chase

printing instrument

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

June 24, 2026

Quick Summary

A chase, in the context of printing, is a rectangular steel or iron frame used to lock letterpress material in place for printing. This frame is essential for organizing and holding the type or plates that form the text and images of a page before it is inked and pressed onto paper. A "skeleton chase" is a variation of this frame, characterized by its large, narrow design with no crossbars or slots for them. The term "quoin" can refer to a cornerstone in architecture, but in printing, it is used to equip or provide a type form with quoins, essentially locking the chase.123

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

5 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

printing
Improvements after Gutenberg
…later, innovators added a double-hinged chase consisting of a frisket, a piece of parchment cut out to expose only the actual text itself and so to prevent ink spotting the nonprinted areas of the paper, and a tympan, a layer of a soft, thick fabric to improve the regularity of…
Read More
…later, innovators added a double-hinged chase consisting of a frisket, a piece of parchment cut out to expose only the actual text itself and so to prevent ink spotting the nonprinted areas of the paper, and a tympan, a layer of a soft, thick fabric to improve the regularity of…
Read More