Preparing a newspaper for print: a look at the case room of 'The Evening Press' where this vast jigsaw puzzle takes place.
In the case room, the copy is set up in metal and the pages assembled.
PP O'Reilly narrates this programme in the 'Discovery' series on the production of 'The Evening Press' newspaper. This excerpt takes a look at the activities of the case room, where the copy is set up in metal and the pages are assembled.
O'Reilly describes the process of making the copy into a cast ready for print. News stories are set using typecasting machines called inter-type machines. The operator casts a 'slug' or a line of type instead of having to cast each letter individually as was previously done. The set copy is then brought to the 'collecting random' where it is put in order and placed on a metal tray known as a galley.
The galley of type is then proofed and checked again in the Readers' Department. Headline type is still set and cast manually. The stories on their blocks are assembled into a chase, which is the traditional name for the iron frame in which the page is put together.
When the page is finally finished, the Stoneman locks the page, ready to be printed. The 'Bogey Man' (named after the metal bogey that carries the frame) transports the metal frame to the proofing case. Here the page is inked and the proof is made.
The case room overseers attend to the detail of managing this vast jigsaw puzzle.
This episode of 'Discovery' looking at the processes involved in the printing press was broadcast on 16 November 1964. The programme was narrated by PP O'Reilly.
'Discovery' was a documentary series broadcast on RTÉ between 1964 and 1967. Discovery, which first aired on Tuesday, 14 January 1964 touched on many aspects of Irish life with an occasional spotlight on events of particular interest.
