| Monty Hyams (1918-2013): Patent Information Pioneer | home | intro | derwent | personal | downloads | links |
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The Production Division's work, 1984 Print/Bindery
and Dispatch Using the
latest small offset printing, 15,000 masters/plates were produced each week on
12 electrostatic platemakers and 28 presses, and some 6000 pages generated on
three magnetic tape-drive Compugraphic photo-typesetters. Staffing numbers were
reported to have stabilised after a two-year programme of introducing fully
automatic and perfecting presses, which reduced the number of print operatives
from 39 to 26. The six
tonnes of paper printed weekly generated 1.5 million sheets, which were
collated on eight single-sheet collating machines and bound on two Sulby
Perfect binders. A staff of 25 prepared and bound 14,000 books each week. Computer-generated
advice notes were the basis for assembling materials for shrink-wrapping and
dispatch, 85% of it to the United States and Japan. In
summarising this work for the benefit of Thomson Publication Directors, it was
noted that within a year or two computer-to-laser printer output would be a
practical alternative to current methods (paste-up, plates, offset printer).
This radical transformation would have both economic and 'political'
implications. Microform There was
a small microfilm department inhouse, but most operations were carried out by a
nearby bureau, Microfilm Reprographics, for whom Derwent was by far the largest
customer, spending £270,000 per year. More than 2.7 million document pages were
filmed annually, producing over 1000 master reels holding nearly 20 miles of
silver film. From
these masters, some 30,000 copies were produced for subscribers, using 568
miles of diazo copy film. In addition, COM Index microfiche were produced for a
magnetic tape file generating over 2000 master fiche, from which some 166,000
copies were produced for subscribers. |
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