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Single sheets were hand-fed into the printer in the 1850s
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PRODUCING the paper was a laborious process.
There were no typewriters so the copy was all hand written and the type was then handset, letter by letter.
Finally, the paper was printed by hand-feeding single sheets into the massive but slow-running printer.
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Paper was delivered by horse and cart in the 1860s
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A delivery of paper in the 1860s was delivered by horse-drawn carts at that time
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A Linotype machine enabled type to be set mechanically
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A worker using a Linotype machine in 1937
The Victorian invention of the Linotype machine, which enabled type to be set mechanically.
Lines of type were set by casting hot metal into lines of brass matrix moulds.
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Typesetters retyped articles to create lines of metal lettering
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TYPESETTERS had to retype articles and adverts into huge mechanical typewriters, creating lines of type in metal.
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Lines of metal type were placed in a frame
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A compositor makes an advert by placing lines of metal type in a frame, or chase.
THE lines of type were then put into a metal frame, or chase, by compositors and locked into place.
Compositors had a seven-year apprenticeship. Compositor Frank Watson adds the final lines of type to a page
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THE frames were all placed together to form a complete page.
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Considering the words had to be read upside down and back to front, you can appreciate why compositors had a seven-year apprenticeship.
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The metal pages would be read using a wet piece of paper
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A proof is checked for corrections
THE completed page would then have ink rolled over it and a wet piece of paper placed on top to make a proof to be read for corrections.
The metal page would then go to a machine called a stereo. A paper mould, or flong, would be created by placing papermache onto the metal page and applying pressure.
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Paper moulds were used in the production process
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On the left of the picture a flong is being placed in a casting box ready for moulding a metal plate. On the right, a moulded printing plate is inspected.
THE paper mould, or flong, would then be bent around a cylinder in a machine where hot metal flowed to produce printing plates.
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Metal plates were made for the press
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A metal plate is prepared for the printing press
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Pages were paired up on the press
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The press is ready to roll in 1937
ON the press the plates would be put on in a sequence of pairs - the front and the back pages, page two and the inside back etc.
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Ink rollers ran over the plates while the paper raced through
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Pages being cut on metal conveyor belts
INK rollers would run over the metal plates as the paper raced through the press and the pages would then be cut on metal conveyor belts.
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Papers were snatched from the press mid-run for checking
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A FEW papers were then taken off the press for checking.
Our picture shows a printer picks up a paper to check its quality, as it leaves the folder unit of the Foster rotary printing press.
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By the 1980s type was set on screen
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BY the 1980s, on-line typesetters were used, enabling copy to be displayed on screens and viewed before being output onto special chemically-coated paper.
A compositor then stuck the separate stories, pictures and adverts onto a full-sized paper grid, which was a lot less messy than moving heavy lumps of metal type.
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A process camera produced full-size negatives of the page
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A film negative of a page is inspected
THE completed page was then taken to a process camera, which made a film negative of the page.
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The negatives were used to make metal plates for the press
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THIS was then placed on top of an aluminium plate coated with a light-sensitive resin and exposed to ultra-violet light, which burns a positive image onto the plate.
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Paper runs over a reversed image on a rubber blanket
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The paper is folded on the press
THE plates were attached to big drums on the press and ink was added which only stuck to the light sensitive coating, ie the text and picture areas of the plate.
A rubber blanket then ran over the plate, taking off a reversed image and then rolled over the paper, printing the correct finished image.
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For colour pages, four plates were needed
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The paper is cut on the press
FOR colour pages, four plates needed to be made, cyan, magenta, yellow and black. All shades of colour were made by using these colours in different densities.
Press equipment then folded and cut the paper in the right order. The papers were then collected by van and delivered to newsagents.
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Photographers mostly use digital cameras
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A photographer at work
WE also have our own team of photographers, as pictures are an important part of any newspaper.
They mostly use digital cameras to speed up the processing procedure.
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