ng ink, we now come to the ink itself. Being
provided with all the varnishes, pigments, dryers, etc., of suitable
qualities and shades, it is necessary to combine them in proper
proportions, after selecting such as will be mutually compatible, and
to grind them to the utmost fineness. The machinery to accomplish this
purpose consists, first, of mixers, in which the ingredients are
thoroughly incorporated with each other. This being done, the
resulting mixture or "pulp," as it is called, is ground upon mills
formed of rollers or cylinders, which are set in close contact by
means of screws and made to revolve by power. Between these rollers
the pulp is passed again and again, the number of times being
dependent upon the consistency of the ink and the nature of the
pigments, until it is ground or comminuted to the utmost fineness. The
result is printing ink as it is known to the printer, varying in
consistency, strength, intensity, permanency, brilliancy, drying, and
other working qualities, according to the nature of the various
varnishes, dryers, and pigments with which it is made.

THE PRINTER'S ROLLER

By Albert S. Burlingham.

Notwithstanding the fact that no one thing connected with the art of
printing has done more toward the advancement of that art than the
simple inking appliance familiarly and commonly known as "the
printer's roller,"--without which, indeed, the evolution of the power
printing press from the primitive hand machines of the fathers would
not have been possible,--it is an inexplicable truth that historians
and encyclopaedia makers who have made investigation of the origin and
progress of the art seem to have attached so little of importance to
the invention or introduction of the composition roller that only
meagre and casual reference is made to it. Even its predecessor, the
"ink-ball," receives but scant courtesy at the hands of these
chroniclers, for while they enter into the minutest detail (and
properly so) in investigating as to whom the world is indebted for the
idea of movable types and the invention of the printing press, they
have not thought it worth their while to rescue from oblivion the
suggester or adapter or constructor--whatever he may have been--of
the device by which those types were inked to receive the impression
from that press, and without which neither types nor press would have
been of any avail.

It seems to be established beyond doubt, however, that the first