A chase is a heavy steel frame used to hold type in a

letterpress Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing for producing many copies by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against individual sheets of paper or a continuous roll of paper. A worker composes and locks movable t ...

. Most of the space in the chase not occupied with type is filled with blocks of wood called

furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...

. The type and furniture are locked in place by

quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...

s. When a chase is locked up with type, furniture, and quoins, it is called a

forme Forme may refer to the following: * Forme (printing), a chase with type locked up ready for printing * Forme, Škofja Loka, a settlement in Slovenia * Forme Tour, a professional golf tour See also * FORM (disambiguation) * Form (disambiguation)< ...

References

Letterpress printing Relief printing {{Typ-stub