ORDER XVI.—MAKERS OF AND WORKERS IN PAPER; PRINTERS, BOOKBINDERS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, ETC.

Sub-order 2.—Printers, Bookbinders, and Photographers

526.—Process Engravers

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collotype photographer, collotype photographic operator

a photographer (process engraving) q.v. who obtains reversed negative of photograph, painting or drawing, from which a positive on a glass plate is made by collotype plate maker q.v.

collotype plate maker, collotype process operator

coats glass plate with bichromated solution of gelatine, and dries it in a hot oven, thereby giving it a grained sensitive surface; prints positive on plate from prepared negative in camera.

engraver, half-tone

see etcher, halftone.

engraver, photo, photographic engraver

see engraver, process.

engraver, process engraver, photo engraver (hand tooling)

receives etched plate from etcher q.v.; examines plate with help of magnifying eyepiece and uses hand engraving tools to outline work for router (548) q.v. if required, to remove whites, or high lights, from half tone plates, and defects or spots generally, to engrave borders on plates, burnish them and finish them generally for printing purposes.

engraver, process; process block engraver ; photo engraver, photographic engraver, processman

general terms for anyone other than a photographer (process engraving) or a process engraver, etc. (hand tooling), employed in process engraving, including metal printer, deep etcher, and fine etcher q.v.

engraver, wax

blackens brass plate with black-lead, then coats it with white wax composition; engraves design by scratching through wax with scribing tools, leaving plate exposed where lines are required in resulting print; may also, after engraving, black-lead waxed plate and place it in electrotyping bath, thus depositing copper on surface; completes block; cf., electrotyper (524).

etcher

(i) in photo engraving trade, general term for any worker "biting," i.e., immersing prepared metal, e.g., brass, copper, etc., plates in acid baths to dissolve away the metal not protected by image or picture; includes colour etcher, fine etcher, half-tone etcher, line etcher, process block etcher, and rough etcher q.v.;

(ii) also used in more restricted sense as equivalent of fine etcher q.v.

etcher, colour ; three colour process fine etcher

a fine etcher q.v. engaged in three-colour process; specially skilled in "biting" and retouching plates with an acid-resisting stopping-out ink so as to reproduce colour values of original sketch or picture.

etcher, deep

a fine etcher q.v. who retouches and works on plate by hand, using acid to deepen etching where router or other similar tool would be too drastic.

etcher, fine; process fine etcher ; etcher

an experienced etcher q.v. capable of undertaking all etching processes except line etching, see line etcher, "bites," i.e. immerses plate in bath of ferric chloride; stops out with acid-resisting etching ink parts to be lightly etched; deep etches to produce clean whites; sometimes also finishes plates with hand tools, graver, etc.; also works over plates returned for further treatment.

etcher, fine, three-colour process

see etcher, colour.

etcher, half-tone ; half-tone engraver

a fine etcher q.v. preparing plates to reproduce work in black and white (other than line).

etcher, line ; zinco etcher

an etcher q.v. producing plates in process of making line blocks, e.g., reproductions of black and white line drawings; dips zinc plates, received from metal printer q.v., in a series of nitric acid baths of varying strength, to etch lines therein; coats plates, before and after each bath, with gum powder and with different etching inks (rolling them with printer's hand roller) to strengthen and protect lines against action of acid, by forming shoulders to lines; finally scrubs off accumulated ink, etc., from surface of plates with solution of warm potash; rolls plate again with hard finishing ink, and subjects it to final bath of acid to etch away protecting shoulders; passes plate to mounter (stereo-typing) (548), q.v.

etcher, photogravure

an etcher q.v. who treats copper plate or cylinder, prepared by photogravure carbon printer (548) q.v., in a bath of ferric chloride, thereby obtaining a sunken or intaglio image of original photograph, painting, or drawing.

etcher, process block

general term covering colour etcher, fine etcher, line etcher, rough etcher, etc. q.v.

etcher, rough

an etcher q.v. subjecting plates to a bath of acid to produce first or extra depth in etching, where such is required, particularly for newspaper illustrations prior to treatment by fine etcher q.v.; sometimes done by line etcher q.v.; term nearly obsolete.

etcher, zinco

see etcher, line.

half-tone operator, half-tone process operator

see photographer (process engraving).

line operator

obtains negative of line drawing in same way as half-tone process operator, but without use of cross line screen.

offset-litho operator

a photographer q.v. who obtains a negative, not reversed in position, with or without using a screen; cf. photo-litho operator; used for posters, maps, stationery headings, paper bags, cartons, etc.

photographer (process engraving) ; half-tone operator, half-tone process operator

(i) (wet plate process) pours collodion over one surface of glass plate, and places it in a bath of silver nitrate for sensitising; takes plate, in wet condition, in dark slide, to camera, and exposes it; for half tone work, first focusses and adjusts position of crossline screen, i.e., a glass screen with network of fine lines; for line work, no screen is used; after exposure removes negative from dark slide and develops and fixes it; intensifies, if necessary, by immersing negative in bath of copper or silver solution or lead nitrate; passes negative to metal printer q.v.;

(ii) (dry plate process) as for wet plate process except that photographer does not prepare plate.

photographic process operator

general term covering half-tone process operator and three-colour process operator q.v.

photogravure studio operator

a photographer q.v. who obtains negative from photograph, drawing, or painting, and from this makes reversed positive on glass plate, by exposing to a source of light, negative and sensitised glass plate placed in contact.

photo-litho operator

a photographer q.v. who obtains negative, reversed in position, with or without using a screen, cf. offset-litho operator.

photo-operator (lithographer)

photographs drawings to be lithographed; prints from negative on to collodion coated plate of aluminium or zinc in vacuum frame by means of mercury lamp; washes printed plate with cotton wool swob and water to remove part of collodion film, leaving imprint of photograph; rolls with black (printer's) roller covered with ink, and washes off excess of ink; passes plate to gummer (lithographer's) (549) q.v. for light etching.

printer, half-tone process

see printer, metal.

printer, metal ; half-tone process printer

polishes copper or zinc plate by hand, using brush or rag, pumice powder and soft whiting; pours sensitive solution of glue and bichromate on one side of plate; attaches plate to hand-manipulated whirler, which whirls it to produce even coating of solution; when dry, places plate in contact with negative made by photographer (process engraving) q.v. in printing frame, and prints therefrom by means of arc lamps; after printing, washes plate in running water to dissolve away glue and bichromate not exposed to effect of light; immerses plate in bath of aniline dye to bring up image or picture for examination for defects; again washes in running water; finally heats plate by holding it with pincers over gas flame to burn image or picture into hard acid-resisting enamel; passes plate to etcher q.v.

printer, offset litho

as for printer, photo-litho process q.v. except that negative is not reversed.

printer, photo-litho process

obtains a positive print, for use in lithography, on paper or on thin grained metal, from a negative, by placing negative and paper or thin metal in contact in printing frame and exposing to sunlight or to arc lamp.

printer, three colour process

prints plates for use in colour printing by processes similar to those of metal printer q.v.

processman

see engraver, process.

three colour operator, three colour process operator

a photographer (process engraving) q.v. who makes three or four negatives, from coloured drawing or coloured still life subject, through colour-sensitive filters or panchromatic dry plates, adjusting crossline screen at different angles in camera to avoid plaiding or moire effect; these negatives are afterwards used in production of sets of metal plates which, when superimposed by printer using different coloured inks for each plate, reproduce effect of original subject.

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From: A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population, 1921,
Ministry of Labour, 1927. Digitised by Peter Christian, August, 2016.   This text is in the Public Domain.