21, 1949
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 21. 1949
FIFTEEN
New Printing Techniques Will Lower Printing Costs
Newspaper publishing is on the threshold of a new era, believes John R. Malone, instructor in journalism. He bases his belief on the knowledge that modern techniques in printing have reduced the cost of new equipment needed to print a weekly newspaper from $30,000 to $15,000.
Mr. Malone tells of these modern techniques in printing in a book he has recently written, "The New Printing Methods." The book was a project of the Kansas Industrial Research foundation and was published in co-operation with the University bureau of business research.
"No startling inventions are introduced in this book," said Mr. Malone. "Rather, the book tells of new techniques in publishing that are the combination of several recent developments in the field. These techniques are cutting printing costs by one-third to one-half. To achieve the consumer market, commercial printing in the United States is done by one of these new techniques called photo-offset lithography."
What is this new printing technique called photo-offset lithography? The main difference between this method and the letterpress printing, that today produces 70 percent of the printed word line.
in the preparation of the plates from which the image is transferred onto the paper.
In letterpress printing the plates are made of lead blocks which are cast by the linotype machine with the letters to be printed from them upraised on their surface. Illustrations and pictures to appear on the paper must be engraved separately. The completed plate for a page the size of that of the University Daily Kansas weighs about 48 pounds.
In photo-offset lithography the printed material may be written on an ordinary typewriter. This printed material along with any pictures or illustrations is arranged in the order in which it is to be printed. A photograph is taken of this arrangement. The negative of this photograph is then exposed on a sheet of sensitized zinc. This zinc sheet weighs less than one pound and from it the impression is printed.
This zinc plate is used on an offset press which differs from the printing press used in the older letterpress method in the way the inked impressions are transferred to the paper. In the older method the image is transferred directly to the paper by pressing the inked directly against the paper. To lessen wear and the zinc plate in the offset press the image is transferred first from the zinc sheet to a rubber covered cylinder and from the cylinder to the paper.
These new developments make possible the use of equipment that
costs only a fraction of the price charged for the equipment used in the older letterpress method. New electric typewriters cost $500 may be substituted for linotypes that cost $3,500 in used condition.
The ease with which the plates may be prepared in the photo-offset lithography method has decidedly cut the cost of preparing the plates. Explains Mr. Malone in his book: "One book publisher estimated that the new type plates cost $1,000 against $6,000 for plates if set by orthodox methods for a 300-page book.
"In short, the new processes will improve the competitive nature of the small printing and publishing business and will take much of the advantage away from the large producer. The new developments diminish the value of fixed and semi-fixed costs by large amounts, giving the large machine producer of advertising or printing in general less of an advantage."
YMCA To Organize Discussion Groups
In response to an article which appeared in the University Daily Kansas, members of the Y. M. C. A have undertaken the task of organizing discussion groups in university houses.
The group will meet at their own appointed time and discussion chairman will be chosen from among the group members. A wide variety of topics will be discussed such as differe-nt job opportunities, job open-portunities, human capital sex, and marriage, and the importance of religion in the world today.
Students working on the project are David Hill, Bob Payne, Gerald Peterson, Henry Infante, and Jack Jevons, freshmen; Loren Simpson, senior; Woody Davis, Warren Andreas, Kenneth Carrol, sophomores; Claude Moore, Jack Howard, and Bill Herwig, juniors.
Students interested in joining any of the discussion groups should contact any of those above mentioned men.
Veteran Builds House With 9,000 Toothpicks
Highland Mills, N. Y.-(U.P.)-Le Roy Fowler, Jr., wounded Navy veteran, used nearly 9,000 toothpicks and four years to build a replica of his grandparents' home here.
McCoy's Shoe Shop 813 Mass.
Supreme Court Decides Pickets
Washington, Dec. 20—(U.P.)The supreme court has agreed to decide whether labor unions may engage in peaceful picketing of non-union establishments where no direct labor dispute exists.
The immediate issue involves three Washington state court rulings that such picketing is "coercive" and hence illegal. In a brief session before recessing on Monday, Jan. 9, the tribunal also did the following:
1—They held that an ex-G.I. who fled to this country to escape army court martial proceedings in Germany must return to face the music. The case involves James W. Mobley, Houston, Texas, who, after his discharge from the army, worked in the army post exchange, Frankfurt, Germany; he was killed on charges of taking, 19,600 cigarettes to sell on the black market, but he fled to this country to escape trial. The court's refusal to review the case means that Mr. Mobley must return to face trial.
2-They ruled, in effect, that the California State Automobile association is subject to federal income taxes. It did so by refusing to review a lower federal court ruling holding that the association is liable to income taxes. The ruling may affect similar clubs in other states.
3—They ruled, 6 to 2, that the government doesn't have to pay freight charges on an ocean cargo that never reached its destination. In this case, the cargo was aboard a ship that was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in 1942. The ruling went against the Alcoa Steamship company that had billed the government for $3,520 in freight charges.
4—They refused to review the murder conviction of Howard S. Gibson, Beverly Hills, Calif., a butcher who slashed his estranged wife's threat because he claimed she was untrue to him. The court's action leaves Mr. Gibson's life sentence standing.
Best Wishes
for a
Merry Christmas and a
HAPPY NEW YEAR from
The Palace
843 Massachusetts