automatic and hand, operated. The electrical coupling of the two machine motors is made on these panels. The main switchboard controlling light, power, and beat throughout the building is situated here. The board is marked by its compactness. On it provision has been made for livening all electric circuits from the auxiliary generating plant should Waipori fail at any time. CARRIAGE OP COPY. The ‘ Star ’ Office is fitted with the Lamson pneumatic tube system, by which copy will be carried from the main office to the sub-editorial and news rooms" and to and from the printing department. Suction for the system is obtained by a rotary pump driven by an electric motor. It is quickly comprehended that the efficiency, of the system must be maintained at all times, for blocked tubes .would cause most embarrassing delays and inconvenience. And with

the foresight shown in the full equipping of the building the pump and motor have been placed in the machine room, handy at all times to the engineering staff. ELECTRIC HOISTS AND HAULAGE. Across the right-of-way which swings in from Cumberland street and turns towards Stuart street into the yard at the rear of the commercial office is the paper room, where sufficient paper for many nights’ issues of the ‘ Star ’is stored. Hundreds of reels of paper are packed ceiling-high, just as they have been transported from the wharf of! the ships from Canada. Before being placed on the big rotary press the reels have to be rewound and cut to the required size. Modern efficiency again steps in. Time was when operators in the printing room heaved and trundled the half-ton reels of paper across the floor to the rewinding and slitting machine. In the new building the latest “Morris” overhead electric hoist has been installed. The runway, suspended just below the lofty ceilings, runs from the furthest end of the paper store, across the right-of-way, into the machine room, over the Crabtree rewinding and slitting machine, 'and then on over the press. The pulling of a cord elevates or drops the load. By the Morris hoist the paper rolls will be brought into the machine room: and there rewound and cut to size. SIGN OF CHANGING TIMES. Time is the essence of efficiency at press hours in a newspaper office, and every minute saved ensures earlier publication. In most newspaper offices the stereotype department is close to the news room, and the plates have to be despatched to the press by lifts. The visitor'to a publishing house in the past has always'had more than passing sympathy with the stereotypers, who perforce have had to work in intense heat and heavy fumes from the melting metal. The manufacture of plates has undergone many radical improvements,.and the operators of the ‘ Star’s ’ autoplate plant will find conditions vastly changed from those to which they have been accustomed for years,. Gone are the heat and the fumes, and the handling of hot metal will not be necessary, STEREOTYPING PLANT. The matrices from which the plates will be cast arc prepared in a comer of the news room and despatched by the lift to the slcroo-

type plant in a big corner of the press room. The Pony Autoplate (the latest plate-casting machine manufactured by Linotype and Machinery Ltd.) consists of a vertical casting mechanism, horizontal boring arch and cooling apparatus. Ihe matrix is set in the clips, and that is the first of the fifteen operations which form a complete cycle to be performed for every plate turned out. The core is raised vertically and looked .and the casting is commenced. Prom the huge pot of two-ton capacity molten metal is. pumped into the The pot is a model of up:to-dato methods. It is completely enclosed, reducing the. fumes (which escape into the open air through a tall chimney) to a minimum. Heat for the pot is obtained from the oil-o-roatic system, in which crude oil is burned. The burner is fitted in front of the* pot and operated in identically the same way, as oil-burning apparatus for a ship’s boilers. • , With a drive by electric motor the remainder of the operations in the plate manufacture cycle are labour-saving, the plates being shaved and trimmed without being lifted from the machine. The operator has merely to switch on the motor and start the various operations of the machine, and he is not now called on to handle the hot plates,. In the past the plates had to be plunged into cold water.

for cooling, but on the puny auloplalc they arc pushed into the cooler, a cover is brought over the plate, and the operator presses a button }\'hich controls an effective water spray for cooling purposes. If necessary the autopfatc can turn out three plates each minute! Once again provision lias been made for emergencies, and a complete, independently operated plant for trimming and,shaving has been installed handy to the autoplatc.. HEATING THE BUILDING. Opening off the machine room is the boiler-house, tho'Hoor of which is sunk some feet below the level of the building proper; From a Robin Hood major boiler hot water to heat the whole of the premises is obtained. Circulation is obtained-by four massive-pipes which branch off at the ceiling to the various floors. TheTboiler is capable of heating a- greater area of space than in the ‘ Star ’ building, so that no matter how low the temperature be outside- the staff will work under most congenial conditions. In' the boiler-house''is. a {.mailer* destructor, in which the used paper collected from “various departments will be destroyed, the heat generated being utilised in the hot-water service which is connected to numerous wash basins.-' LIFT AND DELIVERY ROOM. Adjoining the boiler-house is the well for the goods lift?/- -which, will servo the upper floors. Easy entrance is made from %e ; lift to the delivery and receiving room for the jobbing department. The two goods lifts and the passenger elevator are of the—Way-good-Olis make, supplied and erected J>y Messrs .Turnbull and-Jones., COMPOSITION ROLLER MAKING. A decided innovation in equipment so far as New Zealand newspaper offices are concerned , is the composition roller casting plant, which is housed in a spacious room on the other side of the right-of-way. The tollers for the rotary press are made there. The composition is something like glue or gelatine, and is melted in a watcKjticketed boiler and'forced into-the toller moulds by means of an electricallyoperated pump. The old method of casting was to pour the composi’tion into the top of the moulds, but this did not allow air bubbles to escape, and faulty rollers often resulted. In the new method the composition is forcexl up from the bottom. After the cast is made the moulds are cooled by a water spray, find ‘when the roller has thoroughly set-it is- drawn vertically.from the mould.- As the moulds stand 10ft high and an additional 10ft is required for withdrawing the roller, it follows that a lofty room is required. STAND-BY GENERATING PLANT. A smooth running power unit of the greatest reliability, the key* word of the- design being simplicity, is the Diesel engine, which wil]

be used as a stand-by electricity generating plant. By means of compressed air at a comparatively low pressure the engine can be started from cold. It will pick up speed with fuel oil iu a few revolutions, and is ready for the load within a minute. The whole machinery in the building will'depend on Waipori for its driving power, but with so much plant necessary to be kept going steadily throughout the day to produce the evening’s newspaper, a standby qjcctric generating plant is Essential. The heavy oil engine was made by the National Gas Engine Company, Ltd., Ashtonmnder-Lyne, Manchester, It is of the three-cylinder vertical type, and develops 150-160 h.p.. It is directly coupled to the alternating generator, producing current at 400 volts, an d the exciter dynamo flywheel is a solid disc weighing three and a half tons and making 350 revolutions a minute. The boss of the wheel serves as a half-coupling, to which the electrical generator is directly coupled. The National engine operates upon the four-stroke cycle. There is an absence of complication, and easy accessibility to all bearings and working parts is a feature. The reciprocating-parts arc totally enclosed and lubricated by a forced-feed system. The big engine is anchored in a solid block of concrete of 540 cubic feet, being 18ft long, 6ft wide, and sft deep. This foundation is necessary, as the engine stands over 10ft high and 16ft long, and weighs 171, tons. The tank, with its capacity for 500 gallons of heavy oil for the engine, is-sunk under the composition roller department floor. From the tank oil is also supplied for the burner under the autoplate melting pot. AIR COMPRESSOR. The compressor plant is directly connected to a petrol engine, and air compressed to a 3001 b pressure is stored in two vertical steel cylinders. Above this machine a water- tank is installed, and water to cool the air pump and engine cylinders circulates through it. JOB.PRINTING DEPARTMENT. Froi’n the engine room to the job-printing department, facing Cumberland street, on the first floor, access is obtained by a spiral stairway from Cumberland street. In the room there will be four Wharfeclalc machines, each driven by a separate electric motor, and three automatic presses, connected to a long line of shafting. On these machines any class of printing, from visiting cards to rich colour designs, can bo printed. Close to this department the jobbing stereo, and rcraclting plant for lino metal is housed. The used metal will come down a chute from the news room, directly above, into the melting pot and be recast into suitable ingots, which null then bo despatched by lifts back to the linotype room. The stcrcotypers’

trimming saws and surfacing machines, all of the latest design,, are driven line of shafting.. PROCESS DEPARTMENT. Half-tone and line blocks are made in the splendidly-equipped process department, which is equipped with the latest Penrose camera and Levy screens and two arc lamps of the latest design. The equipment also includes a guillotine for cutting the plates, a bevelling, machine, a saw and trimmer, and a motor-driven Hunter-Penrose etching machine, eliptograph for cutting the blocks into the shapes required, and various other appliances. Photographs of newsy happenings are to appear i~ the i Star,’ and the photographic equipment includes field cameras of the latest design used by Fleet street newspaper camera, men. Py the modern apparatus a plate can be developed, a print''.taken, and a block completed in a short time bv the staff.

THE NEWS ROOM. _ On ihc third floor is (lie news room, where seventeen: British linotypes comprise the full battery. Four of; the linotypes have metal pots* electrically heated. 'All the machines have their own driving motors and are arranged in sets of two so as to allow a maximum of light for the operators. Two of the machines .have .side .piagazines, for display type. 'n A Goss stereotype mangle, for both' wet and dry flongs, Mtuatei near the lift well,' A Hoe press for drying wet flongs is also among the equipment. From here the dry matrices will be sen F-down to the pony auloplate. _ i The hand-composing room is at the northern end of ’■'Che tigdepartment, and it is fitted with six steel type frames and cabinets, of British' manufacture. Each cabinet has its own Alectric light fit-*' lipgs. The cabinets are dustproof. The news room machinery will 'be easily handled by & two-ton lift which,runs out over the right-of-way- Goods can be ]iited b ’ om ' the ground-level, and the hoist will also serve the lower floors ENVELOPES AND BOX-MAKING PLANT. The envelope and box factory, on the top floor, is modernly equipped. The eight automatic envelope machines can turn out over one million gum folded and dried envelopes in a week. One of the latest machines imported for this section of the factory is a stapling machine for envelopes, and another acquisition is an eyelettingmachine for labels and tags. Intricate and speedy machines are located in the box-making department, where boxes of every shape and size are made for all parts of the dominion. The latest machinery installed comprises a Bonus bending and slotting machine which does not weaken the board in the bending operation, and a double-headed cornering machine with attachable slotting knives for cartons. In the making of cartons and boxes the new gumming machine will be a decided'factor in speedy production. The boxes are fed into the machine and then pass on' to an endless chain, at which ten girls can work on covering and labelling.