Printers Tool?

[JIHoldaway]

Hi everyone, I am hoping that you can help.

Recently I have been sorting through some of my late father's tools and amongst the usual hammers etc I found a set of flat brass items.

I have no idea what they are but he was a printer all of his life having done an apprenticeship around 1955. So I am wondering if they are from then.

There is a full set of them, different lengths numbered from 4 to 40 and a couple slightly longer with no numbers and a less curved end.

Attached is a picture of the No 33. Can anyone tell me what they are? I am intrigued to say the least !!!

[printsmurf]

They are compositor's setting rules.

They would be used to set the length of the line of type to be set in the setting stick.

Once the length of line was set in the stick, the setting rule would be removed and the type set normally.

Pulling up on the jutting out 'lug' enables the rule to swivel on the nick at the other end. The curve on the end is there to enable the setting rule to be easily removed without loosening the lock on the stick.

All the compositors in the composing room would either use the same setting rule or would have their own setting rules of the same lengths.

Compositor A could set some type at 36 ems and compositor B could also set some type at 36 ems and they would both be the same length thus ensuring all the type set would be the same length ready for locking up in the chase.

[JIHoldaway]

Thank you that is a great help and I am glad we have something from his career. Just one more question. Some are very tarnished. Is it better to leave them that way or clean them up?

[printsmurf]

I think it boils down to personal choice and what you intend to do with them. I have seen these rules all highly polished, laquered and fanned out in a frame.

When I was a compositor my own personal set of rules came in a box about the size of a box of dominos, but the comp in charge of the apprentices had a leather tool roll with all the more common sizes used.

Have you a box or possibly a roll? That might dictate what you are going to do with them.

Certainly the less used would certainly tarnish through lack of use, some of mine were badly stained, I think it tells a part of the history of the item.

I think if they were mine I would give them all a cursory clean and then a very slight wipe with WD-40 or similar and keep them boxed (if you have one).

As an aside......
I was a compositor in the mid 1970's and as the firm was moving to shut down the hot-metal department I was informed I would be transferred to the lithographic machine room.

I entrusted my set of rules to another, older,  compositor as he would be staying hot-metal until the final closing. When they eventually shut the department I went to see him to retrieve the rules only to be told that he had thrown them away shortly before the final closure.

His words were something along the lines of they were no longer of use to anyone!

I could have cried! I still have my typescale and setting stick though.

[interrobang]

With regard to a comp rule as a "standard." Indeed, that would allow all hand comps to set their sticks to the same measure. That's certainly likely if the composing room used antiquated sticks that lacked gradated stops. On modern job sticks like a Rouse, the heel and stick were matched —each share a serial no.. The measure when set is accurate to the point. Before Rouse (et al.), sticks just had a heel that slid freely to any fractional measure. No stops, no standard. Enter the comp rule.

What comp rules make better work of is when type and ornament are being "set solid," and for manipulating bits that are being made into a larger form. When setting by hand without leads or slugs, sorts tend to snag one another when setting a line on line. A comp rule made a smooth face for the next line to be set against so that the justified/quaded line filled the stick –just right–. When the line was filled, the rule is slipped out and placed back in the stick nearest the comp, and the next line set. And repeat. In that way, every line is properly justified. The Stonemason is happy because the form will lift with no loose lines.

It's very simple to make an abbreviated set of comp rules from spare brass rule. You only really need a few common measures. 15, 20, 25, 30, and in America, for fonting to a standard ATF measure, 36 (fonting solid like the foundries saves you strip material and shipping weight). Choose rules that are 2-pica longer than the target measure, and two slugs to measure. Make a brass sandwich with the same amount of brass rule exposed on each end. Use some tape and hold it together, then lock in a vise. With a hacksaw, cross-cut each end flush to the depth of the slugs keeping brass for the "ears." Then saw in toward the slugs from the ends to form the ears. Dress with a file to smooth the faces, and finish. They're a simple joy to work with when you need them.