Alphabet- B



1. Backup: To print on the reverse side of a printed sheet.
2. Binding: The process of fastening both loose printed and non-printed sheets into some sort of a book, magazine, students note books, writing pads, brochures, booklets, catalogs or any print books by using coils, wires, staples, or some sort of good adhesive. This process is the last step in the press process before dispatch. Binding also includes operations such as sorting out the good and spoil sheets, gathering the good sheets together/arranging the printed sheets in correct sequence which in technical term is called collating, then drilling small holes for stitching or stapling and finally cutting/trimming to desired size etc, if it is meant to be finished in a book format. Technically in a printing press any one of these operations falls under Bindery work.
In order to preserve the frequently handled books of achieves, books preserved in libraries for references and old books of importance etc from getting damaged, such already fastened books are once again opened out, restitched and outer covers replaced with a firm leather or rexin case covers (wrapped) to preserve them for long run by this process. There are many types of binding and each type deployed depends on the nature of the material required to be bound.
3. Blanket: A heavy rubber coated material used in the offset printing press to transfer ink from the plates to the paper. A fabric-reinforced sheet of rubber is fastened to a cylinder on an offset press, which receives ink from the plate and then transfers it on to the paper. These blankets are made of supporting fabric and a rubber composite. Various rubber materials are used for manufacturing the blankets which are of different qualities such as compressible blankets to hard finish with their surface either smooth or little rough. While most of the printers prefer to use compressible type of blankets slightly rough blankets are also used by some of the printers, but that depends on the type of machines they have as hard blankets have less contact with the paper surface thus reducing blanket contamination. Offset compressible blankets are constructed with two, three or four plies of a strong woven fabric fastened together with thin layers of rubber coating. The number of fabric layers equals the number of ply. For example two to four ply blankets would have two to four layers of rubber coating on them. To make the blanket compressible a thin uniform layer of air cells (for compression) is layered between the fabric and rubber face. The blankets should be free from pinholes, and blemishes which could affect print quality. The surface should also be non-abrasive to reduce plate wear. A good quality blanket will have the following qualities:
(a) Resilient: uniform surface hardness and hard enough to be capable of reproducing a facsimile of the printing image .
(b) Good Surface: very smooth or having a matte surface with no low spots or raised areas.
(c) Resistant: It should be resistive to all kinds of ink, cleaning solvent and varnish used on the machine. But at the same time the blanket should be ink receptive failing which image transfer will be affected. The blankets should be resistant to peeling, blistering, embossing, debossing, glazing or tackiness, and also abrasion from paper or board.
(d) Good Paper release: The blankets should be capable of giving good release of ink and paper from its surface as well.
As there are many types of blankets available it would be in the best interest of the printer to evaluate the right type of blanket that suits his machine work.

4. Blind Embossing: A finishing process in which a design is formed into a sheet using a die causing a slightly raised image on the surface of the paper. Normally in blind embossing no ink is used to form the image. READ MORE DETAILS UNDER EMBOSSING.
5. Bleed: Printing areas that extend beyond the edges of the actual image required. When the printed sheets are finally trimmed one can see the images extended up to the edge of the sheet without showing even a hairline white margin around. Therefore where the images are to be kept up to the trimmed sheet, the bleed will be incorporated. Example: one can see the tints in the currency touching the edges without showing any white area.

Bleed allows us to print slightly oversize image than the actual image and when they are cut to exact size seamless appearance of the image bleeding off the edges can be noticed.
6. Bond Paper: No special meaning be attributed to the word Bond in the Bond Paper. This term came into existence during first world war when binding settlements called contracts or Bond between two parties were written on hundred percent cotton rag paper embedded with water marks to preserve them for long years. Slowly the business community too were inclined to use such durable paper for their correspondences, contracts etc which needed to be preserved for long time and accordingly got wood free bond paper made of partial rag content manufactured instead of full cotton rag content (to reduce the cost of paper) but with a watermark that showed the manufacturers name or their brands. Such papers were termed Bond Papers.
The Bond paper is superior quality of strong durable paper used for writing, printing and photocopying work. Bond paper is generally used for letter heads, paper used for communication and contract . The standard Bond paper is manufactured either with full rag content or with half rag pulp and manufactured in white or off-white shades. Since Bond paper is a high quality durable writing paper similar to the paper used on currency or bank notes they are manufactured having more than 50 gsm thick.
7. Brightness: This factor relates to the reflective quality or brilliance of the paper which affects contrast in printing processes. Paper brightness is defined by the percentage of light that it reflects. Paper with a higher brightness allows colors to stand out, while lower-brightness paper is easier for reading or extended viewing. The brightness was introduced as a method to control the bleaching process during paper manufacture. The brightness of the paper is measured by special apparatus reading on a scale of 0 to 100. Two standards are in vague - one known as GE standard read by a special instrument developed by TAPPI (Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry), a research organization. While the TAPPI standard for the brightness is accepted by U.S , the ISO standard (International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is accepted by European, Asian and other countries.
GE brightness and ISO brightness measurements differ with each other due to different angle and the reflected source of light used in both the methods adapted by them. For example if the brightness on ISO is 100 the brightness reading by GE will be 98 and if it is 89 in ISO it will be 79 in GE. This will illustrate that the factors expressed in both the units differ by two points only.
If the brightness of the paper is very high it may sometimes alter the print result. The brighter and whiter the paper is, the brighter and lighter the images are. Colors on less bright papers are noticeably darker.
One important point that needs mention here is the confusion caused by Brightness and Whiteness which are two different properties of the paper constantly confused by the industry. While the brightness is volume of light reflected back by the paper surface, the whiteness refers to the shade of the paper.
8. Blind Image : This is also called blind embossing with an engraved metal die. An embossed or stamped image on the printed stock without embossing with ink or foil. Blind embossing refers to an embossed image embossed exactly over already printed image on the page. In such cases the image is first printed and to give a three dimensional relief effect to the image, the same image is embossed from the back side of the printed sheet in perfect register using engraved metal die.
9. Body color: The main text or design area of work except headlines.
10. Broadside: This term refers to the large sheet of paper printed only on one side, matter readable on the longer side. Examples are printed posters, public event proclamations, wall hanging pictures etc. This term is actually known as broadside printing. Broadsides have been one of the most preferred printed formats at one point of time for printing the public announcements, advertisement etc which had to be read from a distance, at the same time should remain eye catching. Therefore very large fonts had to be used for printing broadsides. Printed on single sheets of paper and on one side only, the broadsides were often crudely printed as very large fonts made of metal types could not be used for printing. The large metal fonts being heavy and not easy to handle caused working problem and therefore wooden type faces were prepared and used in their places. Hence crudeness in the printed fonts noticed on such printed stocks.

11. Bronzing: The golden effect on the printed image is produced by dusting bronze powder over the printed wet images. This is done to give effect of metallic finish which is otherwise done by foil embossing technique or use of metallic inks. The bronzing process is widely applicable to Gold printing which is used in the production of high-class labels, wrappers, box tops, covers, greeting cards and other work where bright, showy effects are demanded.
The process involves, first, printing the sheet with a tacky colorless ink, and then dusting it with bronze powder which adheres to the printed image. Gold bronze powder is made from copper, brass and zinc alloy. Once the dusted bronze powder on the print gets dried It is then lightly burnished to smoother and brighten the bronze and the loose bronze is cleaned off the sheet. Small work can be bronzed by hand, but the work must be carried out under vacuum. Bronzing machines are also available for producing large quantities.
12. Butt Register : A technical term also called Kiss register where two images perfectly register side by side or one above other without showing even a hairline break. In this printing process two different colored images sit side by side very closely, but they neither overlap nor show even a hairline space between them. This term is actually applied in screen printing process.

13. Bursting Strength: This is an important factor that indicates the strength of the paper. The burst test is frequently used as a general guide to test the strength of paper, solid board and corrugated board. Bursting strength is usually quoted in kPa which is Kilopascal. Kilopascal is a metric unit and equals to 1000 force of Newton per square meter. This measurement is widely used to indicate the strength of paper stocks. While many countries indicate this factor as Psi which means Pounds per square inch, others express them in kPa both of which are tested with two different apparatus. But both Psi and kPa factors can be converted to Psi to kPa and vice verse by a simple conversion factor which is 1 kPa = 0.145037738 Psi. Be aware that the burst factor is inter related to tensile strength of the paper which is another factor that determines the strength of paper stocks. The Tensile Strength can be read under Para Tensile Strength.

............Additions to alphabet B to be continued under B/2  later when compiled