ELECTRICITY IN THE PRESS ROOM.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1099, 1 May 1883, Page 3

ELECTRICITY IN THE PRESS ROOM.

We looked into the press-room of one of Boston's large printing establishments this week, The foreman was furious and the proprietor sorrowful, Frictional electricity in the printed sheet was the immediate cause of their trouble. It is" an interesting and not uncommon phenomenon, and is not easily explained nor easily controlled. It - had puzzled Professors Bell and Wadman, and the Dest electricians we have about here. The packiDg upon ths press cylinder seems to act as an inductor, and the paper leaves the press thoroughly electrified. We watched a press running off 1700 per hour. Suddenly the printed sheets clung about the cylinder-as though pasted to it, and had to be torn off in strips. Again, we lifted a few freshly-printed leaves, and they rippad and cracked like the stitches of an old coat. Thon wc saw a lot of cardboard being printed. The sheets stuck together as solid as a brick, and could not be separated until the electricity passed off. A piece of printer's brass rule placed in this pile of cardboard with an end projecting threw off sparks when approached within two inches by another piece of rule. Two sheets sucked together when held fourteen inches apart,

Wet rags placed around the delivery table aod led into a bucket of wate r charged the water with electricity in forty minutes, so that a positive shock was felt upon a hand being immersed in the pan, Electrical currents were felt in the hands and arms upon handling a pile of paper eight minutes after being printed. These are only a few of many curious experiences. The bother to the printer is a considerable one. It entails inconvenience and a serious loss. Valuable work is frequently spoiled by the electricity packing the leaves so closely as to offset the fresh ink. Then the presses have to ba low-speeded with frequent stoppages. Nothing so demoralises the press-room as this mystery of factional electricity when under full headway. The theories for controlling it don't seem to work, when applied, worth a cent.—Paper Werld.