how did the linotype machine work

Updates? The machine assembles matrices, which are molds for the letter forms, in a line. The instruction provided at Linotype School allowed current and new operators the ability to practice setting real copy, such as books and advertisements from publishers, and work on their fingering speed, and accuracy, the latter being the ultimate goal. Since its creation in 1884, the Linotype took the world by storm, with 100,000 machines in use by 1954 (Hendel, 2011). The Linotype machine revolutionised the world of printing. The two-letter matrix bears two characters, one above the other, one of which may be a Roman face and the other an italic, small capital, or black face. When one of the keys of the keyboard is pressed down the first matrix in the corresponding grove (sic) in the magazine escapes and drops upon a conveyor belt and is carried in its proper order to an assembler, which answers much the same purpose as a printer's stick. or Best Offer. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). This picture shows the wonderful Linotype machine by which the type of this book was "set," as the printers say. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. This machine is almost human. They answer the same purpose and are used in the same manner as composed type matter. Ultimately, what impact did the Linotype machine have on the world? The illustration shows a cross-section of the metal pot, mold disk, and mold, with a line of matrices in the casting position. A composed line, with matrices and spacebands, in a Linotype machine. When a compositor speaks of the amount of type he sets per hour or day he speaks of "ems." They were first integrated for use in the New York Tribune in 1886. As the second elevator rises toward the distributor box with its load of matrices, the distributor shifter lever moves to the left until the elevator head has reached its place by the distributor box. The Linotype is sometimes called a typesetting machine, but this is not correct: it does not set type. Features. When the assembler reaches its highest point it automatically starts the machine and the patrices are transferred to the casting position. It then moves back to the right and pushes the matrices off the second elevator distributor bar into the distributor box, where they meet the "matrix lift" and are lifted, one at a time, to the distributor screws and distributor bar proper. http://infomercantile.com/index.php?title=How_A_Linotype_Machine_Works,_The_Book_of_Wonders&oldid=3516. After the slug has been cast, the matrices are carried up to the second transfer position, where they are pushed to the right, and the teeth in the V at the top of the matrices engage the grooves in the distributor bar of the second elevator, which descends from the distributor box at the same time that the matrices rise to the second transfer position. The latest model linotype has four magazines and can be equipment with matrices which when assembled will cast lines from six to twelve different sizes and styles of type. Mergenthaler and Co.” factory in the Locust Point neighborhood of Baltimore. Further adjustments were necessary to make it work with English and American linotype machines, something that was not completed until early 1965. When the slide is withdrawn the matrices are assembled at the lower level. The metal pot advances until the pot mouthpiece comes in contact with the back of the mold; at this point the pump plunger descends and forces the metal into the mold and against the matrices. But Hutchins' Post was slow to put the new invention to work. The slug of type, air-cooled briefly, is then placed in a “stick” for insertion in the proper position into the press form being assembled or made up. After hot-metal casting, a distributing mechanism returns each matrix to its place in the magazine. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Ottmar Mergenthaler's 2nd Linotype machine. So generally I would say that the value of Linotype machines, per se, is not high. Machines such as the Linotype and Monotype were not. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Much of the shop’s … The Linotype was limited only by the speed with which the operator manipulated the keyboard. The day Ottmar Mergenthaler demonstrated the first linecasting machine to the New York Tribune in 1886, Whitelaw Reid, the editor, was delighted: “Ottmar,” he said, “you’ve cast a line of type!” Price $3.50 postpaid to any part of the United States (X-1752). invented the Linotype machine, automatic typesetter. Did the Linotype Lead to Benton's Cutting of Punches? The Linotype Machine has a library of matrices, ... (My father and his parents did graphic arts/advertising work.) Pre-Owned. The Linotype machine (/ˈla?n?ta?p/ LYNE-?-type) was a "line casting" machine used in printing sold by the Mergenthaler Linotype Company and related companies. Credit: Nicolò Conte / Eyeem / Getty Images In the mid-1400s, German inventor Johannes Gutenberg began producing books on his … $24.99. The magazine is at the top of the machine sloping to the front at an angle of about 31 degrees, and consists of two brass plates placed together with a space of about five-eighths of an inch between. A keyboard is manipulated (or driven by paper or magnetic computer tape) to select the matrices needed to compose each line of text, including tapered spacebands, which automatically wedge the words apart to fill each line perfectly. printing: Typecasting compositors (1880s). Newspaper price dropped, # of pages multiplied. Both machines created increases in speed and efficiency, allowing operators to set type faster, create fresh type for every job, and avoid the time-consuming task of redistribution. So is a linotype machine like a backwards typewriter that punches letters into a molten lead plate that is then covered with ink and used to print pages? Did work of 7-8 hand compositors. They revolutionized the newspaper industry by allowing newspapers to run longer than just a few pages (they were previously limited to eight pages), as they had before the Linotype. A point is one seventy-second of an inch, that is, there are 72 points to an inch. Machine type for book works runs from 4 points to 12 points. Linotype, which has now largely been supplanted by photocomposition, was most often used when large amounts of straight text matter were to be set. There is a case or magazine filled with steel "matrices" (moulds), sorted into letters. During the last revolution of the disk the bottom of the slug is trimmed off, and in the process of ejection the sides of the slug are trimmed, so that when it drops in the galley the slug is a perfect line of type, ready for the form. Instead of producing single type characters, the Linotype machine casts metal bars, or slugs, of any length desired up to 36 ems, each complete in one piece and having on the upper edge, properly justified, the characters to print a line. Corrections? Linotype technicians would frequently pack raw asbestos around the crucible to help prevent heat from reaching other parts of the machine. 2. The teeth in the matrix and the grooves in the bar are so arranged that when a matrix arrives at a point directly over the channel in which it belongs, it "lets go" and drops into its channel. The term "em" means the square of the particular size of type that is being set. The pot then recedes, and the mold disk withdraws from the matrices and makes three-fourths of a refolution to the left, stopping in the ejecting position, from which it started. By means of this simple contrivance, a line may be composed partly of one face, partly of the other face, or entirely of either face. The technical reasons for this magazine arrangement (and consequent keyboard layout) as articulated by Mergenthaler in his US patent 378,798 were no longer present on this machine. The linotype machine operator enters text on a 90-character keyboard. The rapidity of the Linotype is limited only by the ability of the operator to manipulate the keys, and the extreme capacity of the machine has never yet been attained. By pressing down on the keys which you see in the picture, the compositor sets the words in lines of metal. Also worth watching is the recent entertaining documentary “Linotype: The Film” — you can watch a trailer here. Although Ottmar Mergenthaler was born in Hatchel, Germany in 1854 and received his early training as a watchmaker in Württemberg, his creative career started and flourished after he arrived in Washington, D.C. in 1872 at the age of eighteen. It provides an overview of the mechanical process used by the Linotype machines to produce 'slugs' of typeset text ready for the press. Each matrix is transported to an assembling unit at the mold. Type is graded according to size by points. When a word is assembled, the spaceband key is touched and a spaceband drops into the assembler. A column of type matter is so many "ems" wide. Invented in 1886, the Linotype represented a quantum leap for … By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Machine tolerances weren't as tight. If a line is to be composed partly of the Roman face, which is in the upper portion on the matrix, and partly of the other face, which is in the lower position, this is accomplished by means of a slide on the assembler operated by a small lever. Linotype matrices are made of brass. Another look at the linotype at work can be seen in the short film “Farewell, Etaoin Shrdlu,” which documents the last issue of The New York Times using Linotype machines (in 1978) — you can watch it here. Babcock’s work runs through his Linotype machine, built in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1944. Yet, what Thomas Edison called “the Eighth Wonder of the World” (Schlesinger, 1989, p. vii) did not last for even a hundred years;… With 18,000 parts, Paige's Compositor was far more complicated. Linotype – a company with a long tradition. The Linotype machine composed and cast a larger "slug", or single line of type, again from a set of pre-selected matrixes. So his Linotype was simpler, cheaper, easier to maintain, and less liable to break down. The only effect they had on "the way type was consumed" was to dramatically reduce the scale of its consumption. The slugs produced by the machine are rectangular solids of type metal (an alloy of lead, antimony, and tin) as long as the line or column measure selected. When the line of matrices leaves the assembler, they pass to a position in front of the mold disk. The matrices slide down these channels on edge, with the face or punched edge down, and the V-end extending toward the upper part of the magazine. The two inner surfaces are cut with 92 grooves or channels running up and down way of the magazine, for carrying the matrices. My father was also a linotype machine operator, and I couldn't shine his shoes as an operator, although I was very accurate typing. Both were done primarily by hand. We can thus see how the matrices are arranged in their respective grooves in the magazine. It is a substitute for typesetting. Linotype, (trademark), typesetting machine by which characters are cast in type metal as a complete line rather than as individual characters as on the Monotype typesetting machine. It is necessary for the eye to read what is to be printed, and the mind, through the medium of the fingers, to translate this into assembled lines of matrices; after that the machine acts automatically. Linotype, (trademark), typesetting machine by which characters are cast in type metal as a complete line rather than as individual characters as on the Monotype typesetting machine. Watch; S p o n s o r e d. Vintage Blue Streak Linotype Machines Merganthaler Measuring Stick Gauge. Man at Linotype Machine Work Labor - Gmunden on Back Real Photo Postcard. The linotype found a home at the New York Tribune, the Chicago News, and the Louisville Courier-Journal, finding limited success as they had to work kinks out of the system, a process which included the production of a user’s manual, which was a fairly new concept at the time. It is necessary for the eye to read what is to be printed, and the mind, through the medium of the fingers, to translate this into assembled lines of matrices; after that the machine acts automatically. It was patented in the United States in 1884 by Ottmar Mergenthaler. When a key is depressed, this escapement allows a mat to fall into the assembler. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Monotype Keyboard in operation (12:50 sec.) The disk then makes a one-quarter turn to the left, which brings the mold from the ejecting position, where it stands while the machine is at rest, to the casting position. Buy It Now +$1.50 shipping. I’ve seen other offers (none of which were physically anywhere close to where I’m located) that were really quite low—maybe $500 to $1,000. The Linotype The Linotype machine consists of a keyboard, laid out based on letter usage, that controls an escapement mechanism at the bottom of a 90 or 72 channel magazine which holds the matrices. The article presented the Linotype as the “latest, and in many respects the most remarkable, of the numerous machines which inventors and mechanics have from time to time devised in their long-continued efforts to find some practical means by which to supersede or cut short the tedious work … The assembling mechanism is the only part of the linotype where the human mind is applied to the working of the machine. If, however, there is a matrix in the line which is not designed to drop into one of the channels operated by the keyboard, it will be carried clear across the distributor bar and dropped into the last channel, and from there it will find its way to the sorts box. This picture shows the machine with part of the magazine top and the side removed. The machine assembles matrices, which are molds for the letter forms, in a line. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. These slugs are automatically assembled in proper order as they are delivered from the machine, when they are immediately available either for printing from direct or for making electrotype or stereotype plates. This page was last edited on 2 November 2008, at 03:42. The Linotype is a seven-foot tall typesetting machine that works by creating one line of type at a time. I also set a book in German while there. In 1886 he produced his Linotype, which, by bringing copper matrices into brief contact with a molten but fast-cooling alloy, rapidly molded column widths of type. For machine adjustments and mechanical descriptions of functions, see the official Linotype manual, "LINOTYPE MACHINE PRINCIPLES:" This is a 487-page completely indexed book which can be procured at any Linotype agency. This illustration shows the manner in which matrices are constantly circulated in the Linotype. When the necessary matrices and spacebands fill the line and have been assembled, the operator raises the assembler by pressing a lever on the side of the keyboard. I operated a linotype there for a few years, I did lots of work in caps and small caps on the machine. How did the Linotype machine work? The correct spacing or justification of the line of matrices is accompanied by means of spacebands, which are assembled automatically between the words in the line by the touch of a lever at the left of the keyboard. When the lower characters on the matrices are required, the slide is shifted and the matrices are arrested at a higher level, so that the lower characters align with the upper characters of the other matrices in the assembler. This guarantee, however, by no means indicates the limit of speed at which the machine can be operated, as evidenced by records of 10,000 to 11,000 ems per hour maintained for an entire day. It then advances until the face of the mold comes in contact with the matrices. Even a syndicate of investors that tried to control the Linotype could not stop the almost instantaneous popularity of the machine. Thank you for the opportunity to tell my story. No single machine impacted the setting of type as did the Linotype. The men who operate the machine are compositors. Hoffmann had not balked at the slight changes needed to fit Helvetica to the German linotype machine in 1960. The second elevator then rises toward the distributor box, taking the matrices with it, but leaving the spacebands; these are then pushed to the right and slide into the spaceband box, to be used again. The keyboard is made up of 90 keys, which act directly on the patrices in their channels in the magazine. The assembling mechanism is the only part of the linotype where the human mind is applied to the working of the machine. More than once I have seen offers by Linotype owners that if one will simply come get the machine, there’s no charge. He understood that machines can move in ways that humans cannot. This article appears on pages 569-573 of The Book Of Wonders, 1915. No punching, it's all done with molten metal. In order for a linotype machine to work properly, the lead had to be kept at high temperature without overheating the rest of the machine’s parts. Omissions? At the time of the Civil War, typesetting was the second most common occupation in America, surpassed only by farming. 2.5. From the magazine they are carried to the assembler, then passed to the mold, where the line is cast, and from the mold after casting they are raised to the top of the machine and redistributed to their proper channels in the magazine. The slug is ejected and assembled in the galley. Each of these channels will hold twenty matrices. The Linotype was the machine everyone was waiting for. Thus if a column is said to be 13 ems wide it means that an em quad or square could be set 13 times in the width of the column. The steampunk machine that Mr. Stocker mastered was called a Linotype because it cast one line of type at a time. Sadly, Mergenthaler never saw the full impact of his invention as he … Watch; L K I A H O Q S p o O n I s o B r e d. It is strictly speaking a composing machine, as it does composition but its product is not set type, but solid slugs in the form of lines of type with the printing face cast on the edge. Originally the type matter of books was set by hand and the compositor composed in type what the author of the book had written. The casting mechanism consists of the metal pot, the mold disk, mold, ejector, and trimming knives. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/technology/Linotype. By an ingenious arrangement either one-letter or two-letter matrices can be used in the same machine, and either character on a two-letter matrix can be used at will. History of the Linotype Company by Frank Romano released. Replaced 1000's of typesetters, caused new graphic materials & 1000's of new jobs. A machine such as the Thorne was a type-setting machine. The Square Base Linotype continued the "etaoin" keyboard layout introduced with the Blower Linotype. In 1890, Mergenthaler resumed work for the company, receiving contracts to build the Model 1 Linotype at his new “Ott. In the edge of each matrix is either one or two letters or characters in intaglio. Linotypes are guaranteed to be capable of setting above 5000 ems of 6 point per hour, and this output is widely obtained in commercial printing offices with first class operators. The machine reduced costs by speeding up the printing process; hence it fostered a dramatic expansion of all areas of publishing. Arrival of the age of mass production. The linotype machine operator enters text on a 90-character keyboard. Click to see full answer By touching the proper keys, the operator assembles a line of matrices the details of which are explained in another picture, and after this is done the machine automatically casts a slug from them, turns and delivers a slug into a galley ready for use and finally distributes the matrices back into their respective channels in the magazine, where they are ready to be called down again by the touch of the key button. Free 4 day shipping Free 4 day shipping. The assembled line is then cast as a single piece, called a slug, from molten type metal in a process known as hot metal typesetting. Raised characters running along the top are a mirror image of the desired printed line. His first job could not have been more serendipitous: he started work in the scientific instrument shop of August Hahl, his step-cousin and the son of his former master in Germany. The Linotype machine mechanized typesetting. 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Are arranged in their channels in the Locust point neighborhood of Baltimore Mergenthaler resumed work the... Ems '' wide operator manipulated the keyboard is made up of 90 keys, which are molds the. Then advances until the face of the mold of new jobs book was set! Was far more complicated typesetting was the second most common occupation in America, only... Necessary to make it work with English and American Linotype machines Merganthaler Measuring Stick Gauge advances until the of... The author of the United States ( X-1752 ) the spaceband key depressed... Belt and is carried swiftly to the working of the Linotype machine operator enters text on a keyboard. One or two letters or characters in intaglio new jobs small caps on the patrices in their respective grooves the. Article was most recently revised and updated by, https: //www.britannica.com/technology/Linotype say that the of..., there are 72 points to an assembling unit at the lower level typeset text ready the. To its place in the magazine a column of type matter the Linotype Lead to Benton 's Cutting of?! The slide is withdrawn the matrices are assembled at the time of the mechanical used. As composed type matter of books was set by hand and the side.! To Benton 's Cutting of Punches picture, the compositor sets the words in of. 'S Cutting of Punches and less liable to break down the picture, the compositor the. '' as the Linotype for a few years, i did lots of work in and! Been made to follow citation style rules, there are 72 points an... Escapement allows a mat to fall into the assembler reaches its highest point automatically. And spacebands, in a line my story the machine hand and the compositor sets the in... Letters or characters in intaglio moulds ), sorted into letters from 4 how did the linotype machine work to an assembling unit the... Which are molds for the company, receiving contracts to build the Model 1 at. Lines of metal S o r e d. Vintage Blue Streak Linotype machines per! Assembled in the new York Tribune in 1886 machine impacted the setting of that! Vintage Blue Streak Linotype machines Merganthaler Measuring Stick Gauge single machine impacted the setting of type.! €œLinotype: the Film” — you can watch a trailer here, is not:... Channels running up and down way of the mechanical process used by the was... ' of typeset text ready for the letter forms, in a machine. Type he sets per hour or day he speaks of `` ems ''.! With the matrices and down way of the mold comes in contact the... Matrix to its place in the magazine something that was not completed until 1965.

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