HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1966-11-03, Page 9i
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THE GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR THURSDAY, NOV, 3, 1966
Anatomy
fAn
Offset
Newspaper
Three -unit, web -fed offset press in The Signal -Star pressroom rolls off The Signal -Star; but also a number of other weekly newspapers in Western
hin e is a folder
18,000 copies an hour. The press was so much teller and wider than the � Ontario. The inverted triangle at the near endof the mac ,
it x Lac bet -:.cite walL11ad to be knocked out of the end of the which replaces hand folding. Web -fed refers to .the newsprint web which
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ressrooain ,fist' - r�attn - ; r»ontesf rt�t saf,•�Gatst< �.,� , _, �: ...
� to it�nsldec::lSlat-only��_,:::#L��pr���.,:�e us�:�+��?! _ !rk �-.,� .��.,- ; � � ,_::.
Second Soctiof, pogos 9,
What Makes
ors" The Signal -Star
Look Like
It Does?
The Goderich Signal -Star is now
being printed on a new offset, web -
fed press in its press room.
This press employs a process
that is completely new to The Sig-
nal -Star, and this, brief outline of
that process- is an attempt to ex-
plain it to the reading public.
The main difference between
an offset press and the letter press
on which The Signal -Star was .pub-
lished for 19 years is that it prints
from a flat surface rather than
raised letters in metal ortype.
Type is still used, but only to
print a reproduction proof of the
type. The -repro proof is. pasted into
This sheet is wrapped around
the cylinders of the press. It is from
this plate that the actual printing
is done as ink is applied to the plate
and it rolls oArer the newsprint. . -
Web feeding refers to the fact
that the newsprint comes in rolls
weighing half a ton, rather than in
sheets as was the case with 'the
previous press. ,
This new press produces 18,000
copies an hour. Its predecessor
printed 1,800 an hour.
As can be seen from that com-
parison it is a fast method of print-
ing, and one which is hoped will
produce the best product possible
for the subscribers of The Signal-
4timeitg:Tialryne page size as that which4._._ Start'
c
Th
btism` -sho� r�rrrr�Yone�-t�
Srignal-Star.• press is going through a period- of
-
-When—Ws- -page---is--ec p1e to - it adjustment, and there are un -
is photographed, producing a ?osi- doubtedly subscribers who .have re-
tive image on film. This film is plac-
ed over a sheet of sensitive alum-
inum and the image from the posi-
tive burned into the aluminum sheet
with carbon arcs.
ceived copies that have too much,
ink or too little.
We ask them to have patience
during this `difficult" period that
comes in the life of all infants.
404
***ve
Key to effective offset printing is a clear copy of the
material which is to be reproduced by the press. Here
Wallace Chalmers, of The Signal -Star staff studies a
"good repro proof" for imperfections. The repro proof is
then pasted into a page and in several steps photo-
graphed onto an aluminum plate which is placed upon
the press and does the, printing as it rolls over the
newsprint. • -
On • light table The Signal -Star editor R. W. Kearns cuts by a seconclahotographic process and fitted into the posl-
the portions of the repro proof needed for particular parts tive film before it is burned onto the aluminum shuts. The
of the newspaper and pastes onto waxed sheets to which light table is glass topped, illuminated from below.
the proof easily adheres. Photographic prints are half -toned
In the chain between repro proof and printed product the big
copy camera is an important Iiitk. It is operated by The Signal -
Star Mechanical superintendent Stan Hills. His job is to photo-
graph the pasted pages producing a positive in film.
Superintendent Hills takes the positive film to his plate making
machine. The positive is laid over an aluminum plate and the
carbon arcs burn the image into the aluminum plat6. The plate
is thin and wraps around a cylinder on the press.
Once the plate is made, pressman John Buchanan crimps its' edges, -puts paper
backing on it called packing, and wraps it around the cylinder„on the press.
Carl) piste • contains two pages of a regular sized newspaper or four of the
tabloid size. The press is pneumatically controlled from a bank of dials.