Clinton News-Record, 1974-06-13, Page 19Page 3S r,
.•coonarrtr r rnn y
It was the end of an era. The Miehle press which had been installed only four years earlier was
on its way out. It was scrapped to make way for progress - and a new concept.
John Buchanan (centre) oversees the arrival of the big Fairchild News King press in 1966. Part
of the.wall of the pressroom on Lighthouse Street had to be removed to permit the press units
to be moved inside the building. It weighed nine tons in total and could produce 16,000 12-
page papers completely folded and ready for mailing in one hour.
A young and enterprising R.G. Shrier (centre) watched as the Fairchild News King was moved
into place In the Lighthouse Street plant in 1966. Recently taking over as publisher of the
Signal-Star, Mr. Shrier's hopes were pinned on his belief that offset newspapers were the
coming thing in the area. The press represented a major expenditure - and the means for
growth.
Supplement to the Goderich Signal-Star & Clinton News Record June 13, 1974
Supplement to the Kincardine News June 12, 1974
an Industry
For two weeks, the Signal-
Star left Goderich to be printed
on a web offset press in the city
of London, During that fort-
night, a new Fairchild News
King three-unit web offset press
was installed in the Lighthouse
Street pressroom, and a Kenro
Graphics camera and an
aluminium plate maker'
replaced the Whitlock in the
basement.
By the spring of 1967 - Cen-
tennial Year - after many
rough editions of the Signal-
Star, the press crew had finally
mastered the green giant as it
was so lovingly dubbed.
This press weighing ap-
proximately nine tons, could
produce 16,000 12-page papers
completely folded .and ready for
mailing in one hour! Now
Signal-Star Publishing Limited
was in the position to find more
work for the monster which
had taxed the abilities of ,the
pressroom crew for many
weeks.
A solicitation of all local
weeklies in the area was begun.
The move was on in the
newspaper business toward off-
set printing and slowly but
surely, newspapers in Huron,
Bruce, Perth and Wellington
began to swing over to the new
methods and become regular
customers at the Goderich prin-
ting plant.
Now, typesetting at the
Signal-Star was outdated
again, so by the late spring of
1967 a new system of strike on
cold type setting was in-
troduced. The linotypes and the
Ludlow fell by the wayside.
Business continued to in-
crease. The , Signal-Star now
boasted upwards of 20 pages
per week.
In 1969, typesetting was once
more updated and IBM com-
puterized strike on setting was
installed, This equipment
produced the material from
three typists.
In '1971, 'the typesetting
equipment was modernized
again. This time it was photo
typesetting equipment in place
of IBM which in two short
years had become too slow for
Signal-Star needs. The new
equipment set type in excesaof
25 lines per minute!
In 1972, a fourth unit was
added to the press, increasing
capacity to 16 pages at 16,000
completed papers per hour!
Now the company felt a new
pressure - the pinch for space.
As business had increased, so
had the . staff. The Clinton
News-Record had been pur-
chased in 1967 and The Kin-
cardine News in 1969. Signal-
Star Publishing now owned
three weekly newspapers and a
monthly shopper and was the
printer for more than 20
weeklies and several monthly
publications. More room was
absolutely essential.
In the spring of 1973, the
decision to build a new plant
was made and in November 'of
1973, the company Moved to
the new location in Goderich's
Industrial Park on Highway 21
South.
For the last time, the end
was removed from the
Lighthouse Street pressroom
and without missing a single
issue or disappointing a single
customer, the move was effec-
ted into the ultra modern
10,000 square foot facilities
where Signal-Star Publishing is
now proudly located.
Dairy, directly behind die
e at 37 West Street. A new
room (25 feet by 50 feet)
built on Lighthouse Street
a No. 1 Miehle press with
automatic feeder was in-
ed in it,
is press had capabilities of
•ucing four newspaper
s at one time at speeds in
ss of 1,400 impressions per
It was purchased from a
in. Chatham. The new
s was so large that it took
tractor-trailer floats to
g it from Chatham to
erich and the end of the
ding and part of the roof
left unfinished until the
ipment was put in place on
8-inch thick pad of reinfor-
concrete.
hipping bills on this press
ed a weight in excess of 18
Several days work was in-
ed to install the press and
:et it operational.
he Signal-Star by this time
grown to a bulky 14.16
es per week and the
sprint consumption was ap-
ximately 20-25 tons per
r. Arriving by truck, it was
kaged in bundles of two
ms or 1,000 sheets,
ivalent in size to four pages
aper laid flat out.
uring this period, the late
O's and the early 1960's, the
al-Star as many will recall,
an using` many more pie-
s. This was made possible
the purchase of a machine
ed a Scan-a-graver which
sferred the pictures from
it to plastic plate in one
operation. Before that, it
been necessary to send pic-
,s to the city for costly
ravings.
4so acquired during this
le period was a piece of
ipment called a Ludlow, an
amatic line casting machine
large Advertising Type
es and headings. This
thine operated on much the
e principle as linotypes and
itly streamlined the setting
ds and headings, up to, then
by hand.
he Signal-Star continued
lication with this equip-
t until 1966 when under
present publisher, R.G.
er a whole new concept in
Ling was introduced in the
kly newspaper field in
erich and the surrounding
'ter a thorough study of the
ket and the potential
ket, Mr. Shrier decided
a central printing plant
as was being established
me of the larger cities,
be successful in Goderich.
this idea came the
'ct's first offset press.
October of 1966, the end
once more removed from
Lighthouse Street
room. A large crane was
to remove the Miehle
which had served so well.
1 under the scrap dealer's
ner.
nultaneously, more room
•equired in the West Street
vent and the tremendous
of removing the old
lock press from its 30-year
ings was undertaken, It
out as it had gone in - in
3 - only this time it was in
irm of scrap cast iron. The
ue press was broken into
ins small enough for two
iree good husky men to
up the stairs and discar-