Talking about the typesetting technology of movable type

The movable type is a printing plate composed of lead type and various types of typesetting materials. The typesetting process flow of movable type is:

Make-up fonts → Casting → Picking words → Loading → Proofing → Proofreading → Revising → Typewriter

(a) fonts

The font is made of copper or other metal and is generally a concave character cast.

There are three types of methods for manufacturing fonts: stamping, die-casting, and engraving.

1. Stamping method

First carved a convex steel (also known as stamping the original), put it on the copper billet and forced stamping, you can create a concave font.

Stamping die is durable and easy to process, but it can only be used to create simple strokes. External letters are more applicable.

2. Electroplating

Firstly, a thick layer of copper is coated on the hand-carved lead by electroplating. The copper layer is then peeled off, and lead or zinc is cast from the back, then sawn into small pieces and mounted on the copper blank. Character model. Plating fonts, cheap, simple equipment, but the processing time is longer, and the service life is low.

3. Engraving pattern method

The pre-processed copper billet is fixed on a pattern engraving machine with a jig, and the zoom principle is used. On the already-formed character template, the character strokes are sequentially described. Since the drawing head and the engraving knife are synchronously performed, When a word is drawn on the word template, the word is engraved on the copper billet.

It is the most commonly used method for making typefaces with accurate characters, accurate characters, high quality, durability, and high speed.

(b) Casting

The process of using a typecaster to pattern lead alloys with movable type is called casting.

The lead alloy used for casting is made of lead, tin, and three kinds of low-melting-point metals, and is melted at a certain ratio. The ratio of the three metals can be appropriately selected according to the size of the word and the type of printing machine. The specific process of adjusting the casting is: installing the character model (casting surface mold) and word box on the typecasting machine. The lead ingots are then placed in a lead melting pot of a typecasting machine and hot-melted (usually at a temperature of about 350°C) to start casting.

The cast type characters are discharged on the fixed dial of the character frame for picking characters. Usually, the characters are mainly used to supplement the missing characters on the dial.

Casting machine, in addition to casting type, can also cast other typesetting materials, lace, empty lead and so on.

(3) Picking words and loading plates

1. Picking words

In accordance with the manuscript and layout design requirements, the process of tying movable characters into tops (semi-finished product of the specified length) is called picking.

There are about 3,000 Chinese characters commonly used in China, and about 7,000 Chinese characters are not commonly used. All kinds of cast type characters are arranged in the dial according to the headings of the "Kangxi Dictionary", and the dial is placed on the character frame. Each font has a character for each character. When picking words, pick the desired words and punctuation marks from the frame and put them on the hand dial. After picking up the general, pick them up with two lead bars and place them in the wooden tray. Pick a certain number of lines and use Tighten the rope.

2. Loading

Also called imposition or group edition. In accordance with the manuscript and layout design requirements, Chinese characters, foreign languages, formulas, forms, illustrations, etc., constitute a movable version of certain specifications.

The movable type version is divided according to the format of the layout. There are two types of press version and book version.

(d) Proofreading proofreading and revision

1. Proofreading proofreading

The pre-installed movable type should be placed on the proofing machine to make proofs, and then in accordance with the manuscript and layout design requirements, check and mark the typesetting errors on the proofs. This process is called proofing proofreading.

Proficiency in identifying and applying proofreading marks is one of the basic skills of typesetting personnel. The collation symbols currently used are in conformity with the People's Republic of China Professional Standard "Proofreading Symbols and Usages" promulgated in December 1981.

Proofreading is divided into two types: factory proofreading and proofreading department proofreading. There are many errors in the newly installed version. Proofreading is carried out by personnel in the factory. It is called the internal school or Mao school. Finally proofread by the demarcation department.