It seems that, throughout America's history, having an opinion - and having a printing press - were two of the most dangerous weapons a person could possess. Don't believe me? Think about it - what laws get passed most easily? Gun control... or censorship?
Today - we had a field trip to a modern printing press! We traveled to Upper Valley News in West Lebanon.
The smell of ink and burned plastic overwhelmed me and triggered a migraine - but before that - we got to see lots of interesting machines.
Left to right:
• This machine exposed the negatives of the newspaper pages onto incredibly thin sheets of steel with a thin coating of photopolymer.
• These sheets were run through a machine that washed out the unexposed areas, then heat set them and spit them into a bin.
• This cardboard box holds about $5000 worth of printing plates. These are all exposed (used).
• The plates stick magnetically to the huge metal rollers in the press. Ink is rolled over them and they press against other rollers that then press against the papers. (Like a rubber stamp).
• The clean up area is so beautiful, I included a bigger shot of it below.
• The ink is stored in these tanks - red, yellow and blue.
• There are giant tanks of black in the background. These inks are mixed with water to help the ink absorb into the paper. They run through pipes to the presses - and each vat can last about a week before being refilled.
• We were not concerned... at all... by the evidence on the ceiling of ink explosions. Not a bit. Really.
• The rolls of paper came in Small, Large and Double-wide. One roll? About 15 miles of paper! And each weighs about a ton.
Machines for ink. Machines for paper. Machines for cutting. Machines for folding.
• Watching the machine that carries papers from here to there.
• The machine that inserts flyers into the papers.
• The machine that bundles and wraps plastic tape around stuff.
I didn't find "the machine that goes BING" but I'm sure it was there somewhere.
Again, the washup area was really pretty...
... don't you just love that touch of red? Like a goose peeking over the edge, having a chat with the faucet...
Ah, yeh.
Did I mention the smell really gets to you in that place?
I'm sure it has no effect on one's faculties...
5 comments:
Your apt observations and sense of humor were just what I needed this morning. "A goose peeking over, having a chat with the faucet" indeed!
Thanks!
How Zentangle-esque seeing the paper rollers streaming machine to machine. And YES I adore the colors in the clean up area. Your red goose peaking over to speak to the faucet... what a great cartoon idea. :)xo
Finally catching up on my reading - love to have my tea whilst I peruse your blog posts.
Years ago when I sold high tech gear/software/services one of my customers was the Bergen Record, a newspaper located in Hackensack, NJ. The press room was one of the most wondrous places I've ever visited. The smell of ink also did me in but it was worth it to see those huge presses running full tilt. I too enjoyed to color splash in the clean area. This is so much fun experiencing your college life vicariously.
Bette Abdu
Bette - that's so funny - my grandparents lived in Riveredge - part of Hackensack. :-)
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