_Laboratory apparatus._--Mine consists of: 1, slab; 2, roller; 3, bottle
of benzole (paraffin, turpentine, or solution of washing soda); 4, a
funnel, with blotting-paper to act as a filter; 5, printer's ink; 6, rags
and duster; 7, a small glass dish; 8, cards to print on.
The _Slab_ is a sheet of polished copper, 10-1/2 inches by 7, and about
1/16 inch thick, mounted on a solid board 3/4 inch thick, with projecting
ears for ease of handling. The whole weighs 2-1/2 lbs. Each day it is
cleaned with the benzole and left bright. [A slab of more than double the
length and less than half the width might, as my assistant thinks, answer
better.]
The _Roller_ is an ordinary small-sized printer's roller, 6 inches long
and 3 in diameter, obtained from Messrs. Harrild, 25 Farringdon Street,
London. Mine remained in good condition for quite a year and a half. When
it is worn the maker exchanges it for a new one at a trifling cost. A good
roller is of the highest importance; it affords the only means of
spreading ink evenly and thinly, and with quickness and precision, over a
large surface. The ingenuity of printers during more than four centuries
in all civilised nations, has been directed to invent the most suitable
composition for rollers, with the result that particular mixtures of glue,
treacle, etc., are now in general use, the proportions between the
ingredients differing according to the temperature at which the roller is
intended to be used. The roller, like the slab, is cleansed with benzole
every day (a very rapid process) and then put out of the reach of dust.
Its clean surface is smooth and shining.
The _Benzole_ is kept in a pint bottle. Sometimes paraffin or turpentine
has been used instead; washing soda does not smell, but it dissolves the
ink more slowly. They are otherwise nearly equally effective in cleansing
the rollers and fingers. When dirty, the benzole can be rudely filtered
and used again.
The _Funnel_ holds blotting-paper for filtering the benzole. Where much
printing is going on, and consequent washing of hands, it is worth while
to use a filter, as it saves a little daily expense, though benzole is
very cheap, and a few drops of it will clean a large surface.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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