Moxon's mechanick exercises, volume 1 (of 2)

¶. 3. Of the Dressing-Hook.

The Dressing-Hook is described in Plate 21 at c. This is a long square Rod of Iron, about two Foot long and a Great-Primmer square: Its end a is about a two-Lin’d-English thick, and hath a small Return piece of Iron made square to the under-side of the Rod, that when the whole Dressing-Hook is laid along a Stick of Letter, this Return piece or Hook may, when the Rod is drawn with the Ball of the Thumb, by the Knot on the upper-side of it at c, draw all the Letter in the Stick tight and close up together, that the Stick of Letter may be Scraped, as shall be shewed.

¶. 4. Of the Dressing-Knife.

The Dressing-Knife is delineated at d in Plate 21. It is only a short piece of a Knife broken off about two Inches from the Sholder: But its Edge is Basil’d away from the back to the point pretty suddenly to make it the stronger: The Sprig or Pin of the Handle is commonly let into an Hole drilled into a piece of the Tip of an Harts-horn, as in the Figure and is fastned in with Rosen, as other Knives are into their Handles.

¶. 5. Of the Plow.

The Plow is delineated in Plate 21 at e: It is almost a common Plain (which I have already described in Vol. 1. Numb. 4. Plate 4. and §. 2 to 9.) only with this distinction, that through the length of the Sole runs such a Tongue, as does through the Male-Block to slide tight and yet easily through the Groove made on the top of the Male-block: Its Blade makes an Angle of 60 Degrees with the Sole of it.

§. 21. ¶. 1. Of Dressing of Letters.

The Letter-Dresser hath (as I told you before) his Letter Set up in Composing-sticks, with their Nicks upwards, and those Sticks set upon the Racks: Therefore he takes one Stick off the Racks, and placing the Handle of the Composing-stick in his left hand, he takes the contrary end of the Dressing-stick in his right-hand, and laying the Back of the Dressing-stick even upon or rather a little hanging over the Back of the Composing-stick, that the Feet of the Letter may fall within the Bottom-Ledge of the Dressing-stick; He at the same time fits the Side-Ledge of the Dressing-stick against the farther end of the Line of Letters in the Composing-stick: And holding then both Sticks together, his left hand at the Handle-end of the Composing-stick, and his right-Hand within about two Handfuls of the Handle-end of the Dressing-stick, He turns his Hands, Sticks and all, outward from his left hand, till the Composing-stick lies flat upon the Dressing-stick, and consequently the Letters in the Composing-stick is turned and laid upon the Dressing-stick.

Then he goes as near the Light as he can with the Letters in his Dressing-stick, and examins what Letters Come not well either in the Face or Shanck: So that then holding the Dressing-stick in his left hand, and tilting the Bottom-Ledge a little downward, that the Feet of the Letter may rest against the Bottom-Ledge, and laying the Ball of his Thumb upon any certain Number of Letters between his Body and the Letter to be Cast out, He with the Foot of a Space or some thin Letter, lifts up the Letter to be Cast out, and lets it fall upon the Dressing-Bench: and thus he does to all the Letters in that Stick that are to be Thrown out.

Then taking again the Dressing-Stick in his left hand at or near the handle of it, he takes the Dressing-Hook at the Knot, between the fore-Finger and Thumb of his right-Hand, and laying the Hook over the edge of the Quadrat at the farther end of the Dressing-stick, near the bottom-Ledge of it, he slips his right-Hand to the Handle of the Dressing-stick, and his left hand towards the middle of the Dressing-stick, so as the end of the Ball of his Thumb may draw by the farther end of the Knot on the Dressing-Hook the whole Dressing-Hook, and the Hook at the end of it the whole Stick of Letter close together towards him; While at the same time he with his Fingers clutched about the Stick and Letter, and the Thumb-ball of his hand presses the under flat of the Hooking-stick close against the Letter and Dressing-stick, that the Letter in the Stick may lie fast and manageable.

Then he takes the Handle of the Dressing-Knife in his right-Hand, and inclining the back of it towards his Body, that its Basil-edge may Cut or Scrap the smoother, He Scrapes twice or thrice upon so much of the whole Line of Letters as lies between the outer-side of the Dressing-Hook and the Face of the Letter.

But if twice or thrice Scraping, have not taken all the Bur or irregularities off so much of the Letter as he Scraped upon, he Scrapes yet longer and oftner till the whole number of Letters in the Dressing-stick from end to end seems but one intire piece of Mettal.

Thus is that side of the fore-part (viz. that part towards the Face) of the Shanck of the Body finisht.

To Scrape the other end of that side of the Letter, viz. that towards the Feet; He turns the Handle of the Stick from him, and removing the Dressing-Hook towards the Face of the Letter which is already Scraped, he places his Thumb against the Knot of the Dressing-Hook, and presses it hard from him, that the Hook of the Dressing-Hook being now towards him, may force the whole Stick of Letter forwards against the Side-Ledge of the Dressing-stick; that so the whole Line in the Stick may lie again the faster and more manageable: Then he Scrapes with the Dressing-Knife as before, till the end of the Shanck of the Letter towards the Feet be also Drest.

Then he lays by his Dressing-Hook, and keeping his Dressing-stick of Letter still in his left hand, he takes a second Dressing-stick, with its Handle in his right-Hand, and lays the Side-Ledge of it against the hither-side of the Quadrat at the hither end of the Dressing-stick, and the bottom-Ledge of the second Stick hanging a little over the Feet of the Letter, that they may be comprehended within the bottom-Ledge of the second Dressing-stick; and so removing his left hand towards the middle of both Dressing-sticks, and clasping them close together, he turns both Hands outwards towards the left, till the Letter in the first Dressing-stick lie upon the second Dressing-stick, and then the Face of the Letter will lie outwards toward the right-Hand, and the Nicks upwards. Then he uses the Dressing-Hook and Dressing-Knife to Scrape this side the Line of Letter, as he did before to the other side of the Line of Letter: So shall both sides be Scraped and Drest.

Having thus Scraped both the sides, He takes the Handle of the Dressing-stick into his left hand, as before, and takes the Male-block into his right-Hand, and placing the Tongue of the Block against the Face of the Letter in the Dressing-stick, he also places the Knot of the Block against the farther side of the Quadrat at the farther end of the Stick, and so placing his right-Hand underneath the middle of the Dressing-stick and Block, he turns his Hand outwards towards the left, as before, and transfers the Letter in the Dressing-stick to the Male-Block: Yet he so holds and manages the Block that the Shanck of the Letter may rest at once upon the side of the Block the Knot is placed in, and the Face of the Letter upon the Tongue.

When his Stick of Letters is thus transfer’d to the Male-Block, He claps the middle of the Male-Block into his left hand, tilting the Feet of the Letter a little upwards, that the Face may rest upon the Tongue, and then takes about the middle of the Female-Block in his right-Hand, and lays it so upon the Male-Block, that the Tongue of the Male-Block may fall into the Tongue of the Female-Block, and that the Knot at the hither end of the Female Block may stand against the hither-side of the Quadrat at the hither end of the Line of Letters: So that when the Knot of the Male-Block is lightly drawn towards the Knot of the Female-Block, or the Knot of the Female-Block lightly thrust towards the Knot of the Male-Block, both Knots shall squeeze the Letter close between them.

Then he grasps both Blocks with the Letter between them in both his Hands, and lays them in the Block-Groove, with the Feet of the Letter upwards, and the hither-side of the hither Block against the hither Cheek of the Block-Groove. And putting the Wedge into the vacant space between the Blocks and the further Cheek of the Block-Groove, he lightly with his right-Hand thrusts up the Wedge to force the Blocks close together, and pinch the Letter close between the Blocks.

Then with the Balls of the Fingers of both his Hands, he Patts gently upon the Feet of the Letter, to press all their Faces down upon the Tongue; which having done, he takes the Mallet in his right-Hand, and with it knocks gently upon the head of the Wedge to pinch the Letter yet closer to the insides of the Blocks. Then he Knocks lightly and successively upon the Knot-ends of both the Blocks, to force the Letters yet closer together. And then again knocks now pretty hard upon the head of the Wedge, and also pretty hard upon the Knot-ends of the Blocks, to Lock the Letter tight and close up.

Then he places the Tongue of the Plow in the upper Groove of the Block; And having the Tooth of the Iron fitted in the Plow, so as to fall just upon the middle of the Feet of the Letter, he grasps the Plow in his right-Hand, placing his Wrist-Ball against the Britch of it, and guiding the fore-end with his left hand, slides the Plow gently along the whole length of the Blocks; so as the Tooth of the Iron bears upon the Feet of the Letter: And if it be a small Letter he Plows upon, the Tooth of the Iron will have cut a Groove deep enough through the length of the whole Block of Letters:

But if the Body of the Letter be great, he reiterates his Traverses two three or four times according to the Bigness of the Body of the Letter, till he have made a Groove about a Space deep in the Feet of the Shancks of the whole Blocks of Letter, and have cut off all the irregularities of the Break.

Then with a small piece of Buff or some other soft Leather, he rubs a little upon the Feet of the Letter to smoothen them.

Then he unlocks the Blocks of Letter, by knocking with the Mallet upon the small end of the Wedge, and first takes the Wedge from between the Blocks and Cheeks, and lays it upon the farther Cheek, and afterwards takes the Blocks with Letter in it near both ends of the Blocks between the Fingers and Thumbs of both his Hands, and turns the hithermost Block upon the hithermost Cheek, and with his Fingers and Thumbs again lifts off the upper Block, leaving the Letter on the undermost Block with its Face against the Tongue.

Then taking the Block with Letter in it in his left hand, he places the Knot-end from him, and takes the Handle of the Dressing-stick in his right-Hand, and lays the Side-Ledge of it against the hither-side of the Quadrat at the hither end, and the Bottom-ledge against the Feet of the Letter, he grasps the Handle of the Dressing-stick Block and all in his left hand, and lays his right-Hand Thumb along the under-side of the Dressing-stick about the middle, and with the Fingers of the same Hand grasps the Block, and turning his Hands, Block, and Dressing-stick to the right, transfers the Letter in the Block upon the Dressing-stick.

Then grasping the Dressing-stick by the Handle with his left hand, he with his right-Hand takes the Dressing-Hook by the Knot, and lays the inside of the Hook of it against the farther side of the Quadrat at the farther end of the Stick, and drawing the Hook and Letter in the Dressing-stick with his left Thumb by the Knot close up toward him, he resting the Stick upon the Dressing-bench that he may Scrape the harder upon the Beard with the Edge of the Dressing-Knife, Scrapes off the Beard as near the Face as he dares for fear of spoiling it, and about a Thick Space deep at least into the Shanck.

If the Bottom and Top are both to be Bearded, He transfers the Letter into another Dressing-stick, as hath been shewed, and Beards it also as before.

¶. 2. Some Rules and Circumstances to be observed in Dressing of Letters.

1. The Letter-Dresser ought to be furnisht with three or four sorts of Dressing-sticks, which differ nothing from one another save in the Height of their Ledges. The Ledges of one pair no higher than a Scaboard. This pair of Sticks may serve to Dress, Pearl, Nomparel, and Brevier. Another pair whose Ledges may be a Nomparel high. And this pair of Dressing-sticks will serve to Dress Brevier, Long-Primmer, and Pica: Another pair whose Ledges may be a Long-Primmer high: And these Dressing-sticks may serve to Dress Pica, English, Great-Primmer, and Double-Pica. And if you will another pair of DresDressing-sticks, whose Ledges may be an English High: And these Dressing-sticks may serve to Dress all big Bodyed Letters, even to the Greatest.

2. As he ought to be furnisht with several sorts of Dressing-sticks as aforesaid: So ought he also to be furnisht with several Blocks, whose Knots are to correspond with the Sizes of the Ledges of the Dressing-sticks, for the Dressing of several Bodies as aforesaid.

3. He ought to be furnisht with three or four Dressing-Hooks, whose Hooks ought to be of the several Depths aforesaid, to fit and suit with the several Bodyed-Letters.

4. He must have two Dressing-Knives, one to lie before the Blocks to Scrape and Beard the Letter in the Sticks, and the other behind the Dressing-blocks to use when occasion serves to Scrape off a small Bur, the Tooth of the Plow may have left upon the Feet of the Letter. And though one Dressing-Knife may serve to both these uses: Yet when Work-men are in a Train of Work they begrutch the very turning the Body about, or stepping one step forward or backward; accounting that it puts them out of their Train, and hinders their riddance of Work.

5. For every Body of Letter he is to have a particular Plow, and the Tooth of the Iron of each Plow is to be made exactly to a set bigness, the measure of which bigness is to be taken from the size of the Break that is to be Plowed away. For Example, If it be a Pearl Body to be Plowed, the breadth of the Tooth ought not to be above a thin Scaboard: Because the Break of that Body cannot be bigger, for Reasons I have given before; But the Tooth must be full broad enough, and rather broader than the Break, lest any of the irregularity of the Break should be left upon the Foot of the Letter. And so for every Body he fits the Tooth of the Iron, full broad enough and a little broader than the size of the Break. This is one reason why for every particular Body he ought to have a particular Plow. Another reason is.

The Tooth of this Plow must be exactly set to a punctual distance from the Tongue of the Plow: For if they should often shift Irons to the several Stocks of the Plow, they would create themselves by shifting more trouble than the price of a Stock would compensate.

A Fount of Letter being new Cast and Drest, the Boy Papers up each sort in a Cartridge by it self, and puts about an hundred Pounds weight, viz. a Porters Burthen into a Basket to be sent to the Master-Printers.

The Steel-Punches being now Cut, the Molds made, the Matrices Sunk, the Letters Cast, and Drest, the application of these Letters falls now to the task of the Compositer; whose Trade shall be (God willing) the Subject of the next Exercises.

FINIS.