PROGRESS IN PHOTOCOMPOSITION* By JOSEPH H. KUNEY, RICHARD H. BELKNAP and BERNARD G. LAZORCHAK American Chemical Society, 1155 Sixteenth St. N.W., Washington 6, D.C.
More than 400 pages of complex scientific m a t e r i a l have now been s e t on f i l m i n s t e a d of t r a d i t i o n a l hot m e t a l in the A m e r i c a n C h e m i c a l S o c i e t y ' s study of the possible u s e of photocomposition in s c i e n t i f i c publication. Photocomposition can handle the p r o b l e m s of c h e m i c a l and m a t h e m a t i c a l l i t e r a t u r e , and the p r o g r e s s of the past few months shows encouraging s i g n s that a much hoped-for c o s t savings c a n be realized. Reducing c o s t s f o r composition w a s a m a j o r objective when the Society began i t s i n v e s t i g a tion of photocomposition two y e a r s ago. Composition c h a r g e s f o r ACS publications have p a s s e d the $1 m i l l i o n - p e r - y e a r m a r k , and even a s m a l l p e r c e n t a g e saving would enable the Society to p r i n t m o r e pages f o r i t s publishing d o l l a r s . The p r o b l e m of reducing c o s t s in all a r e a s of scientific publication is a n u r g e n t o n e , but i f photocomposition s p e e d s the p a s s a g e of scientific l i t e r a t u r e f r o m author t o r e a d e r , t h i s contribution can outweigh o t h e r consider ations Equally i m p o r t a n t to c o s t r e d u c t i o n , the Society wants t o l e a r n m o r e about a piece of equipment which s e e m s attuned to the machine age of l i t e r a t u r e d i s s e m i n a t i o n . The equipment u s e d i n the study is a n e l e c t r o n i c a l l y o p e r a t e d photocomposition m a c h i n e t r a d e m a r k e d the Photon. It is too soon to p r e d i c t w h e r e photocomposition will f i t into the p a t t e r n s of the m a c h i n e age of l i t e r a t u r e d i s s e m i n a t i o n and r e t r i e v a l . But a device which i s e l e c t r o n i c a l l y o p e r a t e d o f f e r s a n e x c e l l e n t potential f o r being u s e f u l . R e l a t e d developments i n the f i e l d of offset printing which p a r a l l e l w o r k in photocomposition hold f u r t h e r p r o m i s e f o r r e d u c e d c o s t s of printing s c i e n t i f i c m a t e r i a l . The techniques of photocomposition r e q u i r e l i t t l e t h a t is different on t h e p a r t of the e d i t o r , a u t h o r , o r r e a d e r . To the r e a d e r , the a p p e a r a n c e of the finished page m a t c h e s t h a t of the hot m e t a l t y p e - s e t page. The only d i f f e r e n c e f o r a u t h o r s is t h a t the galley proof c o m e s on a p a p e r with a bluish o r brownish c a s t c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of photosensitive p a p e r produced on a Bruoing o r Ozalid-type m a c h i n e . The e d i t o r m a r k s copy and e d i t s m a n u s c r i p t in the s a m e m a n n e r as the conventional s e t t i n g . C a r e and a c c u r a c y become m o r e i m p o r t a n t in p r e p a r i n g copy f o r photocomposition s i n c e the handling of changes in f i l m is m o r e difficult t h a n i n metal. The m e c h a n i c s of composition a r e quite d i f f e r e n t . I n s t e a d of m e t a l c h a r a c t e r s , the end product is positive f i l m . After author checking
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and p r o o f r e a d i n g , c o r r e c t i o n s a r e s t r i p p e d i n the f i l m and pages m a d e up by positioning the f i l m on a n adhesive-faced t r a n s l u c e n t s h e e t . F r o m this paste-up, the offset p r i n t e r m a k e s a contact negative. Where e n g r a v i n g s would have been used in a m e t a l page s e t u p , negatives of c h a r t s and photos a r e s t r i p p e d in the blank s p a c e s provided in the o r i g i n a l m a k e - u p . An offset printing plate is m a d e f r o m the completed negative and the page i s r e a d y f o r printing. The initial ACS production e f f o r t i s the s e t ting of the q u a r t e r l y J o u r n a l of Chemical and E n gineering Data. The J C E D w o r k was s t a r t e d using a m a t r i x d i s c available in the l i b r a r y of the Photon company. The d i s c contains many s p e c i a l c h a r a c t e r s u s e d in setting c h e m i c a l and m a t h e m a t i c a l w o r k , but i t is not a d i s c designed f o r c h e m i c a l composition. The d e s i g n of s u c h a d i s c is expected t o c o s t about $15,000 and to take a t l e a s t a y e a r t o complete the d e s i g n , e n g i n e e r i n g and m a n u f a c t u r e . We p r e f e r to delay t h i s p a r t of the w o r k until we have m o r e experience. In s e t t i n g the f i r s t i s s u e of JCEJ3, we solved m o s t of o u r composition p r o b l e m s , but found that the location on the d i s c of c e r t a i n f r e quently-used c h a r a c t e r s w a s slowing o p e r a t i o n . After consultation with t h e Photon company, a r e v i s i o n of the d i s c in u s e was p r e p a r e d on which s e v e n c h a r a c t e r s (t, -,O , yo,., +, x ( t i m e s s i g n ) ) w e r e moved f r o m v a r i o u s p l a c e s on the d i s c into the "home row," which is the s e m i c i r c l e of m a t r i c e s u s e d i n s e t t i n g the m a i n t e x t of the a r t i c l e s . To expect m u c h i m p r o v e m e n t f r o m moving s e v e n c h a r a c t e r s out of 1440 m a y s e e m t o be asking a l o t . One of the c h a r a c t e r s shifted in the r e v i s e d d i s c w a s t h e d e g r e e m a r k (O). Bef o r e the change the o p e r a t o r had t o m a k e five m a n u a l m o v e m e n t s of l e v e r s and buttons t o get t h i s m a r k on the f i l m ( d i s c change, l e n s change, l e t t e r , l e n s change, d i s c change). In using the r e v i s e d d i s c , one s t r o k e d o e s the job. The new d i s c , plus added e x p e r i e n c e and p r a c t i c e , r e s u l t e d in a 65% r e d u c t i o n i n the t i m e r e q u i r e d t o s e t a page i n the t h i r d i s s u e of JCED as c o m p a r e d with the f i r s t two i s s u e s . A m o r e r e c e n t development of the p r o j e c t is a f a s t e r and s i m p l e r method f o r s e t t i n g m a t h e m a t i c a l m a t e r i a l . Whether i n conventional hot m e t a l o r in photocomposition, the s e t t i n g of m a t h e m a t i c a l m a t e r i a l is slow and c o s t l y . On the Photon, the o p e r a t o r may be r e q u i r e d t o account f o r nine different l e v e l s of a l i g n m e n t , s p e c i f i c p l a c e m e n t of g r o u p s of c h a r a c t e r s , along with utilization of Photon's many c o n t r o l s ,
'Presented before the Division of Chemical Literature at the American Chemical Society Meeting, New York, N.Y., September 13, 1960.
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J o s e p h H. Kuney, R i c h a r d H. Belknap and B e r n a r d G . L a z o r c h a k
such a s counter on-counter off, r e g i s t e r onr e g i s t e r off, and photo-nonphoto. In the method developed by the ACS staff, s t a g g e r e d lenses a r e u s e d to place c h a r a c t e r s i n t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e n u m e r a t o r -denominator positions of the f o r m u l a . A t h i r d l e n s w a s r e positioned t o handle the p r o p e r placement of 2-line i n t e g r a l s i g n s , b r a c k e t s , and p a r e n t h e s e s . A s i m p l e switching s y s t e m enables the o p e r a t o r to s e l e c t the p r o p e r l e n s quickly. The o p e r a t o r d o e s not have t o account f o r different type l e v e l s , and the visualization n e c e s s a r y t o position c h a r a c t e r s i n the r i g h t place is r e d u c e d . Matbem a t i c a l m a t e r i a l is now s e t with h a r d l y m o r e e f f o r t than s t r a i g h t t e x t . T h i s should i m p r o v e f u r t h e r with the u s e of the automatic positioning device now i n development. Of as m u c h i n t e r e s t as the c o s t s a v i n g s that we expect f r o m t h e new method of setting form u l a m a t e r i a l is t h e possibility of using p o s i tioned-line techniques i n the composition of s t r u c t u r a l c h e m i c a l f o r m u l a s . If the setting of complex o r g a n i c s t r u c t u r e s c a n be achieved, it will be a m a j o r s t e p toward reducing composition costs. Our o p e r a t i o n m u s t be c o n s i d e r e d h a r d l y u p to pilot plant l e v e l . One o p e r a t o r h a s handled a l l p h a s e s of the w o r k , including composition, f i l m p r o c e s s i n g , c o r r e c t i o n s , and page make-up. The contributions of M r . B e r n a r d L a z o r c h a k , o u r o p e r a t o r , and M r . Walter O s t r a n d e r , who worked out the m e c h a n i c s of o u r new l e n s s y s t e m , have been outstanding. Without t h e i r initiative and p e r s i s t e n c e , we could not have hoped t o have achieved the r e s u l t s p r e s e n t e d h e r e . But the d a t a of t h e l a b o r a t o r y a r e a t b e s t indications of what can be expected when a p r o c e s s goes o n s t r e a m on a c o m m e r c i a l b a s i s . In working out c o s t d a t a , we have t r i e d t o be . a s objective as possible. But t o t a k e t h e c o s t s of a l a b o r a t o r y effort and p r o j e c t t h e m into a c o m m e r c i a l o p e r a t i o n is not e a s y . The p r o b l e m i s f u r t h e r complicated by the l a r g e i n v e s t m e n t $70,000 p e r m a c h i n e ) and r e q u i r e d ($60,000 the attendant p r o b l e m s of d e p r e c i a t i o n and maintenance. In o u r c o s t calculations, we u s e d two m e t h o d s of figuring the c o s t of setting a page
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Figure l.-The Photon typing console; from this keyboard the operator has coolml of all rhe variables encountered in complex scientific cmp0riti.n.
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and readying it f o r p r e s s . T h u s , for a l e t t e r p r e s s page, we include c o s t of e n g r a v i n g s , and lockup and make-ready; f o r offset printing, we include plate and negative c o s t s : P e r Page Total c o s t s . per ~page i n hot m e t a l ( c u r r e n t ACS r a t e s ) 100% Total c o s t s per page of ACS operation. including s a l a r i e s , r e n t , d e p r e c i a t i o n , supplies 127% Total h o u r s p e r page for a l l s t e p s i n photocomposition x $9.00 ( a s s u m e d a v e r a g e c o s t / h o u r of c o m m e r c i a l 90% operation) Before we c a n take any action based on t h e s e c o s t f i g u r e s , - w e m u s t validate o u r a s s u m p t i o n s r e g a r d i n g c o s t s on a c o m m e r c i a l b a s i s . T h i s study i s now i n p r o g r e s s with the h e l p of Mack P r i n t i n g Company. The f a c t that at t h i s stage c o s t s a r e within c l o s e r a n g e of conventional methods is p r o m i s i n g f o r the f u t u r e of photocomposition. In the t h i r d i s s u e of JCED, c o s t s p e r page f o r composition o n the Photon w e r e r e d u c e d one t h i r d c o m p a r e d with c o s t s f o r setting the pages of the f i r s t two i s s u e s . We do not look f o r t h i s r a t e of i m p r o v e m e n t t o continue, but we do expect c o s t s t o continue downward as we a c q u i r e m o r e knowhow, develop new techniques, t r a i n p e r s o n n e l , and design a m a t r i x d i s c f o r c h e m i c a l composition. Our p r o g r a m f o r the y e a r ahead c a l l s f o r a 50% i n c r e a s e i n output of pages f o r To do t h i s , another o p e r a t o r is being t r a i n e d f o r the start of a second s h i f t . In addition, we plan s o m e t e s t s o n Chemical A b s t r a c t s copy. = i s growing at a r a t e of 7.8% p e r y e a r and t h i s r a p i d growth puts a s t r a i n on available hot m e t a l equipment. Photon, o r its equivalent. may h e l p r e l i e v e the situation. F u r t h e r , we plan to f i r m up o u r c o s t s t u d i e s . If we continue t o show t h e p r o g r e s s m a d e i n the p a s t y e a r , by l a t e 1961 photocomposition should be r e a d y t o . a s s u m e a m o r e i m p o r t a n t r o l e i n producing ACS publications.
JCED.'
