32 The Electrotype Foundry
None of our catalogues, the big general book nor any of the specials are printed direct from the type; all are printed from electro plates, and this is the manufacturing department which produces them. After the type has been set and the managers have read the text carefully and approved it, the page of type an,d illustrations is sent to this department where it is molded in wax. This wax mold is hung in a bath of chemicals charged with a current of electricity and a very thin film of copper is deposited over the face of the mold. This film of copper is then placed in a casting box where molten metal is poured over it and then trimmed. and planed just type high, completing the electrotyping operation. The hard copper face of the electrotype plate gives it great wear resisting properties and it is in this particular that it is more desirable for printing purposes than type itself. No rotary printing press such as we use will print from type, so that electrotypes are necessary. After the electrotype has been finished in the manner outlined above, it is run through a bending machine which gives it a semi-circular form. and the electrotype so bent is then fastened to the revolving cylinder of the rotary press. This process has made possible the wonderful advancement in the printing art and the production of the highest class magazines at a mere fraction of their cost twenty-five years ago.
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