Chapter 54
Section 54 of A Thousand Things Worth Knowing. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by phone. A Thousand Things Worth Knowing by Nathaniel C. Fowler Jr. Type. Moveable metallic type was invented by Gutenberg of Germany about 1450. Before this time, all books and papers were either handwritten or printed from engraved wooden blocks. Today there are over 50,000 faces and sizes of type. Type is divided into three great classes.
1. Roman or body type, which is used for the reading matter in newspapers, magazines and books. 2. Display type, which appears in headings and is used for circulars and the like. 3. Ornamental type, which has a fancy face. The different sizes of type formerly bore arbitrary names like non-parallel, pica, etc. But now all type is under the point system, non-parallel being known as 6-point and pica as 12-point. The reading matter in all large daily newspapers is set in 6-point, but most books are printed from either 10, 11 or 12-point.
12-point type has twice the depth of 6-point type. Type to be set is placed in two cases, one known as uppercase and the other as lowercase. The former holding capitals and small capitals, the latter small letters and figures, both cases containing boxes for spaces and other characters. The compositor holds in his left hand what is known as a composing stick, or stick. It is made of metal, with the bottom and three sides, the left side being movable and adjustable. The compositor places one piece of type at a time in the stick, setting the type from left to right and upside down.
He places metal spaces between each word. When a line is completed he sets another, with or without the piece of thin metal between the lines, known as a lead. When the stick is full, he dumps this type into a galley, which is a receptacle made of wood or metal, from one to three feet long, framed at the bottom and at the sides, but open at the other end. The type is then locked up in a steel frame or chase, and is ready to be stereotyped, electrotyped or to be printed from. United States Flag
On June 14, 1777, the United States Congress declared that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing the new constellation. In 1794, Congress decreed that after May 1, 1795, the flag of the United States be fifteen stripes, alternate red and white, and that the Union be fifteen stars, white in a blue field. At that time, the stars and stripes were of equal number, and it was the intention to add both a star and stripe with the addition of each new state. Subsequently, it was found that the addition of a stripe for each new state would produce a flag altogether too large. Accordingly, Congress, on April 4, 1818, reduced the number of stripes to thirteen, and made the number of stars twenty, that being the number of states at the time.
It was further enacted that a new star should be added as each new state was admitted into the Union. By act of Congress, the flag has become a sacred emblem, and cannot be used for other than decorative or patriotic purposes, and cannot serve as a part of an advertisement or other announcement.
