The Wells & Drew Printing Dictionary – B
B
Backbone:
- In a bound book,the back piece connecting the two covers and spine.
- Back cylinder:
- A hard metal cylinder that presses the paper against the inked blanket cylinder,which transfers the image to the sheet. Also refered to as impression cylinder
- Back-edge curl:
- In offset printing,the curve that occurs at the end of a press sheet, from printing heavy solids.
- Back etching:
- A color correction technique used to reduce the density continuous negative tone
- Back gauge:
- On a paper cutter the movable metal stop that the paper press’s against to ensure the paper is properly cut, and squared.
- Back Gum Adhesives:
- In envelope making, adhesive used to seal between the bottom and side envelope flaps
- Back gray cloth:
- In screen printing, the cotton fabric material that is placed over the waterproof layer and on top of the felt padding in the screen-printing table in order to prevent the printed dyes from being absorbed into the felt padding.
- Back grounding:
- a term used in electro photography when an uneven print happens due to a worn out blade,wrong signed toner particles or toner particles not properly charged.
- Back mark:
- in making paper, the marks left in paper from being pole dried
- Back Margin:
- refers to the distance between the fold edge and the edge of the body of type that lays next to the fold. Also referred to as a binding margin
- Back matter:
- front and back matter is information about a book that is included in the book. Normally refers to the following Appendix, Bibliography, Copyright information, Glossary, Index, Preface and post face
- Backing up:
- printing on one side of the sheet after it has already been printed on the other side.
- Back-lining paper:
- a smooth finish, hard-sized paper that varies in thickness from .009 to .011 an inch.
- Bagasse pulp:
- the fibers from crushed sugar cane stalks after the sugar liquor has been removed.
- Balance:
- in design and layout,creating of harmonious color’s and even space.
- Banding –
- when the changes from screen percentage to screen percentage in a gradient can be seen, instead of a solid blending from dark to light or from color to color.
- Bank note paper:
- the cotton fiber bond used for bank notes or currency. the papers thickness/weight is: 20 to 24 lbs.
- Back roller:
- refers to the steel roller in gravure printing that is used to push the impression roller against the engraved cylinder in order to override deflection problems.
- Base sheet:
- refers to the paper or index stock which images are assembled for exact positioning.
- Base white:
- a diluted used in inks to lighten the appearance/color.
- Baseline:
- in typesetting the line above which a character is printed.
- Baseline shift:
- in typesetting a baseline shift moves the type out of its normal position.
- Basic stock:
- a paper that is used as a base for laminating or coating
- Basic size:
- standard sheet size from which the basis weight of a given grade is determined
- Back Spinner:
- in binding, and using a perfect binder the back spinner is the roller that removes the excess glue from the backbone of a book in order to control the glue thickness
- Basis weight:
- weight, measured in pounds in reams (500 sheets) of paper in its basic size.
- Bath:
- a chemical solution used in electrotyping,electroplating and photoengraving.
- Baume’ Hydrometer:
- a flotation device used to give the specific gravity, density, and thus concentration of a solution. Can be expressed in Baume’ units.
- Bearers:
- Rings of steel at the ends of offset printing press plate and blanket cylinders that make rolling contact on impression for meshing of drive gears and for structural support of wide press cylinders. These rings are raised above the cylinder plane to provide a fixed base for determining the packing of plate and blanket.
- Bekk Smoothness:
- The smoothness of paper as measured by the Bekk instrument, expressed as the time required for a given volume of air to flow between the measuring surface and the paper surface.
- Belt Press:
- A printing press that uses two continuous belts for printing books in an inline operation from a paper roll to a delivered book block, ready for binding at the end of the press. Individual polymer plates for each pager are mounted on the belts. The plates are raised types. The most common belt press is the Cameron.
- Beater:
- in the paper making process, a Tub-like machine originally used to beat pulp. But now is often used mostly for mixing additives and color
- Beater additive:
- in paper making, the Starch, gum or resin added to papermaking stock in the beater to improve the utilitarian quality of the paper
- Beater colored:
- the method used in the paper making process to dye paper stock by adding color to the pulp beater.
- Bed:
- on a gullatoine cutter,the flat metal surface that the paper lays on.
- Bed knife:
- a stationery cutter tool on the frame of a sheeterbekk
- Smoothness:
- the measurement of paper, by the bekk measurement instrument.
- Bellows:
- in printing ,the folding portion of the press that the plate is supported on during the printing.
- Belt press:
- a book printing press,in which two continuous belts for printing books on an inline operation from a paper roll to a book,then ready for binding at the end of the press.
- Bender:
- a paper board that can be scored or folded without breaking
- Between-set perforations:
- in forms,the perforations that separate one sheet from the next.
- Benday:
- a process named after the inventor Benjamin Day. Benjamin invented the process for applying patterns on line plates or in artwork by putting etching resist or ink on an embossed texture film and then transferring to the desired areas on the plate or copy.
- Bevel edge:
- refers to when the selection of cover board is excessively thick (i.e. 1/4″), the cover boards are generally beveled at the edge that goes into the hinge. Using excessively thick board will not allow the cover to close properly, but beveling rectifies this problem. The other three edges of the board may also be beveled, for aesthetic purposes only.
- Blade Coater:
- A device that first applies a surplus coating to a paper web and then evenly levels and distributes it by means of a flexible steel blade.
- Blade Coating:
- The coating method which uses a knife blade to apply a smooth and level, but non-uniform thickness, of coating to the surface of a sheet of paper. The primary paper coating process.
- Blade Streak:
- a very fine line or indentation in the coated surface (less than 1/8″ wide), in the machine direction, and varying in length from a few feet to several hundred feet. Streaks can be visible under low angle illumination on the surface or appear less opaque than the general coated area when viewed by transmitted light. This defect can sometimes be observed as an actual cut in the sheet, when the streak is deep enough to sever the sheet. The blade streak, scratch or cut is caused by a piece of fiber, dried coating or coating ingredient, or other foreign material being caught under the blade for a period of time, during the blade coating operation.
- Blanket-to-blanket press:
- An offset lithographic perfecting press that has no impression cylinders; during printing, the blanket for one side acts as the impression cylinder for the other side, and vice versa. Also called perfecting press unit.
- Blanket:
- A fabric coated with rubber or other synthetic material which is clamped around the blanket cylinder and which transfers the ink from the press plate to the paper.
- Bleaching:
- The material or the process used to whiten paper pulp; while cellulose fibers are naturally transparent and appear white in Color, wood impurities and staining colorants are encountered in the pulping process giving the fibers a brownish color, as in grocery bags, which are unbleached Kraft pulp. Chemical pulps are bleached in multiple stage processes.
- Blinding:
- In offset lithography, a condition of the plate where the image has lost its ability to accept and/or transfer ink.
- Blister:
- An undesirable result that occurs in paper arising from the rapid expansion of moisture in the interior of a well-sealed sheet, when subjected to high drying temperatures; occurs most frequently on a heat-set, web offset printing press. Caused by too rapid or too high temperature drying, or a weak internal bond strength of the paper. Small eruptions in a paper’s coating, usually from paper being dried too quickly on high-speed web offset presses.
- Block-out inks:
- Inks applied to selected areas of some plies of multiple part business forms, such that any transferred image is unreadable in or on that printed area. The block-out ink is usually the same color as the transferred image or darker, so that any image transferred in or on that printed area is unreadable. These inks might be used to block out a price that does not need to be known by an individual ply recipient.
- Blocking:
- The sticking together of a stack of sheets or paper in a roll, because of wet ink or coating.
- Blotting paper:
- Very absorbent and bulky, wood free paper, sometimes made from a pulp of cotton or wool fibers.
- Bleed:
- In printing, printed image that runs off the edges of a page. In carbon, undesirable transfer of pigment.
- Blind emboss:
- a process in which no inks or metal foils are use,the impression is created with pressure raising it from the paper.
- Blind debossing :
- An image pressed into a sheet without ink or foil, creating a lowered area. Unlike blind emboss it creates an indent in the paper instead of raising it from the sheet.
- Binder’s board:
- A stiff high grade pulp board often used for book covers. It is manufactured to no less that .9 density. The most popular thicknesses for loose leaf binders are .098 to .120″.
- Bindery:
- also known as finishing plants. A bindery plant performs adhesive binding,saddle stitching,mechanical binding,smyth sewing ,And other finishing operations used to finalize or “finish the job.
- Binders die:
- a piece of brass used for cover stamping.
- Bible Paper:
- a thin, lightweight, opaque printing paper for use when low bulk is important, as in bibles, prayer and hymn books, dictionaries etc. Basis weights range from 25″ x 38″ – 18 lbs/ream to 30 lbs/r etc.eam. Some grades are made from strong, new cotton and linen rags; others flax. bimetal plate:a lithographic printing plate,used for very long runs. bind: the joining of pages of a book with thread,adhesive or other materials.
- Body:
- In typography, the main shank or portion of a letter character other than the ascenders and descenders.
- Body copy:
- Refers to the small type containing the bulk of the message in an ad or a publication.
- Body size:
- The point size of a particular type character.
- Body type:
- Roman — normal, plain, or book — type used for long passages of text, such a stories in a newsletter, magazine, or chapters in a book. Generally sized from 9 point to 14 point Boldface: Any type that has a heavier black stroke that makes it more conspicuous.
- Bond paper:
- Paper used for letterheads and forms. Basic size: 17″ x 22″. weight: 13 to 24 lbs. Bonds are characterized by strength, rigidity, good absorptiveness and erasability. Bond used for fan fold purposes, called register bond, is lightweight, 17″ x 22″ – 11 lbs/ream to 20.Usually made from chemical wood pulp and/or cotton fiber pulp.
- Bonding strength:
- Cohesiveness of fibers within paper. Paper with good bonding strength will not pick during the printing process.
- Book paper:
- description given to any type of paper suitable for printing, Made as wove or laid and can have finishes of antique, eggshell, machine, supercalendered, coated, dull, matte or glossy. Exclusive of newsprint and boards.
- Bond strength:
- An intra layer binding force in a paperboard or laminate. This term also refers to the degree of adherence of coating and film on a sheet and to the binding force in a sheet. See ply bond.
- Bone dry(b.d.):
- This term refers to the moisture-free conditions of pulp paper. It also refers to air containing no vapor.
- Book block:
- A partially bound book without its cover.
- Book jacket:
- Paper which is printed and folded over the cover of bound books for protective and advertising purposes. These papers are usually 80-110 lb. coated one-side, and are often UV coated or film laminated by the book manufacture.
- Book manufacturer:
- A company whose business is to manufacture books for the publishing industry. These companies offer a wide range of services ranging from pre press to final product.
- Book papers:
- Also called text or offset. A general term for a group of coated, uncoated or film coated papers suitable for graphic arts. Book Papers are made from all types of virgin, reclaimed and recycled pulps and mixtures thereof in basis weights usually ranging from 30 to 100 lbs. (25 X 38). They are characterized by a wide variety of finishes such as Antique, Eggshell, Machine Finish, Dull Coated, Matte Coated, Gloss Coated and Film Coated. Most book papers are made to a precise thickness, which becomes critical in the binding process. Book papers are generally more opaque than an equivalent weight bond paper.
- Book paper, premium:
- As the name implies, these are high cost papers. Their most important qualities are high opacity with low caliper or thickness. These papers also have very high longevity properties.
- Book paper, uncoated:
- Term descriptive of those papers (exclusive of newsprint) that are most suitable for use in the graphic arts, particularly in the commercial, book and publication sectors. They can be wove or laid with a wide range of finishes. Basic size: 25 X 38. Basic weight: 22 to 150 lbs.
- Brochure:
- A pamphlet that is bound in booklet form.
- Braille paper:
- Smooth, high strength papers suitable for the production of raised dots needed to manufacture reading material for the blind.
- Breaking length:
- :A mathematical calculation based on paper’s tensile strength and grammage. This represents the theoretical length of a uniform width of paper that, when suspended by one end, would break by its own weight. See tensile.
- Breast roll:
- The first or number one roll over which a Fourdrinier wire passes, as the furnish exits the slice.
- Break for color:
- Also known as a color break. To separate mechanically or by software the parts to be printed in different colors.
- Brightness:
- The brilliance or reflectance of paper. Bristol: A board paper of various thicknesses having a smooth finish and used for printing or drawing.
- Broke:
- in the manufacturing of finishing paper,the paper trimmings or paper damaged from breaks on the paper machine and in finishing operations. Technically, the wastage that occurs on the paper machine, prior to subsequent finishing operations. Most broke or wastage in the paper mill is returned to the paper machine furnish for reprocessing into saleable paper.
- Broken carton:
- A carton of paper that has been opened and some of its contents removed.
- Brush finish:
- A paper that is run under stiff brushes, after coating, to give a high finish.
- Buffer:
- In offset lithography, a material to maintain an acid condition and stable pH in the press fountain solution.
- Buffering:
- The neutralizing of acids in paper by adding an alkaline substance (usually calcium carbonate or magnesium carbonate) into the paper pulp. The buffer acts as a protection from the acid in the paper or from pollution in the environment.
- Bulk:
- in paper,the thickness of paper stock in thousandths of an inch or number of pages per inch.
- Bulk pack:
- Boxing printed product without wrapping or banding.
- Bullet:
- A boldface square or dot used before a sentence to emphasize its importance.
- Burn:
- Exposing a printing plate to high intensity light or placing an image on a printing plate by light.
- Burst:
- A rupture in a web of paper resulting from stresses caused by adjacent areas of high and low caliper, too tight winding of adjacent areas of high and low caliper, or just too tight winding where the wound in tension exceeds the ultimate strength of the paper.
- Burster:
- A business forms handling device for detaching continuous forms at cross perforations.
- Bursting strength:
- The resistance of paper to rupture when pressure is applied to a side by a specified instrument. This is also referred to as burst and pop strength. See Mullen test.
- Butt splice:
- Formed by trimming the ends of two webs of paper, placing them end-to-end, and pasting a strip over and under to make a continuous web without overlapping. See splice.
- Butt:
- Joining images without overlapping.
- Butt fit:
- Printed colors that overlap one row of dots so they appear to butt.