w
tl
■'■■I;
..
,4
« W*
f
I
I £
i
;
, , l \
.WPt>NBa>&?, .TLT K, IRS ' *9?: BATTJli:
- - ■ - " Li . i , -
k All Over World Depend on A&M Press
!
i /
'r :
1 ~~r
and
Hfre is wh^re the newspaper copy changes into type. CLYDE W. JOHNSON,
k r 4). GRA|H
GEORG
1 • -- . .JOE DUSTKA,
GRAHAM, linotype operators, ape busily setting copy fojr Battalion and a fall catalogue.
H. SHEARER (not shown) is on vacation. ,
Hi
tins Printed By A&M Press Carry News
tension Service to All farts of Globe
Py
MARVIN RICE i ’
There is a little kiown organiza
tion on; th s carhbui whose influ
ence isi.fe|lt indirertly ini pearly
ejvery cOrnt r of the v orld. Th^-tfni-
ttd States is trying to help other
njations'in their fig if to $uild up
t|ieir depleted . coun ;ries, particul
arly in !the field bf agriculture. A
v ‘peek in^o tine of tht bulleiinjs dis-
tfibutecl bv the Ext msionj^Service
relating; to agriculture wofifd show
.tjiat the pamphlet had been print-
:etl by.A&if Press, iV^hout whose
mfetp and hard work these bu letins
cOuld never be printed and| sdnrt to
o '
measures
ul •illI- '”.i ii 'i 1
This js ojaly a; tiny portion of the
great quantity of pfbiicatibns an?
Tending ntaterial fiat the A&M
Press gririds''out c mtinjually day
after day.' Fr6m thi> niqe jpcnder-
ous prbsSefe in ithe badeihe it of
Goodwih Hall roll till the j student
magazines and ne> /spapej-s. The
Texas Ag^ie, Texas Forest News,
The Exten^ioner, foa tball prof rams
the catalogiues for tl e four co leges
in the iAt^M System^ and f a U the
printing fir the ; different depart
ments if l|he College. 1 ii
.1 ] -i
r . How t|e A&M Pressj came
About and the exa<t date of
tablisKmeht have >een lost
the annals of tinv , but it
started sojpiewhere n the vicijnity i
of the: yeiar 1914-
‘ I ' ' ?
The Jfirdt location was | in
basement pf the A lademic.;
ing. The presses rjnd assoc
printer by trade since his high
school dpys and former shop
foreman and editorial writer for
the Brya.« News.
Goode was born in Madisonville
and startejd learning the difference
between a linotype and a platen |Orr, secretary and boo
first day
>ted to as-
I ^ "r
] the A&M Press on tty
j of 1946 and was prom
I sistant manager in September of
Ithat year.
Tvfo other necessary
in the main office are
members
1 •
0. D. EMMONS, make-up man, puts final touches on page 1.
The back page is complete, proofs nave been made, and is now
ready to be “put to bed.” ROY GOODE, sterotyper, checks the depth
and width of a “cut.” Deadline for putting paper to bed is 12 noon.
: ]i ‘ |j| j
Batt Compositor Has Made Up
Over 100,000 Newspaper Pages
By LOUIS MORGAN
the
Build-
ated
hree
oca-
tjon wafe iiii the M. jE. Shops, then
it was bio red to tie Adminiptra
tion Bijilding, and finally to its
presehtlho he in Gocdwin Hall
%
ig. The presses j|nd as^c
equipment ’have bee 1 movjjd tl
times slnch then. Tl e second 3
Ma
prise
resid^i
an,e-
1 4011
that cafrie d
called dpou to <
this ti riving enterr
Hall a long time
Brazos (Jountly and
ilee
asf book-
“ T Pijess
and
mtolokee of thte Print Shop
since 1}92';, Hall bej anf his Icaieer
in thef pi ynting tri
keeper; vfith’ the
when 5 the total oulla
typesetting machine
small presses.
Book ipaier cost jfive cehts per
pound in those da rs, and news
paper i»su(g and oth;r publications
had to pe f olded by fiaqd. The cost
is triple tbit atnoun; now, jandi the
presses; use 400,00( to 150(1,000
pounds iof paper p( r month com-
Tared to 6t),000 pounds used back
in the j.92t)’s. .
Ha.ll heltyd to pu out Tty Bat
talion id ti e old dajs, alsoj It was
only, aipet kly paper then with a
onerfchtyt daily- to 6uppl|Tjh*ent ^
* depart nentafl notices
lOunt of daily new
_ A&M Press [was
ujjpoii td do a most unukual
job. The V. S. > Prir ting Officp in
on ijb'the A&
...S. Offiie selei
shop for the Job
mystery, Hall said,
late, the A&M
M
special ,
Washingtoh to obfain h .-^ut of
* rr ” " * sigmyteire I to
Henry ; W allace’s
print op he perm
whole sjati
Louisiana
to-cbmdlet i
to staylip
nights to
Assist!
dal duties
Il/k.
I
quiiing all
ir
have a
inniqglany cotton.
•! The ¥. 1. Printing. Offi
ed the job r
Why tty
A&M tyin
remains, a
At arjy
to send
ie permits, scour
df Texai and
to secure
the job,
’or three
finish pointing
000,000 j co lies and
tribute<3| to
ners.
rig Hall tn
s is Mack
permit! be^re
it
the 1
lartal^ol,
enough paper
and then had
lays arid
get them
the wait ng cotten
his manage!
H. Goode,
"T
press whije still in his ’teens. Af
ter a thiiee year stint with the
Bryan News, he came to the Col
lege Prin} Shop as a typesetting
machine operator. He advanced to
composing! room, foreman a year
later. j
^Shortly] aftpr this advancement,
Goode resigned and joined the
Army Ait Force. He served with
the Eighth Air Force in the: Euro
pean Theater for two years; With
a short vacation spliced fill after
his discharge, Goode came back to staff last June.
Mrs. Peggy Wiley, stenographer!
and proof reader.
Mrs. Orr received tyr degree
in Business Administration from
Sam Houston State! Teachers
College at Huntsville and has
been working for the [Print Shop
since May 1942.
After two years of accounting
iat TSCW, Mrs. Wihy came to
A&M with tyr husband and se
cured employment wit i The Press
O. D. Emmons, make-up man for
The Battalion and Texas Aggie,
figures that he has made up, more
than 100,000 newspaper pages
since he started in the business 37
years ago. If placed end to end,
these makeups would form an 8
inch sidewalk of news type from
College Station to Caldwell, j . .
The pages that have been print
ed from his makeups would prob-
ably go a long way toward |circl-
Mrs. Lena | the globe,
eeper, and
-U
;
A mr
•:' , 'Ml
: -
Emmons came to College: Sta
tion in November, 1946, from
Ada, Oklahoma where! he worked
on the Ada Evening News. It
was there that he worked on his
largest paper, a 180-page Sunday
edition.
One of Emmons’ front page
makeups oT- the Pawhuska, ; Okla
homa Daily Journal was repro
duced in the Inland Printer,! lead
ing printers trade' journal qf the
United States, in 1922. Etymons
has been a member of the Inter
national Typographical Unitin for
over 25 years.
He lives in Bryan and his wife
teaches a beginners’ Sunday $chool
class at the First Presbyterian
Church of Bryan. Their 20fyear-
old son is now serving in Korea
with the Army Einance Depart
ment. » L
Other men in the printshop who
have at one time or another ; made
i /
J. W. HALL, manager of the A&M Press, and MACK H. GOODE
assistant Manager, check the color [combination \pf a picture. FRANK
TUCKER,; (not shown) Superintendent, is on vacation. W. T. HAYS
is Composing Room Foreman. ; ,/] V
4- . ' • T .1 I , ' ■ " v ■ ;
Complicated Linotype Machines
Simplify Newspaper Publishing
By EDDIE SMITH
! : ' 'j , .
The Typesetting business has
come a Jong way styce the time
of Gutenbergs the original inven-Jjtyne’Yiiled with tiny
tor of the printing press.
In those j days ail type Was set
by hand, necessitating many hours
of preparation before copy could
be ready fpr printing. Nowadays
the job can be done in a fraction
of tjie .former time, thanks to the
WasjiingtO’» was o\ erioaded Witty ingenuity of Ottmar Mergenthaler,
work, qid ;he 11.:?. Departtyenlt of
Agriculture needed 1,000,0|00 her
mits for listributun throughout
the South to cotton ginnera. There
was a Uau in that year!, when
Henry Wallace was| Secreitanli of
Agriculture,
ginners ? to
ginning ai
tackled the job
automatic type-
and others; who
of designing an
setting machine.
There were several attempts
made before the first linotype was;
ultimately invented by Mergen
thaler in 1886. In that year the
first Linotypes were placed on. the
market and The New York Trib-
ss-^une, Chicago News, and Louisville
Courier Journal' immediately had
the machine installed in their of
fices. : s !,!. _
Today there are more than
50,000 Linotypes in existence
setting type in abqut 50 lan- j
guages. Three of these compli-
, cated machines are located in
the composing room of the A&M
Press. One of them sets the type
you are nowyreading through a
process so complicated that even
the most egocentric observer
would have to give credit to its
inventor.'' .
The elaborate Linotype is a sev
en foot high maze of pedals, gears,
and cams. A keyboard, similar to
T, ; .
(that of a typewrite^ adorns the
[front of the Linotype and is easily
accessible to the operator. Above
jit rests a large removable ma
mblds ci
iaga-
alled
tyatrix. In this magazine there is
si channel full of mat] ices for each
letter in Tty alphabe;, each num
ber, and each* symbo! or punctua
tion mark 1 used in the English
language. As a key on the key
board' is pressed, the aorresponding
matrix is reelased from the maga-
jzine and carried over to a rack
called the assembli ig elevator.
There it is assembled along with
[the other matrices which make up
ithe| word, and moved into casting
jppajjtion. : j
; To the left side of the Linotype
as the pot, an electrically heated
container filled with melted lead.
The metal is kept at a constant
temperature of 550 degrees Fahr-
jenheit and as the supply is used
ja large bar of leqd suspended
above the pot from a chain and
[pulley is lowered into the- heated
[container. . I / w if. I
| As the line of ty pe is moved
iinto casting position i quantity of
[the hot lead is fprce< by a plung-
against the matri c which mold
e lead into the required letters
fhe newly formed
ejected onto a galley beside the
eyboard ready fo r use. The
matrices having served their pur
pose are lifted by an elevator
:o the top of the mac line fed onto
bar which distributes them to
(See LINOTYPE, Page 4)
V!
ViM-
.
- i i i-*i I
-J
ype is then
up The Battalion and Texas Aggie
include W. T. Hays, Steve Andert,
and Charlie Schoedel.
Hays, who is now composing
room foreman, came to A&M in
December 1946. His father was
a newspaperman, and Hays says
he w grew up” in the printing
business. Hays lives at Bryan
Field with his wife and three
children. He served three years
in the army during the war.
Andert, floorman, was bom in
Pdmhagen, Austria, but came to
thp United States when he was
four years old. He made up The
Battalion when he first came to
A&M in 1942. Andert, a gentleman
farmer, owns 206 acres of farm
lapd near Kurten. He is married
atyLhas one child.
Schoedel, a compositor, has made
up The Battalion and Texas Ag
gie ut different times since he
started work at the print shop in
1941. He has worked in Austin,
Dallas, and Bryan.
A citizen of Bryan, Schoedel
i» married and has a daughter
who will enter junior high school
this year.
fj * /
‘Roy Goode, Who helps with (he
pictures used in making up the
paper, is a veteran taking G. I.
Training as sterotyper, apprentice
Ityotype operator and floorman.
As NaVy veteran from Madisonville
Goode served in the Southwest Pa
cific during the war. He now lives
at College Station with his wife
arid child.
Path of Batt Copy: Sweat And
Inspiration in Epson’s Ratio
By CHUCK MAISEL !
Considering the many dqvious
routes <mpy for the Batt could
take, its a near miracle when a
complete issue appears sans mis
takes.
The first chance it has to go
astray comes when the story is
first delivered to the comtosing
room with its appropriate “heads”.
The story is placed on one hook
and the head is put on oty of
two depending on whether it
be machine-set or hand-se
the time the two are reunited
such
strange combinations result
as a yarn about Mrs. Jones bridge
party having the blaring
“STRIP-TEASER ENTERTAINS’
■X
The story itself goes to the
linotype operator who swilches
it from paper to lead and from
there to a galley proof. This
proof is sent upstairs to be cor
rected.
Now the confusion begins
earnest. The famed Meet
Deadline rush starts in all
fury. All type must be set
10 a. m. and all forms must be
locked by noon.
head;
After the proof-reader hasr hack
ed up the copy until it is cotyplete-
again
some
ly unreadable it gpes back
to the composing room where
unfortunate has to read the proof
reader’s mind and decide just what
corrections are to be made n the
galleys. He then apjplies thesp cor
rections and delivers all the galleys
to O. D. Emmons the page tyake-
; up. man.
It is Emmons unenvied di ty to
Uke the material at hand| and,
either by waving a magic wqnd or
by much irispiration and. perfepira-
tion in the famous Edison ratio,
make a page from it
Invariably he can put together
|a beautiful page except fpr one
or two sentences cif some f‘port
er’s loved story. Gan he leave a
couple of lines out without de Troy
ing the effect, he asks tty boys
from upstairs. Oh, definitely not!
It would ruin the whole thir
he begips all over as noOn
ever nearer.
*•
dr;
Finally with divine guidance
or maybe sheer genius he
ishes the page and runs
page proof w
day’s man
aging editor of the Batt
Over for corrections. Here the
vgrij to kill enters Emmon’s
injnd. They have changed their
ininds.
1 Surely these one or two senten
ces ; can be left out and this other
story really belongs on the first
page. Does he think he. can fix it
Up? Emmons has been in the busi
ness longer than most of the Batt
tyepibers are old and has learned
tty priceless lesson of patiepce.
He squelches the desire to choke
the managing editor and starts
ariew on the page.
8 Ten minutes before twelve the
ehtire; paper is at last complete
alnd it is teady to be put to bed.
The Batt-tp-be is rolled into the
press room where seemingly every
thing should turn out all right and
qll epneerned should live happily
qvei - after.
ij In this room rests the Goss
Comet which is the name of the
A&M press. This amazing machine
caij turn out 2800 eight page pa
pers per hour. Not only does the
Versatile giant print the paper, but
i( also cuts -it, folds it, and does
every other job short of reading
if.
I -i * • 1 ! I \,
When the page forms are set on
the machine they have to be placed
according to an intricate sequence.
If ever this is done in the wrong
Way, such exasperating errors as
having the front page where the
sports page should be come about.
This is by no means a lemote pos
sibility. It has happened.
B [ 'ig
B I ■ ii:
Although not usually a prima
donna the Goss Comet has its
days when it becomes quite tem
peramental. If not treated with
due respect the synchronizer gets
out of kilter ana papers appear
that have the bottom of the
paper before it at the tops of its
;pages with its own top at its
bottom. This doesn’t cause the
men in the press room to pull
too much hair,
ij $ . j * j
In the end, which in this case
ife the boxes for the Batt inside
each dorm, everything seems to
tern out with some semblance of
being alright But if the words
Lil Abner is saying are cut off
from the rest of the page, don’t
fret Just blame it on the Comet
and look at the bottom of the page
for they will be there.
a 2'
' T, ,
;ry..
/!
1
.j
■
FRANK KOHLHUND, press man, watches the six p ig< ij
ink. A. J. OTTE, junior, and ALAN CURRY, Battalion Crciihi
for delivery. Though normally four pages are turned out : hi: (Jos
page papers an hour.
/
Finishing Touches of j Publj
Made On ‘Gomel’ in Press
i iewsp
; ill ion I
1 •
ii
i-
jnt change from white Unto bl
lanager, count out th
e papers
‘Comet’’! will turn out 2100 eight
\v Mi
lacty
1 . v
By KENNETH BOND
The three men look expectantly
toward the door. All preparations
have bieen completed; they can do
no mote until it has been brought
in.
At partly 11:50 a. m. they
hear a! soft scraping on the door.
A four wheeled carriage glides
into view under the careful guid
ance of 0. D. Emmons, make-up
man. The Battalion is being “put
to bed.f’
Therje is usually an invisible line
drawn ty this door. Etymons push
es the “Turtle”, (that is what the
little carriage is, called) from the
composing room to this point, and
the pressniien pick it up from there
and tajee it into theiri domain, the
press rooty. The process x>f putting
the patyr to bed is quite’ simple.
The ctyef pressman pushes the
little carriage up close to the press
and manhandles it oVer onto the
press, mi * • ; r , i! .
, He ttyn takes a,mallet and
goes over the type, knocking it
down.; (If a piece ojf type. pro-,
trudes, a broken carriig
result.) Satisfying hiimelf!
Emmons did a good job oil
ting the type together, tlie
man, Frank Kohlhund, li*clj
forms on the bed.
Getting the four font s
paper intp place, Fran}:
his hands. The deadline ha|
met; the paper has beet
bed; he will take timd
lunch. j | . j | j S
While the pressmen a -e
lunch, a description of i ;h
may be given. The pres ,
“Comet” which costs $15 0;
was built in Chicago in 1)1
may sound like a relic, bi t
are not measured In J cat’s
humans; they are measufei
turns of a century. 1 I
The Comep was bough t iri im
newspaper jri Bristow, Gklatyma,
last September; The owner had
bought the machine ten ypafs fcaril
g A Battalion
»| Inner Sanrtm.
power!; electric motor through a
series;; of belts and cogs, can
put out 2800 copies of an eight-
page-paper per hour, 'j'hose 2800
copies: are printed, cut, folded
long ways, and then folded again
as the readers rectyve thety,
“untimiiched by human hands,”
f
:lishe
(tin,
Ji4
r ‘sses
flljikfe
T
ier, repaired It, and
publish a weekly.
■
The press, driven by a 5 pcirse-
Hi’V
rM
ledf i ( tp
; $1
•i:
'
:■>
ii
y.
•
EARL MAHAFFEY balances the huge roll of newsprint
RAYMOND DUCKETT, job pressman, operates the “Jimmj|T letyi
823 pound rolls are stored in the “Hole” until needed in tieijlwess
Room.
Famous ‘Yellow Slips’, Boo
Completed in A-M Press Bin
m
By OTTO KUNZE I
While many students have the
privilege of finding what goes on
above ground in Goodwin Hall, few
have the opportunity to go into
the basement and see what type
of activities go on there. Indeed
the student must wonder about the
activities in the basement as he
approaches Goodwin | Hall and he
hears the rumbling presses under
one end of the building. But what
goes on in the other endt Here
is what Battalion reporter found.
As quiet as the eastern end of
the basement may seem, it is gen-
as tl
it ms
erally buzzing with activity,
course of action followed there is
not as noisy as is the press sec
tion of the basemeiit.
The A&M bindery is located in
the east end of the basement. Here
is where all papers, books, bill
books, receipt books meal checks,
pamphlets, and college bulletins
are assembled, stapled, and bound.
A person who is unfamiliar with
a bindery is lost when first enter
ing into this room,'Machines of
types are located around the
walls. The center of the room is
filled with large stacks of differ
ent kinds of paper. Several large
tables on which various types of
papers are assorted! aii;.
next to these huge stack! i.
The bindery, in conjuni tity; with
the press arid composii g ! room i,
is largely responsible foi t »e; pr
duction of the many fori »s requii •
ed by the different dfpar tm ;rits < f
the college. Actually ,th;
has only two permanejnt«mj loyee i
but a considerable atyoui it pf sti -
dent labor is used. Most sf tty 1;
bor does not require a hi'hfidegreie
of skill. Mrs. Mae Ril(y it f< romai i,
The machines found iri tl e bin4-
ery are two large flat stapling
machines, two! saddle :bac : e tapling
machines, two[ drills, jone punching
ble, and a ,
AH of these units work ejjedrijtall;
The large stapling maj hi ice ai
used to staple the l[arg|r cr
lopate d
limder y
bulletins such as
gq ne a
JL
M
lege catalogue and shol't coun
bulletins. Smaller bulletil s i uijth i
are published for the sut tm er ses
sions are stapled ttyetjhef wit
the smaller saddle
machines.
The college buys a
its paper in bulk and
very little of it is in the pityper
form and shape upon apfivpl. Tty
bindery however with ita
(See ’YELLOW S!
Tr ' '\ 'W
i!.' k
s tapling
i ’ ‘ [
lari e >art of
coi se [uently
micl tines
PigriA*
I
i
'A,
The paper or newsprint, as, it is
called, comes in large roty. A. roll
for a ftiur page paper weighs about
575 pounds and will put out about
9,000 pages. A similar, six page
roll \ieighs about 900 pounds, and
an eight page roll weighs lj)00
pouriqsi, !, ;* \ /I;.
The rolls are wheeled out of the .
press; rqom “hole”, a store room
with ja small “jimmy”. A long bar
is stuck through the center, and
it isityounted on the end of the
pressi iThe end of the paper gjoed
over; under, through, up, down,.,
set ween, beneath, and above for
wbotyf*’500-inches until the end
reaches the outteK
After lunch, Frank is ready; to
ty|t i he press into action. After a
check to see that ill moveable
parts have been bathed in oil,
Fr|ank flips tty motor switch. Thia
is a crucial moment! If the heavy
carriage, which moves ' back and
forth kith the newsprint, makes a
bobble, the paper will.be tornk
Frank doesn't mind a simple
tear; he merely takes scotch tape
and sticks it back together. It
is when the paper or; the ‘‘web M
' rit into that lie becomes phil-
,b
\
1
-i’
I
is to
isopil
ihtcal. AH he has to do is go
ovet, under, through, up, down,
between, beneath, and above with
the end of the paper, and he is
teady to start the press to roll-
tyj; again.
One of the biggest jobs in chang
ing from a six page paper tp a
four and back again is makiog the
rtyht setting of the cutter and (he
rollers. If a slight error is made,
then you get the top half of ypur
paper and the bottom half of your
rieightyrs.
.! No rtyubt, all the readers have
had the ink of the paper smear
fheirtylotheflL That smcqr, not cjnly
proves! that the papep, is just off
Ity piiera and fresh but indicates
that the'ink might never get dfy.
The tyiress tytotf about 1 pound of
ink fpr x each 1 ^00 copies of a four
tyga paper. • J'. ■
A? Frank can tell you, the noihe
and tvibratity! from the press |are
i-.
* <
'* ?
ibb r
almojs# deaftying. People on the
third floor dop’t have ; to strain
iheirT pars to tell if the press' isi
in operation; they watch to see
if this, window panes , are-shaking.
Frank, who was btyn in Phil
adelphia 44 years ago. has been
in the pressroom's in one place
or another for 20 years.x His
father has worked in printftyopo
for the larger part | of his
H
'
Li
I
i
‘Frank startod to Ivork for. t)h
Haddon Craftsman, a book pulb- x
Usher, in Canden, New Jersey,
where he worked for 13 years. Due
to his wife’s health, he came to
College Station in 1942. After ser
ving in the Seabees for three years,
he returned to the A&M Press to
run the Comet Frank has two
sons: Sumner, who is in the tegu
lar Navy in San Diego, and David,
yrho is still in high itehool. •*
Barring unforseen difficulties,
Crimet will grind out the ! te-
.iiitedl 4400 copies 4nd. be silent
)y 3 p, m. It will remain silent un-
il the next issue of The Batt is
‘ f.i During this slack time,
goes over tty
ly, even crawling
T the press. ‘
J-Hp has not been
Of going to sleep the:
Another issue of
Is off. If it fads to
era before 6 p. m. of the day of
publication, don’t blame the press
men: they have done their job.
‘I
aohine.care-
into the pit
to date i
Battalion
tils to reach the reac
•ty:
j '. . ' V.|
l
'
'1