The National Bundle Tyer Co of Michigan, USA, introduced the Saxmayer automatic rope-tying machine into the UK in 1956. It was used by magazine and newspaper printers as it speeded-up the bundle tying process. It was the first fully automatic machine in the world using heavy sisal cord in a variety of thicknesses, and it made the tying operation very quick and simple. Bundles on the machine table made contact with a trip bar and were automatically moved by feed arms to the tying position. A compressor came down on the bundle to drive out the air, and the cord was then taken round and tied tightly in a secure knot. The machine could take stacked bundles up to 24 inches high, and tying could be carried out in a single operation at speeds of 14 ties per minute, the ties could be placed in any position round the length or breadth of the bundle. Magazines and newspapers ran two machines in tandem. The second machine was placed at right angles to the first, and the train of bundles fed by a single operator passed through both machines, maintaining a continuous output of 14 bundles per minute. Almost any shape of bundle could be tied on the machine without any adjustment being required. Even small rolls of three or four papers could be handled and this was done by means of a pedal, without using the automatic feeder. Another important feature was the machine used considerably less cord than in hand-tying.

After the War there was an increase in demand for multiple-image printing, stimulated by the needs of the packaging industry for labels and decorative wrappers and boards. One of the most successful models was the Repetex, manufactured by  Typefoundry Amsterdam and sold in the UK through Sidney R Littlejohn & Co, Ltd. The Repetex was designed to repeat an image from a negative or positive on to any flat material that can be made photosensitive, whether zinc, aluminium, brass, copper or steel or photographic plates or film, and was there fore suitable for direct printing on photolitho plates, or preparation of multiple image negatives for subsequent preparation of letterpress, litho or gravure surfaces. A point of particular importance was that as the original positive or negative could be registered with great precision, colour sets could be produced with ease and accuracy. Most printing-down machines required mechanical pressure to give proper contact between negative and plate. The Repetex, on the other hand, was provided with an automatic vacuum system that could be varied to give the appropriate pressure according to the thickness of the plate, and could guarantee hairline reproduction form fine line and halftone, and that gave uniform contact pressure over the whole area. The Repetex was a large machine. It needed a great deal of floor space and weighed 4,4500 pounds. It could take plates of sizes up to 5’ 11” x 6’ 5” which made it the largest of it kind available in the UK.

The Kodak colour densitometer Model 1 was a simple, easy to use transmission densitometer specifically designed for making density measurements on colour and black-and-white photographic materials. The measurements could be taken to the centre of a piece of film measuring up to 8 x 10 inches. The densitometer was intended mainly for use by printers and process engravers and in laboratories and photo-finishing plants. The optical system of the new densitometer was based on a new type of annular, rotatable density wedge made from clear stable plastic through which minute graphite granules were dispersed. The instrument was of the comparator type, was not affected by line voltage fluctuations, and there was nothing that could go wrong. An occasional check of the zero setting was all that was needed to give accurate readings. The densitometer could determine the black-and-white density at any point in a colour transparency, and could also measure the red, green and blue densities by means of red, green and blue filters built into the a holder in the eyepiece. The main application for the densitometer was for the standardization and control of the many photographic stages of colour reproduction. It was useful in making colour correction masks and colour-corrected separation negatives from transparencies; when masking from reflection copy using either overlay masking or magenta masking techniques; and in making colour prints either directly from positive or negative colour transparencies or in making matrices for dry transfer printing.

A la poupé was a method used in colour intaglio printing in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. It was a process by which the printer would ink up separate parts of a plate in a number of different colours. A la poupée meant ‘with a doll’ and it refers to the doll-shaped fabric that was used to dab the ink of various colours in to the grooves and dots that were recessed in the surface of the plate. In this method of colouring the printer was, in effect, painting the picture on the plate for each impression and no matter how much care the printer took, each impression was different in its colouring. Mezzotints and aquatints were frequently inked in this way but the stipple was the best medium as the dots gave distinct areas for the different colours. A great deal of care and attention was needed to produce even the most simple of prints. Some printmakers in the 20^th century adapted the intaglio à la poupée technique to relief printing from a single wood block. It could only be used on images with clearly defined areas of colour. Each area was inked individually with a brush. To separate the areas a small groove was cut between the patches of colours. In the final print this gave a white line between the colours and each area of colour shows the relief characteristics of the ink being squashed to the edge against the white line.

Made in Czechoslovakia the Kovo Grafopress was imported into the UK by Cropper, Charlton & Co Ltd. It was an automatic platen for sheet sizes up to 10.25 x 13.75 inches and an output of up to 5,000 impressions per hour. The Grafopress was the same as other automatic platen machines, but with several improvements to the inking system. A knurled hand-wheel gave screw adjustment of roller track height, whether the machine was stationery or running; both tracks could be lifted or lowered simultaneously, and individual regulation of each track was possible by a cam.  Inking could be suspended completely by a lever fitted to the central screw that lifted both tracks so that the rollers did not make contact with the forme. Inking could be suspended at any time without disturbing the duct setting. It was also possible to suspend the inking rollers while the machine was running. A lever was pressed down and the rollers remained in their upper position on the large distribution roller. This helped give rapid saturation and good distribution when running up a new colour. Access to the forme was easier for insertion, makeready and fixing of the lays. The machine came with a speed range from 2,000 to 5,000 iph. On request it could be equipped for 1,500 and 4,500 iph.

The Bickel HK 3/68 was a versatile German perforating machine that was imported into Britain in 1956 by Thompson & Langley Ltd. The machine could perforate 18 sheets of average thickness at a time with a maximum sheet width of 26.75 inches. Reinforcing the perforating tool and broadening the slot in the machine bed substantially increased the range of application of the machine. The unit could perforate 20 different patterns and was equipped with a supplementary punching attachment. This enabled a number of profiling tools to be fitted, consisting of a card head die, an index die, an edge-rounding attachment and a cornering attachment with adjustable stops. For small lot production of discount tickets, pay slips and similar perforating work, a head-fed attachment was developed. By lifting a lever this was pulled back under the action of a weight so that it positively engaged the next dog. Different spacings were set by means of dogs. Another all-purpose attachment was the ‘System U’ labelling table. There were four gauge bars on the table-top, each were provided with ten adjustable gauge blocks that allowed the desired spacing. The HK 3/68 was powered by an electric motor of moderate output and low input [0.7 hp] that drove a heavy flywheel through two v-belts. The machine weighed approximately 570 pounds.

The Lilliput was a small reel-to-reel flexographic machine manufactured by Windmöller & Hölscher and imported into the UK by A. Wantzen. It has working widths of only 9 or 16.5 inches and printing lengths from 7 to 19.5 inches. It was intended for running-off small quantities of printed matter that would be uneconomical if produced on larger machines. The Lilliput could print on foil, cellulose film, polythene and paper. Up to three colour units could be fitted. These were provided with steel impression cylinders and Anilox ink transfer rollers. Colour register could be obtained both laterally and longitudinally by spirally-cut gears that also ensured a smooth drive. A main control unit allowed all printing cylinders to be lifted out of the impression simultaneously when the machine was stopped, and at the same time a small auxiliary motor kept the inking and transfer rollers rotating at a diminished speed that prevented the formation of sediment. For printing on foil, film or polythene a special drying arrangement was provided that consisted of hot air blowers between the colour ducts and a heating chamber after the last colour. After passing through this chamber, the web was taken round a large diameter chromium-plated cylinder cooled by continuous circulation of cold water. A heating cylinder was also available for preheating or for additional after-colour drying.

Papers used by the printer have always been of many qualities and varying sizes. Before the ISO paper sizes took over in the 1950s, Britain had its own standardization of paper sizes that were arguably more attractive than the metric dimensions. In 1926, the British Federation of Master Printers, with the co-operation of the paper and board manufacturers and other interested bodies, attempted to introduce a form of standardization with regard to paper sizes. The printing, publishing and papermaking trades were slow to adopt these standards, and it was not until 1937 that the British Standards Institution published the generally agreed series of standard sizes for Writing, Printing, Wrapping and Casing papers and Trimmed Boards. The following list gives the more generally used papers [writings and printings] and boards and is compiled from the British Standards that eventually became universally adopted. They had romantic names, but impossible to remember dimensions. Papers for Writings and Printings [untrimmed] were called: Small Foolscap; Foolscap; Post; Small Demy; Large Post; Demy; Medium; Small Royal; Royal; Large Royal; Double Crown; Imperial; and Double Elephant. Boards [untrimmed] were called: Royal; Postal; Imperial; Large Imperial; and Index. All double and quadruple sizes were exact multiples of the standard sizes. Cover papers were, however, generally slightly larger than the designation given to them.

Casting-off was the act of using figures to solve problems relating to copy, type and materials. It was laborious and the results obtained were only approximate. There were many methods of casting-off by which the printer could ascertain:

• Number of lines or pages a given amount of copy would make
• The amount of type contained in a given space
• The most suitable size of type for use in a pre-determined area
• Number of pages the copy would make set in different type sizes
• Number of words needed to fill a given space
• The amount of type or lead needed to produce a piece of work.

There were many problems with casting-off: the biggest was language. Words are made up of different numbers of characters and authors’ blended mono- and polysyllables so variously that it was difficult to establish an average number of characters per word. Difficulties also occurred when type departed from the standard width of 13 ems of its own body and when a large size of type was set to a narrow measure making it hard to maintain the line word-average. The printer was handicapped by the imponderable nature of the elements with which he had to deal. However, casting-off was used to approximate not define the space copy might make.

The metals for Linotype and Intertype machines were the same. Their casting conditions demanded a fluid and mobile metal with a short freezing range. The metal was injected into the mould via a horizontal mouthpiece; after the slug had solidified metal remaining in the mouthpiece had to flow back freely. To get speed of casting the metal had to solidify quickly after entering the mould. Rapid solidification of the large body necessitated using an alloy that could be cast at comparatively low temperatures. These requirements meant using alloys close to the eutectic composition. The tin content could vary between 2.5% and 5%; the antimony not less than 11% or more than 12% otherwise there was difficulty in casting. There was a tendency for the antimony content to rise with repeated re-melting. The alloys most generally used were 3% tin, 11% antimony 86% lead, and 4% tin, 11% antimony, 85% lead. The higher tin content of the second specification helped towards a finer face on the slug. The casting condition of slug machines necessitated using an alloy that was not so hard as other metals. Some compensation was obtained from the support provided by the long slug. For slugs that had to withstand the pressure of moulding, solidity was more important than the hardness of the metal.