holes in the sheet, which is to be placed on the same points when the impression is to be made on the other side. In preparing the press for working, the parchment which covers the outer tympan is wetted till it is very soft, in order to render the impression more equable; the blankets are then put in, and secured from slipping by the inner tympan: then, while one pressman is beating the letter with the balls covered with ink taken from the ink-block, the other person places a sheet of white paper on the tympan sheet; turns down the frisket upon it, to keep the paper clean and prevent its slipping; then, bringing the tympans upon the form, and turning the rounce, he brings the form with the stone, &c. weighing about 300 lbs. weight, under the platen; pulls with the bar, by which means the platen presses the blankets and paper close upon the letter, whereby half the form is printed; then easing the bar, he draws the form still forward; gives a second pull, and letting go the bar, turns back the form, takes up the tympans and frisket, takes out the printed sheet, and lays on a fresh one; and this is repeated till he has taken off the impression upon the full number of sheets the edition is to consist of. One side of the sheet being thus printed, the form for the other is laid upon the press, and worked off in the same manner.

For a minute description of the several parts of a common press, of the various implements employed in printing, and of Lord Stanhope's improved press, the reader is referred to Mr. Stower's valuable work " The Printer's Grammar."

We must here say a little respecting the recent improvements in printing; though we regret that we have not been able to obtain any other than a very general account. For several weeks the "Times" newspaper has been entirely printed by machinery; that is to say, the forms, or pages, being composed and made up, in the usual manner, have been worked off by means of machinery, moved by a steam engine, instead of being printed at the common press. The paper, since this change in the mode of working, has not only been as well printed, but much better than before. The number that can be worked in one hour is stated at 1100.

It is somewhat remarkable, that while this invention, which has taken a long time to perfect it, has been in progress, another, for the same object, was also carrying on by Mr. Bacon, of Norwich, and Mr. Donkin (engineer) of Bermondsey, which was set to work within a day after the former. Mr. Bacon has published a prospectus of the latter machine, to which is added the following notice :-" Since this prospectus was printed, the machine has been set to work on a French Testament in this 'city, for the British and Foreign Bible Society. It is worked

by one man and two boys; and we may venture to affirm, that, in the ordinary manner in which the London newspapers are printed, many more copies than the number stated by the Times could be taken off with the greatest ease. Dr. Milner, the Master of Queen's College, Mr. Wood, President of St. John's, and Mr. Kaye, since Master of Christ's, as a deputation from the Syndics of the Press at Cambridge, have also inspected the machine, and have manifested, by their readiness to contract with the Patentees for its introduction at the University, all the zeal which might be expected in that body for the cause of literature and of the art.-These are the earliest patrons of the machine."

As we cannot convey to our readers a full description of either of these machines, we must content ourselves with briefly stating their general principles. In that of the Times, the forms are laid upon a travelling carriage, as in the common press, but having a range of such length that the form, by passing under a system of rollers, receives a charge of ink, and still going on, receives from another roller the sheet pressed down upon it, by passing under the roller: when through, the sheet is taken off; the form receives another charge of ink from rollers, and, on its return, presents another sheet, which has, in the interim, been placed on the paper roller-and so alternately, in going and returning, a sheet is printed.-In Messrs. Bacon and Donkin's machine, there is no reciprocating motion. The types are placed on a prism of as many sides as the nature of the form requires. This prism occupies the centre of an upright frame, like the rollers in a copperplate-press: below this is a kind of compound-faced roller, suited to the form of the prism: between these, the sheets to be printed (attached to the face of a piece of cloth) are passed in succession; and, in the mean time, the revolution of the type-prism brings its different portions in succession under a system of inking-rollers placed over it, by which it receives charges of ink, to be delivered to the sheets as they pass in succession between the lower rollers.

The press of the Times has cost the proprietors upwards of eight thousand pounds-a sum, however, which will be speedily refunded by the savings that will arise from the invention, as it allows the discharge of pressmen on that establishment whose wages amounted to 251. a week; and the number of compositors will be also much reduced, by its obviating the necessity for a duplicate of the types of the inner form, which the more respectable daily prints have of late years found necessary. It was first stated in the Times that the apparatus multiplied copies at the rate of 1100 per hour: it will produce them now with much greater speed, and with astonishing clearness and beauty.

The invention is protected by a patent; but itself is its best protector. The apparatus requires a great space, and is very complicated; the plan of the old printing-press is scarcely brought to mind by that of the new one: the carriage and something like its ribs are the only parts that have any likeness to Caxton's or Stanhope's machinery. The ink is communicated to the types by several rollers, under which the form passes in its progress towards a cylinder of about three feet diameter, on which the sheets of paper are successively laid so that something of the principle of the copperplate-press is in this new apparatus extended to the letter-press. The ink is distributed on the rollers with so much accuracy, that the terms "monks" and "friars" will in a few years be unknown in printing. Some inconvenience from "picks" remains to be prevented. Confident expectations are entertained that the apparatus will be in a short time so simplified, as to bring the expence of it within the means of all respectable printers.

As this invention has raised great expectations, we insert extracts from a letter published by Mr. Koenig on this subject; it shews, also, the state of the Continent, and suggests one cause of British superiority, in whatever operations depend on ingenuity and industry.

"The first idea relating to this invention occurred to me eleven years ago, and the first experiments were made soon after in Saxony. My original plan was confined to an improved press, in which the operation of laying the ink on the types was to be performed by an apparatus connected with the motion of the coffin, in such a manner that one hand could be saved. As nothing could be gained in expedition by this plan, the idea soon suggested itself to move this press by machinery, or to reduce the several operations to one rotatory motion, to which any first mover might be applied. Its execution was not completed, when I found myself under the necessity of seeking assistance for the further prosecution of it.

"There is on the Coutinent no sort of encouragement for an enterprise of this description. The system of Patents, as it exists in England, being either unknown, or not adopted in the continental states, there is no inducement for individual enterprise, and projectors are commonly obliged to offer their discoveries to some Government, and to solicit encouragement. I need hardly add, that scarcely ever is an invention brought to maturity under such circumstances. The well-known fact, that almost every invention seeks, as it were, refuge in England, and is there brought to perfection, where the Government does not afford any other protection to inventors than what is derived from the wisdom of the laws, seems to indicate that the Conti

hent has yet to learn from her the best manner of encouraging the mechanical arts. I had my full share in the ordinary disappointments of continental projectors; and, after having lost in Germany and Russia upwards of two years in fruitless applications, I arrived about eight years ago in England, where I was introduced to and soon joined by Mr. Thomas Bensley, a printer so well known to the literary world, that the mention of his name is sufficient.

"The execution of the plan was begun, and as the experiments became very expensive, two other gentlemen, Mr.George Woodfall, and Mr. Richard Taylor, eminent printers in London, joined us.

"After many obstructions and delays, the first printing machine was completed exactly on the plan which I have described in the specification of my first patent, dated March 29, 1810. It was set to work in April 1811. The sheet (H) of the new Annual Register for 1810, "Principal Occurrences," 3000 copies, was printed with it, and is, I have no doubt, the first part of a book ever printed with a machine.

"The actual use of it, however, soon suggested new ideas, and led to the rendering it less complicated and more powerful. Impressions produced by means of cylinders, which had likewise been already attempted by others without the desired effect, were again tried by me upon a new plan, namely, to place the sheet round the cylinder, thereby making it, as it were, part of its periphery. After some promising experi ments, the plan for a new machine on this principle was made, and a manufactory established for the purpose. Since this time I have had the benefit of my friend Mr. Bauer's assistance, who, by the judgment and precision with which he executed my plans, has greatly contributed to their success. The new machine was completed in December, 1812, after great difficulties attending the cylindrical impression. Sheets G and X of Clarkson's Life of Penn, vol. 1, are the first printed with an entirely cylindrical press. The papers of the Protestant Union were also printed with it in February and March, 1813. Sheet M of Aiton's Hortus Kewensis, vol. V. will shew the progress of improvement in the use of this machine. All together there are about 160,000 sheets now in the hands of the public, printed with this machine, which with the aid of two hands, takes off 800 in the hour. It is accurately described in the specifications of my two patents, dated Oct. 30, 1812, and July 23, 1813.

"The machines now printing the Times and Evening Mail are on the same principle as that just mentioned; but they have been contrived for the particular purpose of a newspaper of extensive circulation, where expedition is the great object.

"The first introduction of the invention was considered by some as a difficult and even hazardous step. The proprietor of the Times having made that his task, the public are aware that it is in good hands.

"FR. KOENIG."

The Rolling-PRESS used in copper-plate printing is represented in fig. 3. pl. XV. This machine, like the common press, may be divided into two parts, the body and carriage, analogous to those in the other.

The body consists of two cheeks PP of different dimensions, ordinarily about four feet and a half high, a foot thick, and two and a half apart, joined at top and bottom by cross pieces. The cheeks are placed perpendicularly on a wooden stand or foot, LM, horizontally placed, and sustaining the whole press. From the foot likewise rise four other perpendicular pieces, c, c, c, c, joined by other cross or horizontal ones d, d, d, which may be considered as the carriage of the press, as serving to sustain a smooth, even plank, HIK, about four feet and a half long, two feet and a half broad, and an inch and a half thick; upon which the engraven plate is to be placed. Into the cheeks go two wooden cylinders of rollers DE, FG, about six inches in diame ter, borne up at each end by the cheeks, whose ends, which are lessened to about two inches diameter, and called trunnions, turn in the cheeks between two pieces of wood, in form of halfmoons, lined with polished iron, to facilitate the motion. The space in the half-moons, left vacant by the trunnion, is filled with paper, pasteboard, &c. that they may be raised and lowered at discretion; so as only to leave the space between them necessary for the passage of the plank charged with the plate, paper, and blankets. Lastly, to one of the trunnions of the upper roller is fastened a cross, consisting of two levers AB, or pieces of wood, traversing each other. The arms of this cross serve in lieu of the handle of the common press; giving a motion to the upper roller, and that to the under one; by which means the plank is protruded, or passed between them.

The practice of printing from copper-plates is nearly as follows. The workmen take a small quantity of the ink on a rubber made of linen rags, strongly bound about each other, and with this smear the whole face of the plate as it lies on a grate over a charcoal fire. The plate being sufficiently inked, they first wipe it over with a foul rag, then with the palm of their left hand, and then with that of the right; and to dry the hand and forward the wiping, they rub it from time to time in whiting. The address of the workman consists in wiping the plate perfectly clean, without taking the ink out of the engraving. The. plate thus prepared is laid on the plank of the press; over the