C3232 - Embossing, typesetting, printing, lithography

Operational Details
Embossing is to raise the surface of a page or book cover jacket to ornament the item using a relief surface. It s particularly used to raise letters of the title and the author's name. It may also be used to raise a monogram or design from the rest of the surface. It is important to note that the embossing referred to here is usually undertaken for printing and publishing companies, when they don't have the capacity to do the work themselves, or a special design cover is required.

Setting type for printers and lithography is undertaken with the use of a computer. A source document or manuscript is typed on an electronic keyboard that transcribes the information onto a thin tape punched with holes. The keyboard has the capacity to change type, special characters and spacing. The tape is then fed into a computer. It transfers the information photographically onto a photo-sensitive paper in one continuous roll. The roll of paper is run through a processing solution which brings the type into focus. The pages are then cut from the continuous roll. The pages contain a picture of the document or manuscript in the desired form. These pages are used to produce the thin aluminium plates used in lithographing.

Traditional lithography begins with the placing of writing or design onto a stone with a grease-like material, from which printed impressions are made. However, today, it can be any process including the use of zinc, aluminum or any other substance in the place of stone. It is one of many printing processes and electronic printing is now included with lithography to the point where the two are now practically inseparable.

Offset Lithography

This method takes an image froma plate and it is then offset onto a rubber blanket of an impression cylinder. It is transferred onto a sheet of paper through an automatic process and the aluminum plates are rolled through water, then ink. The inked image is transferred onto a rubber pad, onto another roller, and it goes through the same process again, using different coloured ink. Where there is no image, water sticks to the plate, and only the ink is absorbed. When printing pictures or brochures, four basic colours are used: yellow, red, black and blue.
Silk screen printing involves using a silk or polyester cloth screen and stapling the cloth onto a wooden frame. The cloth is coated with a photo sensitive solution. The image(s) to be printed are cut out of a plastic plate and photographed. The exposed portion of the screen washes out, allowing the ink or paint to come through.

The printing referred to here results from the photo type setting and silk screening. Employers in this subcode can manufacture jackets for books, title pages for special and/or commercial reports and manuscripts, signage and posters.

Equipment used include silk screen presses, computers with plotters, cutters, saws, drill presses and assorted hand tools.

SIC Codes
000000488 - Embossing
000000489 - Typesetting
000000490 - Silk Screening
000000491 - Printing
000000494 - Lithography