My Aimless Walk In The Basement

I was down in the basement tonight walking under the massive presses that produce the Courant, Advocate and other publications. It was quiet when I walked in. It wasn’t quiet for long.

Every once in a while I get ambitious and do a little exploring here at the TV station/newspaper. This is by far the largest facility I’ve ever worked in! The logistics of putting out a newspaper are complex. Nothing is dainty. Nothing is small.

I was down in the basement tonight walking under the massive presses that produce the Courant, Advocate and other publications. It was quiet when I walked in. It wasn’t quiet for long.

Though the presses don’t start until midnight or so there’s lots of setup work. Massive rolls of newsprint, each large enough to be used by Scorsese for a cinematic mob hit, get moved from storage to their feed points. They’re aged to adjust to the indoor temperature after being trucked in from Canada.

Strategically placed nozzles spray a very light mist to keep the humidity up. You’ve got to be nice to paper that’s about to speed through presses and processes.

Mark, an old hand in the mechanical end, saw me walking aimlessly and asked if I really wanted to see the bowels of the operation. This is where I become sixteen again!

I’ve worked here eight months. Mark showed me places I’d never seen nor even guessed might be here.

Is it possible to fall in love with a building?

5 thoughts on “My Aimless Walk In The Basement”

  1. When I worked as a reporter at the New Haven Journal-Courier (may it rest in peace), I got to walk around the press room on occasion. I remember the presses as being massive and very loud.

  2. I had a similar experience when I was a kid, who used to stuff flyers in the Middletown Press, bundle them up in specified counts, and run them through a twine tying machine, then down a chute to the loading dock where the bundles were loaded into the waiting delivery cars/trucks/vans. Walking amongst the presses, is amazing, and the scent of the ink is something you never forget. Glad you’re and explorer and shared your expedition with us…

  3. watching how things are made is really interesting. I worked at Armstrong Rubber in West Haven for 7 years. I got to see it from a electrical Technicians point of view and not only see the mechanical operation but the electrical controls too. it was amazing to see a tire created from the rubber and chemicals coming in one door to a finished tire at the other end. Did you know a tire looks like a 5 gal drum before it’s placed in a steam press and vulcanized? just soooo interesting. the I moved on to see how ink pens and lighters are made.

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