Beaver Line Passenger Service

[Doug]

This metal stamp came up out of the 2nd strawberry field today.

Stamp reversed 2nd photograph.

Link to the company here :  http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_shiplist.asp?co=beave

[Dryland]

Great find Dog, it's strange how some things turn up where they do

[b.buoy]

very nice. Some extra information for you all.
It is a stereo plate which was cast from a hand beaten, paper mache mould. The mould itself was layers of damp blotting type paper with a facing of "flong" paper. This was hand beaten in successive layers onto the type form and then the whole thing was heated  while in-situ in a hot press until dry.
Prior to the mould being made the typeface was lightly oiled with sperm whale oil. Nothing else would do. This allowed it to be carefully lifted off without damage when baked.
The mould was trimmed and had a tail stuck to it so it could go into a casting box with a metal frame around it so it would be about 1/8th inch thick when cast.
The cast was hand poured molten metal (lead, tin and antimony mixture)
The hot printing plate thus produced was trimmed of its pouring tail and height border and mounted on a wooden board ready to go to the print machines.
The man who produced the plate was a "stereotyper" and served a six year apprenticeship. There was a lot more to his job than just that of course and in his day he was quite highly paid
Printing plates as this were produced so they could be duplicated many times for long print runs and save massive amounts of time on traditional typesetting..

[nonker10]

wow i was involved with printing but not til the early 1980s looks like i missed out on quite a lot.

[welsh john]

The man who produced the plate was a "stereotyper" and served a six year apprenticeship. There was a lot more to his job than just that of course and in his day he was quite highly paid
Printing plates as this were produced so they could be duplicated many times for long print runs and save massive amounts of time on traditional typesetting..

[/quote]Is that where the phrase stereotype came from?

[Chef Geoff]

Will you lot stop talking about it as if it's historic I can still remember "hot metal" Linotype

[b.buoy]

Will you lot stop talking about it as if it's historic I can still remember "hot metal" Linotype

Unfortunately Geoff so can I
They were called casters up here and made a hell of a racket

[cardiffian]

A lovely bit of maritime history. Just as good as finding a nice coin.