Printing
The News
& Record has two 1976 Goss web offset printing presses. These huge
machines are three stories tall, and are some of the fastest running presses
made. At full speed the presses can produce 1,083 complete newspapers
per minute, which is about 2,166 feet of paper per minute. The paper
is run through the press as one long sheet, fed from rolls of paper
that are mounted below the press. Four or five rolls per web lead are
used on a press run, and each one is "webbed" through the
press and brought together at the folder.
The News
& Record press is comprised of 13 printing units and two folders.
The folder is where the paper is cut into lengths and folded. Each folder
is capable of producing a paper from either side of the press, so it
is possible to print four different products at the same time.
There are
two ways of running the presses, referred to as "straight"
or "collect." Straight runs will produce two papers for every
revolution of the press, and collect will produce one paper for every
revolution. Each unit can produce 16 pages in collect mode, or 8 pages
in straight.
The press
run for the live paper that arrives on the doorsteps every morning usually
starts at 11:50 p.m., and runs for about 3 ½ hours. The newspaper
runs every day, a crew of 8 press operators constantly monitors the
press to make sure that everything is going as it should.
