STA
 

AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF
 

changes consisted first in making the press of iron; sec¬
ond, in making the bed larger and discarding the stone;
third, in making the platen nearly as large as the bed ;
fourth, a method of increasing the power of the bar; and
fifth, a more powerful screw. Judging by our present
knowledge a more homely press than the Stanhope was
never invented. It was made strongly but awkwardly.
The frame which answered to the former cheeks, or up¬
right posts, was of cast iron of great thickness, joining
at the bottom, but not at the top, and bowing out prodig-
ously in the centre. Here was an oval opening, through
which the bed ran backward and forward. The platen
descended by a screw which, a large and powerful one,
was turned by a lever, and this again by another lever,
but so contrived that the power was continually in¬
creased. This again was moved by the bar pulled by
the pressman. The supports to the bed, known as the
carriage, were got rid of, and the bed was moved upon
two ways very similar to that of the present Washington
press. The whole was sustained upon a massive frame
of wood. Many advantages were immediately seen in
this press. It printed a sheet twice the size that could
be attempted before; only one pull was required, no
matter how large the form, and a neater and surer im¬
pression could be made. Lord Stanhope refused to take
out a patent upon this improvement, and consequently
other makers soon took hold of it. The first manufac¬
turer was Walker. Many of the master printers and
joiners attempted to engraft its principles upon the pre¬
ceding wooden press, but that was unfitted to receive
more power, and many presses of the kind speedily
broke down. The Stanhope press was soon followed by
those of D'Eighn, Shields, Cogger, Ruthven and Staf¬
ford, They were, however, nearly all superseded by the
Clymer, and that and the Albion are now the leading
hand-presses in Great Britain. In America the Shields
press was first offered for sale, but iron presses were not
made before the Wells, the Stansbury and the Smith,
the first two anticipating the other by about two years.
Shields offered his press for sale in Kew York in 1811,
and in 1816 several of the daily papers in that city had
iron presses, undoubtedly imported from abroad. The
Stanhope press was never used to any extent in America.

Staple.—The iron framework of the Stanhope hand-
press, which answered instead of the cheeks, feet, head
and rails of the former wooden press.

Star.—An asterisk, thus: *. It is the first reference
mark, and is followed by the dagger. Two or more stars
indicate a hiatus, or the suppression of a name, A con¬
siderable omission is denoted by a line or lines of stars.
In some books and some newspapers a change of sub¬
ject, greater than can be indicated by an ordinary para¬
graph, is shown by three stars in a shape like that of an
inverted pyramid: \*.

Star Chamber.—The decree of the Court of Star
Chamber of July 11, 1637, hmited the number of type¬
founders to four, no one to have more than two appren¬
tices ; twenty printers were to do all of the printing ; no
joiner could make any press; no smith could forge any
ironwork for a press; no person could bring from be¬
yond seas any letters founded or cast for printing, unless
with special permission. This act was revived again and
again until 1683, when it expired by limitation.

Star Press.—A job press, made at Palmyra, N. Y.
It has a throw-off and a dwell for feeding.

Start.—When any of the leaves are not properly se¬
cured in the back, and they project beyond the others,
they are said to have started. When the back has been
broken by forcing the leaves they start.

Statements.—Blank printed bills or billheads pre¬
sented monthly or at other stated intervals, setting forth
the indebtedness of customers.

Stationer.—1. One who sells the materials used in
writing, as paper, pens and ink.    At the present day,

524
 

however, he sells almost all small articles which are com¬
pact and neat.

2.  In England a wholesale stationer is a paper dealer.

3.   (Obsolete.) A bookseller or publisher.

The booksellers of the earliest period received the title
of stationarii, or stationers, from their stations or shops.
They not only sold books, but many of them acquired
considerable property by lending out books to be read at
exorbitant prices, not in volumes, but in detached parts,
according to the estimation in which the author was held.

The most commonly sold articles in a stationer's at
the present day are albums, arm-rests, rubber bands and
rings, backgammon, chess and checker boards, baskets,
alphabet and kindergarten blocks, blotters, book-covers,
boxes of paper, tin and japan; cards, carbon paper,
clips, copying-books, copying-presses, corkscrews, cut¬
lery, crayons, cases, cribbage boards, chips, dampening
bowls, desk pads, desks, dice, dominoes, drawing instru¬
ments, envelopes, erasers, files, folders, globes, hand-
stamps, inks, inkstands, key-rings, lead pencils and
leads, letter-trays, lunch-boxes, mucilage, music wrap¬
pers, oiled board and paper, pins, pads, pad-holders,
paper-cutters, paper-fasteners, penholders and pens,
paints, paper, paper-weights, slate pencils, rubbers,
rulers, scales, school-bags, sealing-wax, seals, shears,
slates, sponge-cups, straps, suspension-rings, tags, tape,
tape-measures, toothpicks, tracing-cloth, wafers and
wire. Many stationers also have news-rooms and book¬
stores, and some unite toys with their other business.

Stationers' Company.—The guild of stationers in
London, or those stationers, printers and booksellers who
are united together in a chartered organization of that
name. The company is considerably older than the in¬
vention of printing, but received its charter from Philip
and Mary in the year 1556. It was made a guild of the
city in 1403. It has a hall in which for many years a
feast of the trade was held, and in it are a number of
pictures of eminent stationers and printers. Several
valuable privileges have been granted to them, and they
have considerable property, while several charities are
under their control.

Stays.—Projecting pieces of metal which are used in
a Stanhope press to hold the cup or socket in which the
screw acts firmly upright.

Steam Printing.—Any kind of printing executed
by means of steam-power—the reverse of hand-work.

Steel or Copperplate Engraving.—This is a
method of making engravings by cutting, scratching or
corroding a plate, these incisions afterwards being filled
with ink, the upper surface of the plate wiped clean, a
sheet of paper laid upon it and the whole subjected to
great pressure in a rolling press, which touches only one
part of the plate at once, the whole passing under it in
succession. When the sheet is taken off it will be found
that no matter how delicate the lines they will be faith¬
fully reproduced, while the ink has been forced upon the
surface of the paper in such a way that it stands up in
ridges. When it dries it will give a greater blackness
than can be obtained from lines of the same size in a
wood-engraving. There the pressure spreads the line
and makes it wider and the ink thinner. It is said, and
has been the general belief, that Finaguerra, an Italian
goldsmith, invented this method of engraving about
1460. It is certain that the art was practiced at this
time, although the historians have nearly all given up
the attempt to connect its discovery with a particular
name. The art of working in metal and of engraving or¬
naments upon the surface of gold, silver and bronze had
then attained a very high degree of excellence, and when
the discovery was once made that incised plates would
yield a multiplicity of impressions upon paper it seemed
to leap to perfection at once. In letter-press printing,
provided the public would buy the books after they were
printed, it would be easy for any well equipped office to
surpass in imitation the best works of the early press,