American Typecasting Fellowship
Newsletter Issue No. 14
July 1990




Preface
—Richard L. Hopkins


Pondering what I might want to do as a 
keepsake for the 1990 American Typecasting
Fellowship Conference at Nevada City, 
California, I asked myself whether anything 
of great significance in our beloved "hot 
metal domain" might have been going on 
exactly 100 years ago. I went to bound 
periodicals stored in my basement not too far 
from my Monotypes and to my amazement, found
three different publications covering the year 
in question. 

Those volumes were The Inland Printer, 
published in Chicago; The Superior Printer, 
published in Cincinnati; and Paper and Press, 
published in Philadelphia-all extremely 
well-produced trade publications of that era.

Was anything happening in 1890? To my great 
surprise, 1890 was 'THE year (if any year 
could be signaled out at all) when man 
finally got the upper hand in his quest to 
automate the age-old manual process of 
composing type.

Eighteen-Ninety was the turning point both for 
Ottmar Mergenthaler and his Linotype, and for 
Tolbert Lanston and his Monotype. John K. 
Rogers also was very successful in that year 
with his Typograph. Amidst such excitement, I 
thought it would be most interesting to 
reproduce contemporary articles with a bit of 
my own commentary, so we-in 1990-might have a 
better understanding and greater appreciation 
for what was happening exactly 100 years ago.

One key reason for undertaking the project was 
the chance to reproduce some of the fine wood
engravings I found in my research. 
Unfortunately, reproduction hasn't always been 
so good in texts and other publications 
detailing printing history. I wanted to do a 
publication which would show everyone that the 
quality of work 100 years ago was every bit as 
good as it is today, even with all the 
over-rated technology we're always hearing 
about.

For example, optical character recognition (OCR) 
technology. Time wouldn't permit me doing the 
work on my Monotype, so I decided it would be a 
great opportunity for me to employ OCR software 
with a flatbed scanner to convert the pages of 
these fine publications right into keystrokes 
which could be used in my digital typesetting 
system. The software was "Image-In Read" and to 
be blunt, it never got better than a 50 per cent 
error rate. I soon realized I was wasting more 
time with the software than fresh keyboarding 
would take, so I bit the bullet and spent the 
necessary time at my computer re-keying 
everything.

Even still, it was fun to do and I hope this 
special edition of the ATF Newsletter helps you 
gain some appreciation for the many significant 
events precisely 100 years ago.

The typeface used is Goudy' s University of 
California Oldstyle, digital version inside, 
hot-metal Monotype-cast version on the cover. 
This is Qoudy' s Deepdene Italic.




History of Machine Type Casting
—David Bruce, Jr.


The year was 1890. And the man who invented the 
first successful machine of automating the 
process of making foundry type was still alive 
and active enough to tell his own story.

Let's get things in perspective. Somebody (who 
knows for sure?) invented and perfected the 
process of casting individual metal types 
(through use of the hand mold) back about 1450. 
And that invention remained virtually unchanged 
for nearly 400 years-until a guy named David 
Bruce, Jr., came along in 1834 with his pivotal 
type caster. It's remarkable how rapidly his 
invention swept the industry. David Bruce, Jr., 
was an amazing man in at least three fields: he 
was an accomplished type designer and punch 
cutter, he was a successful inventor, and he was 
an historian of the typefounding industry as it 
developed in the United States. His History of 
Typefounding in the United States, printed by 
the Typophiles in 1981, is evidence of that 
fact. What's even more interesting is that 
David Bruce, Jr., was alive and quite verbal in 
1890 trying (through trade publications) to set 
the record straight about what was done by whom 
and when.

The son of a typefounder of the same name, David 
Bruce, Jr., was born in 1802 and lived until the 
age of 90 (1892). In 1890, the article below 
first appeared in The Printers' Review, the 
house organ of Golding & Company, and was 
quickly picked up by The Inland Printer. It 
gives some personal perspective on his 
invention. The article: "History of Machine Type 
Casting," by David Bruce, Jr ., from The Inland 
Printer, September, 1890, page 1129.
—Richard L. Hopkins


To get a full appreciation of the revolution 
wrought by the invention of machine type 
casting, it should ever be borne in mind that 
all printing types, from Gutenberg in 1440 
downward to the year 1827-nearly four hundred 
years-were cast by the pouring process or hand 
or spoon dipping, at the laborious rate of 
twelve to fourteen per minute. This process was 
followed by all the typefounders throughout 
Europe and by Messrs. Binny & Ronaldson of 
Philadelphia. It is true the ingenious Mr. 
Binny had made several improvements, but these 
related to the still-used hand molds.

In the year 1804 Mr. Elihu White, of Hartford, 
Connecticut, in conjunction with William Wing 
and David Isham of that place (all only 
theoretically conversant with the casting and 
manufacture of printing type), conceived the 
idea of a machine capable of casting whole 
alphabets at a single dash. It was a plausible 
conception. The result, however, too plainly 
showed their ignorance. They had totally 
overlooked the laws of unequal expansion of 
metals. As it was, a patent was issued to 
William Wing, of Hartford, Connecticut, August 
28, 1805. Mr. White took the model to England 
and in exchange received much practical 
insight into the ordinary methods of type 
casting, and brought back with him a few 
punches and matrices, with which rude materials 
he commenced type founding in Hartford in the 
usual way, but removed to New York City in 
1808. This feeling of improvement lay long 
suppressed with Mr. White until it was revived 
by Mr. William M. Johnson, a resident of Long 
Island, in 1831. The outcome of all of Mr. 
White's costly experiments amounting in the 
aggregate to $50,000, was the complex machine 
of Messrs. Mann and Sturdevant. This machine 
was certainly encouraging in speed, accuracy, 
and labor-saving; but alas! there was an odium 
of porousness or instability which its uniform 
sharpness of face, lighter weight and accuracy 
could scarce overcome. True, this light weight 
was urged upon printers as so much in its 
favor—twenty-five per cent—vide Mr. White's 
specimens of those days, 1832-1839. But it was 
slow of sale. Whatever merit any machine may 
have, Elihu White was the first to substitute 
the force pump for the sluggish natural gravity 
used by all the followers of Gutenberg.

It was a reckless resolve in the writer to 
wrench himself as it were from a prospective 
lucrative partnership with Messrs. George Bruce 
& Co., in the year 1834, to construct, if 
possible, a more perfect type casting machine 
than hadyet been produced by his predecessors. 
But such was his prevailing weakness, and for 
the next five years he resided on his father's 
farm on the banks of the Delaware River, in New 
Jersey.

The year 1840 found him in New York City boldly 
attempting to establish a foundry operated by 
his machinery. But he found that however 
superior his type might be, the fixed odium and 
unreliability of machine-cast type was a 
powerful obstacle against him also; and with 
the exception of his old schoolmates, the 
brothers James and John Harper, he almost stood 
alone. Timid printers listened, shook their 
heads and no doubt inwardly pitied him.

But his uncle, Mr. George Bruce, after due 
examination of the product of his machine, 
noting its accuracy, solidity and speed, became 
its possessor, giving for the patent and 
machines a liberal compensation, with the 
proviso that should the inventor devise another 
machine, to give him the first examination and 
choice of purchase. It was not long ere 
machine-cast type in his extensive foundry 
displaced that made in his hand molds, without 
any depreciation in the selling price.

Acting on his encouraging suggestion of 
improvement, it was not long ere the inventor 
invited Mr. Bruce to call over at his workshop 
and examine a working model of the present 
machine, one capable of being worked, as at 
present, by wind, steam or water power. 
Unfortunately for himself and the inventor, he 
did not come personally, but sent instead his 
machinist and his partner, Mr. P. C. Cortelyan, 
to whom the capabilities of the invention were 
explained, and its advantages over any other 
preceding invention pointed out.

The indifference of Mr. Bruce to its adoption
when the inventor called upon him subsequently 
was a perfect staggerer to the inventor's 
ambition, and his working model stood for the 
space of nearly two years in a comer, in quiet 
and gloomy silence.

It was indeed a bold step for the managers of 
the "Boston Type and Stereotype Foundry" to 
enter again into the arena and struggle for 
improvement, after having once been almost 
brought to the verge of ruin through the 
costly experiments of Messrs. Starr and 
Sturdevant, workmen in their employ. But the 
now popularization of the once-tabooed 
machine-cast type, through the boldness of Mr. 
George Bruce, was a strong financial argument. 
Something must be done to hold their position 
as manufacturers. Hence learning through my 
friend Mr. Dalton of my rejected model, they 
invited the inventor to give it a trial in 
their own foundry in Boston, under written 
stipulations defining weight, accuracy, speed 
and continuity of action; and the writer must 
be permitted to say that the written agreement 
allowed him very little margin.

In due time the trial came off. The tests were
every way satisfactory and were what may be 
called crucial. In fact the product, speed and 
continuity of casting rather exceeded the 
specified requirements, and both parties were 
fully satisfied. The "Boston Type and 
Stereotype Foundry" purchased an exclusive 
right to manufacture in the six New England 
states. 

And the new invention fell into good hands, and 
now from the once slow and laborious Gutenberg 
process of spoon dipping and pouring, of 
fourteen or fifteen per minute, type casting by 
the power of steam has been increased to from 
one hundred and fifty to two hundred types per 
minute.

That the invention has not to the inventor been 
a financial success he blames none but himself, 
as he is not the first inventor who has failed 
to profit from ideas which have enriched 
others.

All inventors should be ever cognizant, 
however, of the fact that most, if not all of 
our prominent inventions are at best but the 
outgrowth of some humble predecessor, as the 
wheel-barrow was the forerunner of the 
locomotive, or Franklin's electric kite was the 
predecessor of the ocean telegraph or 
telephone. Wonderful as are the developments 
that daily occur, the world is still an 
unexplored domain, but by the agency of the 
press and machine-cast type the world is ever 
ready for further unfoldment.




A Plea for the Tramp Printer
—F. Marion


How was type set in 1890? Nearly all of it was 
set by hand-a letter a time-by a legion of 
workers who generally labored 12 hours a day 
six days a week. They weren't paid by the hour 
as nearly all employees today. Rather, they 
were paid by the thousand ems of corrected 
composition they produced. The pay? Around 38 
cents per thousand, or a little more if one 
worked the night shift. 

Women had entered the composing room and in 
great numbers. Their presence was still a topic 
of heated discussion with general agreement 
that women simply were not up to the task. But 
in retrospect, there's question as to whether 
men were either! The Inland Printer frequently 
contained articles about drunken printers. 
These gave a hint of working conditions. Two 
articles are chosen to illustrate conditions 
back in 1890 for the thousands of "comps" 
necessary to get words into type. 

(These help me better understand the lament of 
my grandfather who asked me as a teenager-about 
1955-what I wanted to do. "I want to be a 
printer," was my reply. "Good Lord, Annie," he 
said to my grandmother, "we're going to have 
another drunk in the family." Working as a 
"bouncer" in bar rooms before the turn of the 
century, he had a first-hand experience with 
some of the situations explained in the 
following.) 
—Richard L. Hopkins


Resorting to intoxicants to drive away despair, 
the best of compositors are themselves driven 
away to give place to men not unfitted for duty 
at the case by intemperate habits.

Why despair? Wherefore intemperance? Let me 
briefly sketch the checkered career of a typical 
tramp printer. From the time, as a lad, he first 
takes a stick into his hand, and carefully and 
slowly adjusts the type, his story is an 
interesting one.

He adopts the profession, perhaps, out of the 
same reason that thousands of others do. Its 
advantages are pointed out to him as a 
profession that is not alone remunerative, but 
educational; he admires the beauty of the 
mechanism of printing; and office-life seems 
highly desirable in contrast with outdoor labor, 
where mud, rain, and snow are to be contended 
with, and printing offices seem so nice and 
cozy. Everyone in country towns, save alone the 
printers themselves, are extolling the virtues 
of the business and envying the compositors. 
Under such favorable comment and observation our 
tramp compositor starts upon his life work or 
destruction, as it may be, as many young boys 
do.

When once thoroughly imbued with the work, with 
several years of experience behind him, of 
course the confinement of the work marks him 
with paleness. At this stage in his career, the 
reverse side of the picture is shown him. His 
friends begin to hint about the business being 
unhealthy; and even go so far as to intimate 
consumption as the inevitable result of 
continuation at the case. His more learned 
friends tell of the poisonous inks, type and 
dust, and in some way or other give the young 
compositor to understand that a moderate use of
alcohol would effectually counteract all evil 
tendencies of the obnoxious scents from metal, 
etc., found in the office. A longing, too, to be 
out of doors in the fresh air of heaven, makes 
office-life a prison.

After many years have passed, and confinement, 
coupled with other effects of office-work, has 
partially unfitted him for hard labor, a weak 
despair fastens itself upon him. He had probably 
reached his twenty-fifth year; and from his 
standpoint he views life as a short stretch of 
miserable existence. Nothing is visible to him 
except a few more years at the case, then death. 
It is then that he resorts to drink to drive 
away despair.

What follows is natural; as natural as the law 
of "the survival of the fittest." He is 
discharged in a short time to give place to a 
man of steady habits, one not incapacitated for 
work by drink.

Thus, the incipiency of a dread life as a tramp 
is thrust upon him by his own recklessness. No 
person wants an incapable employee, and the 
intemperate compositor will remain intemperate.

In his hours of soberness he is given work, but 
on the recurrence of his "spree" he is 
discharged; and on the downward road through 
hunger, cold and gnawing thirst, the poor 
wanderer goes, asking, forever asking, "How's 
work?" "Can you give a fellow a show this 
morning?"

Five, ten, twenty, perhaps thirty years see him 
still on the road, old for his years, poor as of 
yore, with dark lines of suffering and privation 
deepening each furrow on his brow, living a life 
of regret.

Not long will he remain with us, soon tottering 
into his grave; but as sure as the sun rises and 
sets, his place on earth will be filled by one 
whom a little forethought or a little will-power 
would save from a life of misery.

Brothers in the art preservative of arts, in any 
dealing with an intemperate tramp printer, weigh 
the probable inception of a terrible existence 
and be charitable, at least, toward our erring 
kinsmen-in-trade. Deal with him as a Christian, 
humane conscience would dictate; and at last 
when your form is locked in the chase of death 
it will be by the quoins of love with an 
assurance that all will lift.

[The Inland Printer, February, 1890, page 408]




A Plea for Printers
—Duncan F. Young


So how would you react to being at the type case 
all day sticking type? It would be downright 
drudgery, right? But let's look at other aspects 
of the workplace back in 1890. Folks often put 
in unbelievably long stints at the case and 
frequently seven days a week. There's no doubt 
the International Typographical Union was at the 
forefront of the movement to reduce the workday 
to eight hours-and to restrict the work week to 
six days. Much comment on these subjects filled 
the pages of The Inland Printer. The article 
below gives better insight into what conditions
really were like.
—Richard L. Hopkins


On every continent, in every clime, in every 
section of country where civilized people reside 
is to be found the ever-indulgent printer, and 
in each place is cast upon him a reputation ever 
the same. In success, in poverty, in weal or 
woe, the poor printer is aspersed by the 
untiring multitudes who rather condemn than 
extend a helping hand to a suffering and 
unfortunate fellow-mortal. On the beautiful 
asphalted Avenue St. Charles, in New Orleans, 
dotted here and there with a flower-be-decked 
cottage or an imposing mansion, the cry is heard 
as printers pass along: "Come in, children; 
there are those drunken printers." And on the 
cosmopolitan Street of Broadway, New York, 
unnoticed in the motley crowd until arrested, 
the remark is spontaneous: "It is only a drunken 
printer." And, I may say, who among printers has 
not heard someone outside the printing business 
say: "Printers are a very dissipated class of 
men, are they not?" Such, indeed, is the 
reputation of printers-deserved or not is known 
really by but few printers even.

Far away in the age of generations long gone 
before us, printers were regarded with a marked 
degree of respect, and that that respect to a 
considerable extent has been lost to them is due 
in no small part to printers themselves and in 
part to the misfortune of the business acting 
somewhat as a lodestone, thereby bringing into 
the craft a surplus of motley characters.

There are men who love the taste of intoxicating 
liquors and others who appreciate the effects 
alone. These are to be found in every calling 
and every sphere oflife. Very few physicians are 
there who do not at times recommend or prescribe 
liquors, and there are many men who find it very 
essential to at times use liquor. This is 
particularly so in the printing business. Very 
few doubt the efficacy of the use of liquor. The 
difficulty in its use as a medicine lies in the 
ignorance of the quantity required at a time. 
Printers, it is claimed, indulge more in strong 
drink than any other class of men. This, no 
doubt, is a fact, and there is every reason for 
it. Let temperance advocates and ministers of 
the gospel everywhere strike at the root of this 
evil, if they will, and bring every effort and 
influence to bear in correcting it. Let them 
view the hungty man who imbibes voraciously and 
the over-worked man who tipples persistently, 
and they have discovered the cause which most 
frequently leads to drink. Let them observe the 
workings of an average newspaper office and they 
will say: "Aye, go, thou, and drink, for thou 
needest it."

Few readers of the many big dailies know through 
what terrible ordeals printers have to go in 
getting them out. As a general thing the work of 
the first four days of the week is regular and 
comparatively easy. During those days printers 
are permitted to eat their breakfast at noon and 
dinner at 5 in the evening. On Fridays and 
Saturdays, however, they are obliged to rise at 
10 or 11 a.m., as they have an unusual amount of 
work to perform, and if they have an opportunity 
to go home in the afternoon it is but to get a 
bite. From the effects of these heavy days' work 
they are unable to rise on Sundays until 12 or 1 
o'clock in the day. The effect on one of this 
disparity of rest and meals everyone knows.

It does not seem much to say that printers, as a 
rule work some days ten hours and others fifteen 
or sixteen, and in fact it could be easily 
endured at laborious work; but when we consider 
that mind, eyes and body are steadily at work 
during those long hours, and at work which does 
not develop and strengthen the body, but rather 
nourishes from it, we can readily understand 
that the body and mind crave for and require 
artificial restoratives. More than this, type 
dust is inhaled, and very few printing offices 
are ventilated sufficiently for the number of 
men who work in them, fifty to one hundred men 
being sometimes obliged to work in a room less 
than 100 by 200 feet square. Legislation in 
this matter is seriously required-a sanitary 
measure for our common good. Since such 
legislation is lacking is it any wonder that 
printers, after a siege of such work, should 
require drink to excite the blood to exclude 
these terrible inhalations? The point may be 
made, do not work so steadily. In answer I would 
say: One man does not know another's needs. 
True, a man may work a week, following with a 
three or four days' drunk. Evidently the strain 
of work was too intense for him, but he was 
probably forced to work that length of time to 
meet a certain obligation. Did he receive a 
regular salary, thus knowing the amount he could 
depend on receiving at the end of the week, it 
is more than likely that he would not work so 
steadily. The amount of one big day's work, 
especially when a "fat take" and several 
"bonuses" are thrown in, is an inducement which 
it is difficult for one to resist, be he ever so 
fatigued.

If we would avoid this tendency toward 
degeneration, all admirers of a sturdy and 
robust nation must amalgamate in an effort to 
regulate the hours of work on morning papers. 
The extra amount of work is superinduced by a 
determined competition on the part of 
publishers-not by a legitimate demand of the 
patrons, for who reads through the mammoth 
Sunday paper? And all to the detriment and 
injury of the printer, who makes a few dimes 
for his extra work, and expends treble the 
amount in obtaining recreation.

Some may say that the whole difficulty may be 
averted by putting on extras on the big days, 
but such has been tried and failed, as is shown 
by statistics of the hours of work in all the 
larger offices of the country: first, because 
few men will hold two-day-a-week situations; 
second, because the men are not always to be 
obtained on those days.

When it is seen that this terrible evil exists
and that the only remedy lies in the reduction
and equalization of hours of work; that printers
are slowly but surely sliding into this 
monstrous abyss in an avocation which enlightens 
the world-is there the man who will stand by and 
let them go as the ox led to the shambles? In 
the name of civilization let the answer be No, 
and action follow the word!

[The Inland Printer, February, 1890, page 391-392]




Typesetting Contest
—Inland Printer


Let no one conclude that every "comp" was a 
drunk and of inferior abilities. Indeed, some 
were magnificent in their ability compose metal 
type hour after hour. During this era contests 
frequently were staged to help determine the 
"fastest comp in the nation ." The report here 
came from The Inland Printer, November, 1890 
(page 174-175).

In case you're not familiar with the old sizing 
terminology, nonpareil was the equivalent of 
6-point type. The error which forced Monheimer 
to concede the contest would not have resulted 
had the contestants used composing sticks 
calibrated to the point system, something 
relatively new and advertised by the Golding 
Company in The Inland  Printer during that same 
year. Sticks used in that contest had a sliding 
knee, and were locked into place against the 
prescribed number of ems set up. The comp set 
the measure by assembling the prescribed number 
of letter m's (28 in this case) turned sideways 
in the stick. Apparently em quads were not 
always perfectly square and therefore were not 
to be trusted for measuring purposes, much to 
Monheimer's dismay. Working to the "wrong 
measure" was a devastating (yet easily made) 
error, for it required that all work be 
re-justified to the correct measure-a line at a 
time!

To better judge their performances, consider the 
average em of type contains somewhere between two 
and three characters. Let's say 2½ characters. 
Thienes' winning performance works out to equal 
40 characters a minute of justified, corrected 
composition. (Back then, poor spacing, poor 
justification, improper word breaks, misspelled 
words, etc., simply were not tolerated.) There 
are many modem-day typists who will never do that 
well! It is explained that fairly "clean" copy 
was provided to the two contestants and that 
their speed was reduced by the amount of time 
they took on correcting errors. This same 
procedure was used in determining the pay a comp 
was to receive for his work. He was paid by the 
thousand ems of corrected composition he 
produced. Though speed was not a direct requisite 
to be a comp, rest assured if a man (or woman) 
was unnecessarily slow, that person would be 
removed and replaced by a faster comp.
—Richard L. Hopkins


One of the most remarkable typesetting contests 
that ever occurred in this country was held in 
the composing room of The Inland Printer on 
Sunday, November 9. Peter Thienes, of the 
Chicago Mail, and Leo Monheimer, of the Chicago 
Herald, being the contestants. Great interest was 
taken in the affair, as the men were so evenly 
matched, each having a large number of friends 
ready and willing to stake their "pile" on the 
contestant they believed would surely win. The 
ladies, too, took great interest in the affair 
and were not afraid to back their choice.

The following are the terms under which the
match was contested:

Chicago, Ill., October 20, 1890

We hereby agree to set nonpareil type, beginning
at 12 o'clock,. November 9, 1890, unless sickness
prevents either contestant being able to work on 
that day, in two stretches of two hours each, the 
first to begin at 12 o'clock and continue until 2 
o'clock, and after an hour's rest to resume work 
at 3 o'clock and continue until 5 o'clock, for 
$200 a side, a forfeit being deposited with the 
sporting editor of the Inter Ocean, who is to be 
the final stakeholder. Each contestant is to 
appoint a manager, the two to appoint a third 
party to act as referee. Each contestant has the 
privilege of selecting spaces such as he wishes 
to use. Should either contestant have an "out" 
during composition it is not to be measured after 
being corrected. The national typesetting rules 
are to govern the contest in regard to spacing, 
justification and correcting. The type to be used 
is to be decided upon at least ten days before 
the day of holding the contest. The final deposit 
is to be made on the Tuesday preceding the day of 
the contest.

Leo Monheimer, Chicago Herald
Peter Thienes, Chicago Mail

This is the second match the same men have been 
engaged in during the last two years. Monheimer 
winning on the former occasion. Thienes, however, 
was not satisfied, and issued the challenge, 
which Monheimer at once accepted, and chose 
nonpareil as the type to be used.

William Lumsden looked after the interests of 
Monheimer, while Gus Bilger anxiously waited upon 
Thienes. 0. G. Wood, of The Inland Printer office 
was chosen referee, and was called upon to give 
some very close and exact decisions. Harry Flinn 
and Adolph Scholl acted as proofreaders.

The copy given to each compositor was identical, 
and was taken from The Inland Printer, the 
subject being a lecture by A C. Cameron on the 
labor problem, delivered in June, 1888.

Time was called at 12 o'clock, and both men 
commenced steady and at a good gait and kept it 
up for two hours, when they rested for one hour. 
At the end of the first stretch Monheimer had set 
3,666 ems and Thienes 3,598 ems gross. At 3 
o'clock time was called again, and both 
contestants started out to do better than they 
had in the first half. The task was completed at 
5 o'clock, with the following result Monheimer 
had a string of 7,359 ems, Thienes having 7,305 
ems, a difference of only 54 ems in four hours' 
composition. Monheimer was 23 1/4 minutes in 
correcting his two proofs. Thienes only taking 
18¾ minutes to complete his task, 25 ems being 
deducted for each minute occupied in correcting 
proofs. This left the match in the following 
close order: Monheimer, 6,783 ems; Thienes 6,837.

Both parties now commenced to look for the 
slightest error or bad spacing, and the referee 
was called upon to carefully examine the matter 
set by the contestants. In going over the galleys 
the referee discovered that Monheimer's stick has 
been unfortunately set a three-em space too 
narrow, "quads" being used instead of the letter 
"m," which is correct when turned sideways; 
Monheimer's stick, therefore, only contained 
27 2/3 ems, instead of 28 ems of the type used. 
Thereupon the referee awarded the match to 
Thienes by 142 ems, his stick containing the 
full 28 ems. It may be well to state that Mr. 
Monheimer was not aware of the mistake and 
accepted his defeat gracefully, the utmost good 
feeling existing, and thus ended one of the most 
remarkable typesetting.matches ever known.

The following is a short history of the two men 
with some of their performances at the case:

Peter Thienes was born in Edinburg, Indiana, and 
is thirty-three years old, and is known 
throughout the trade as an exceedingly fast and 
accurate workman. The only public contest in 
which he participated was that of Philadelphia, 
when he set in thirty-three hours 60,323 ems, and 
lost but thirty-two minutes in correcting the 
entire amount. His best gross score was 2,912 ems 
in one hour and a half; his best net score was 
3,843 1/2 ems in one hour and a half. The most 
remarkable run he has ever made was in this same 
contest, when he set 2,734 ems in one hour and a 
half, with only one turned letter. In this 
tournament he won the local championship and an 
elegant gold medal. He also was presented with an 
engraved silver stick by the employees of the 
Philadelphia Times in reward for his splendid 
work in the Philadelphia tournament.

Leo Monheimer is a native of Lancaster, Missouri, 
is twenty-four years old, and has been in Chicago 
several years. He has never worked east of 
Cincinnati. In private he has frequently set over 
2,000 ems per hour. The only public record that 
he holds was made in the Chicago tournament, when 
in one hour and a half he set 2,600 ems gross and 
2,522 ems net, and made a total set, in 
twenty-one hours of 35,165 ems gross and 
33,346 1/2 ems net. He is called one of the 
fastest typos in the United States, and his 
recent performance was one which justifies his 
reputation.




"... Purely An Inventor's Dream"
—Paper and Press

Now we could look back and say, "it's obvious the
Linotype was going to succeed." But it didn't 
happen that easily. Printers were anxious about 
what the future might bring. And editors of the 
day were quick to discuss the systems being 
perpetrated and, as below, project that they 
might never succeed, especially in high-quality 
book work. The author quickly mentions several 
typesetting machines, so each is explained here 
in abbreviated fashion, and two are illustrated 
because such great original artwork has been 
found.

First, the Thorne, was a device invented in 1880 
for composing and distributing specially nicked 
foundry type. "The Thorne had a long, varied and 
successful history," according to Dick Huss in 
his The Development of Mechanical Typesetting 
Methods. In 1890, it was the only machine being 
advertised in The Inland Printer-the same ad 
reproduced herein ran in several issues during 
the year. The machine evolved into the Unitype 
and by 1903 over 1,500 were in use throughout the 
country. It assembled and distributed type, but 
the process of justifying lines remained the duty 
of a human, either the operator or a second 
person assigned to get greater production out of 
a single machine.

Next was the Kastenbein, invented (according to 
Huss) by a Frenchman in 1869 and used with 
greater or lesser success both in Europe and the 
U.S. It was driven by a foot pedal. Distribution 
was still by hand (partially automated) and 
justification was by hand. It did not require 
special nicking on type, and John Thompson, in 
his History of Composing Machines , says it was 
used with success at the London Times in 
combination with a Wicks Rotary Typecaster which 
provided a steady stream of new sorts and thus, 
eliminated the need for type distribution. I 
could not resist printing the illustration of 
this curious machine, pulled direct from the 
pages of American Model Printer, June, 1887, 
page 233. Therein, it was stated "In the matter of 
speed, when it is considered that about 200,000 
ems a week is the output of one of these composing 
and distributing machines, with at least three 
operators, one to set, another to space out and 
arrange the lines, and a third to keep up with the 
distribution-then the actual result is not so 
enormous. In other words, three operators and two 
machines are required to do the aggregate of three 
good hand-compositors, with about 56,000 ems gain 
in favor of the machine compositors. This is not 
deducting from the machines their cost, wear and 
tear, interest on money invested, nor the damage 
to type by contact and fall."

The Alden Typesetter alluded to had been in a 
state of development since 1857. It was never 
fully developed, yet patents were still being 
taken out by its later developers as late as 1910. 
It was a device for assembling and distributing 
specially nicked foundry type. Justification was 
by hand.

Another machine is mentioned as "Colt." The only 
hint on this name is Legros and Grant's 
Typographical Printing-Surfaces, which notes the 
Paige Typesetter was built by The Farnham 
Typesetter Company, which had works in the 
building of the Colt's Firearms Company. Shall we 
assume the editor was speaking of the Paige 
machine? It was first proposed in 1873 and ' was 
in a constant state of development/ abandonment, 
helping Mark Twain waste a fortune in the process, 
until its very successful unveiling and test in a 
typesetting contest in 1894. It won against the 
Linotype, but by that time the investors opted to 
abandon the project after they determined they 
could not price it in competition with the already 
succeeding Linotype. Only two machines were built.

Interestingly, the March, 1890, edition of The 
Inland Printer reported the following (page 560):

"The Page (sic.) typesetting machine is finally 
done. The cost has been about $500,000, of which 
Mark Twain has spent $100,000. He is now principal 
owner. It is proposed to form a joint stock 
company for the construction of the machines on an 
economical scale. This plant and working capital 
will cost about $1 ,000,000. When it is ready, 
machines can be turned out in quantities at a cost 
of a little less than $6,000 each, then selling 
for $12,000..."

The Paige was a mechanical masterpiece and anyone
curious about its operation must read Legros and 
Grant's detailed discussion of the machine. An 
ankle also appeared in the ATF Newsletter, Number 
8, January 1983, page 10.

The Mergenthaler machine with which the Paper and
Press editor was familiar was the "Blower" machine 
(see next reprint); and the Rogers Typograph was 
introduced in 1890 (article herein). But for now, 
let's hear what the editor of Paper and Press 
thought the future held for "mechanical 
contrivances" designed to set type. The article 
appeared in the February, 1890, edition on page 
106.
—Richard L. Hopkins


While we believe that labor is never injured by 
mechanical invention, there are many of its 
domains that the latter has attempted to occupy 
with but little success. This is especially true 
of the type-composing and distributing machines, 
of which so large a number have been invented. 
Each month, as the Patent Office Gazettes are 
issued, improvements appear on minor details on 
some one or other of these now well-known 
machines. Either it is the Thome, the 
Mergenthaler, the Alden, or others, in which some 
minor part receives attention.

We have endeavored to present in past numbers a 
record of inventive genius in this class of 
mechanism, and in the present issue an 
illustration and description are given of perhaps 
the latest improvement on that ingenious assistant 
to the compositor proposed by Alexander Lagerman, 
of Sweden.

However near may be the day on which the last 
compositor will lay his stick down for good we 
cannot say, but thus far a careful examination of 
the various systems already perfected and in 
so-called practical operation discloses one and 
the same obstacle to their introduction, and that 
is the complexity of their construction which, in 
spite of declarations to the contrary, renders 
them extremely liable to derangement.

In connection with the working of the mechanical 
contrivances here referred to, the central 
difficulty in type-composing machines, and an 
indisputable one, is the difficulty of human 
ingenuity to devise a machine which will be able 
to space a line as accurately as a skilled 
compositor. Then the question of complicated parts 
is a weighty one, the Alden machine for instance 
consisting of no less than 14,625 parts, many of 
them of very delicate construction, weighing in 
all nearly 150 pounds.

It must be confessed that in plain work with one 
kind of type, several of the extant machines give 
satisfaction, but there is even a difficulty here 
in the absolute necessity to furnish the operator 
with perfectly clear and clean copy-a condition 
which in many cases cannot be complied with.

Some of the machines call for special type or at 
least modification of the existing styles, 
together with other conditions quite outside of a 
strictly practical application, so that the 
machine in many instances is merely noteworthy as 
a curiosity of mechanical construction.

It is unquestionable that the systems known as the 
Kastenbein, Colt, Thome, Mergenthaler, etc., have 
to a certain degree demonstrated their 
possibilities of practical operation, but these 
systems demand such skill and experience from 
those in charge of them, and present so many 
difficulties in the details of setting and 
distributing, that there is no ground for 
regarding them as yet perfect.

In the Mergenthaler system the disadvantage lies 
in the necessary rejection of an entire line of 
type when a single space or letter happens to be 
omitted by the operator, who cannot correct the 
slightest error made by him save by throwing out 
the casting of the whole line and beginning over 
again; what he would do with a piece of blind 
copy is difficult to say. In order to achieve 
the brilliant success which is claimed for the 
system, every line of copy must be edited, every 
paragraph marked, every difficult or unusual word 
carefully spelled out in the plainest manner 
possible; this, which is an expenditure of time 
and labor, is a legitimate charge against the 
system.

Of the late invention in type-setting machines the 
majority have been improvements upon already 
existing systems rather than original methods to 
dispense with type-setting by hand. In this 
category falls the Mergenthaler machine, which 
applies the principle of the stereotype-plate to 
the completed matrices of each line. To the 
newspaper office its possibilities are doubtless 
satisfactory, but for fine editions in competition 
with first-class hand labor it is purely an 
inventor's dream.

Another difficulty is that of cutting accurate and 
artistic dies, striking the matrices and casting 
perfect type. It would seem that a blind force, no 
matter how skillfully controlled and guided, can 
scarcely have intelligence enough to moderate its 
blow according as the metal happens to present a 
softer surface at one moment or another.

It is undoubtedly within the realm of possibility, 
and indeed it is highly probable, that some one of 
the systems of type-setting by machinery will in 
the future play an important part in ordinary book 
and newspaper printing, but the fine editions as 
well as all manner of display work will hardly be 
accomplished by this aid.

Another objection to the type-casting principle is 
the difficulty of obtaining a deep and clean 
stereotype-plate from such typefaces. It cannot be 
done for the same price, as the extra dressing and 
cutting away necessary to bring the plates up to 
standard would add to the ordinary rates.

Taking as a specimen of the work the circular 
issued by the Mergenthaler Machine Company, the 
disadvantages are evident. Like the typewriter, 
its prototype in one sense of the word, there is a 
total inability to keep certain letters when they 
fall together from having a crowded appearance.

Of the type-setting machines proper, the Thorne is 
commanding the most attention at the present time 
as coming nearer to the realization of the 
inventor's claims. It is unquestionably a marvel 
of mechanical ingenuity and has been greatly 
improved since it was first exhibited. An 
intelligent child, it is said, may work the 
keyboard, but it may also be remarked that no one 
but a skilled mechanic could readjust any of the 
parts if thrown out of gear, or repair any portion 
of the mechanism if broken or injured. For this 
reason the machines are principally adapted as 
residents of large cities near mechanical 
workshops where aid may be quickly had, broken 
bits of mechanism replaced, etc.

Women are slowly but steadily pressing into the 
composing room, in England more than here; this 
means a great reduction in the price of 
composition and a consequent lessening of the 
advantages achieved by the type-composing machine.

We hope at some time to see the objections we have 
stated overcome and will receive with pleasure the 
announcement of a perfectly practicable machine, 
where simplicity is achieved and fewer working 
parts embodied, and where the cost is not such as 
to prevent any but the largest and richest offices 
from possessing them.




The "Blower" Linotype
—The Inland Printer

Before 1890, Ottmar Mergenthaler was having 
difficulty with the consortium of newspaper owners 
which had taken control of his company. At first 
they encouraged him but once most of them had 
their machines in their plants, there was some 
thought to restricting manufacture, discrediting 
it, and thus hiding the obvious production 
advantages they were enjoying so they alone could 
reap all benefits. We ' re speaking of the "Blower" 
machine, which was Mergenthaler's first production 
model. The name stemmed from the machine's use of 
compressed air to carry matrices from their 
compartments into the assembler section. As 
production on these machines ensued, Mergenthaler 
was constantly finding better ways of doing things 
and he wanted to incorporate improvements into 
subsequent machines produced. Such changes were 
hindering production and thus, he was given 
specific orders to stop his innovation and 
concentrate on production. Mergenthaler would not 
do this so he was removed from production 
activities. A complete account of these events is 
provided in Carl Schlesinger's book, The Biography 
of Ottmar Mergenthaler, Inventor of the Linotype.

An operational model of the "Blower" is on display 
at the Smithsonian and a retrospective study of 
the machine will reveal its many shortcomings. 
Even still, it was successfully operated in many 
plants-about 200 were manufactured. The article on 
the next page was printed just one month before 
our magical year of 1890. It is reproduced both to 
supply information on the machine actually in use 
in 1890, and to display a very good wood engraving 
of the machine itself. The article is from The 
Inland Printer, December, 1889, page 272.
—Richard L. Hopkins


The Inland Printer herewith presents to its 
readers a cut of this wonderful machine, which 
will give a very correct idea of its appearance. 
To describe its entire mechanism, so as to give 
the reader an understanding of it, is almost, if 
not quite impossible, but a short description, in 
a general way, may not be devoid of interest. It 
resembles a typesetting machine, in that it has a 
lettered keyboard. These keys are connected with 
a number of perpendicular tubes, shown in the cut, 
directly in front of the operator. In these tubes 
are placed the matrices, no type being used in 
this machine, representing all the characters of 
a book or newspaper font. When a key is touched 
one of these matrices drops into an inclined 
channel, along which it is carried by an 
air-blast to its proper place in the line-gauge 
where the line is formed. Spaces, or more 
properly speaking, spacers are automatically 
placed between the words simply by touching a key, 
the same as for a matrix. When the linegauge is 
full, or as nearly so as a line of type usually 
comes to proper justification in an ordinary 
composing stick, the operator touches a lever-key, 
shown just to the left of the keyboard proper, 
and the line of matrices is then carried off to 
be properly justified and cast. The spacers being 
wedge-shaped, perfectly even spacing and 
justification is accomplished by these being 
pushed up between the words until the line-gauge 
is filled. The line of matrices is then carried 
just a little forward to the metal pot when the 
metal is forced in and the work of casting is 
accomplished. Enough time is allowed for the 
metal to cool, after which the line is trimmed 
to thickness and height to paper, and when 
completed resembles a line of solid type. In this 
resemblance originated the name, i.e., Linotype, 
or "line o' type." Herewith we show three lines 
cast on one of these machines in the office of 
the Providence, Rhode Island, Journal, in the 
presence of our representative who was kindly 
permitted to inspect their machines.

After the casting of each line has been 
accomplished, the matrices are sent back 
mechanically and distributed into their 
respective tubes with unerring correctness. All 
these operations are performed automatically, 
without in any way detracting the attention of 
the operator from his work at the keyboard, this 
work consisting of manipulating the keys and 
pressing down the lever, at the completion of 
setting each line of matrices, to set the 
various mechanisms into motion.
[The Inland Printer, December, 1889, page 272]




The New Form of Mergenthaler
—American Bookmaker

A critique of the "Blower" Linotype, in Ottmar 
Mergenthaler's own words, was as follows: "The 
1886 machine required an air blast for propelling 
the matrices and for heating the gas, which was 
found to be very noisy and objectionable in a 
number of ways . The keyboard touch was hard and 
not uniform, it took some practice to operate the 
keyboard without causing matrices to fly out of 
the channel, the locking up and alignment 
features were rather unreliable, the distributor 
was not as strong as it could be, and the machine 
as a whole lacked that ease of accessibility 
which is so necessary to keep machines in their 
proper condition ." This is a quote from his 
biography, included in Carl Schlesinger's book as 
already noted.

Being removed from the manufacturing operation 
and with nothing else on his mind (a status 
Mergenthaler deplored and resented), he set out 
to correct problems and come up with an even 
better Linotype. The end result was a machine 
which served as the basis for virtually all 
future Linotype development.

The Linotype as we knew it for so many years was
introduced in-you guessed it-1890! Here's a 
prelimary review of the machine. A more derailed 
discuss illustrated with a superb wood engraving 
of the sq'base machine, also follows. The article 
below is from The Superior Printer, March-April, 
1890, page 270. It had been lifted from American 
Bookmaker, something frequently done by editors in 
those days.
—Richard L. Hopkins


The Mergenthaler type bar casting machine has 
recently been much altered, its construction 
simplified and its working rendered noiseless. 
So far in America, only four machines have been 
put to extensive use to aid and supplement the 
work of the compositor. The two earliest, the 
Mitchel and the Burr, have run their course. 
Their work was well done, but few employers saw 
any advantage in them, and the first was 
discarded, while the latter is now used in only 
two places. The Thome, the third,is increasing 
its sales day by day, while the Mergenthaler, the 
fourth, after undergoing many changes, has been 
altered so that many of its peculiar features 
have been eliminated, and those who knew it 
thoroughly once will be unable to recognize its 
movements.

The machine is about 4 feet wide, 5 feet deep 
and 7 feet high. In front is a keyboard, 
somewhat like that of a type-writer, but longer 
and larger. The lower case letters are at the 
left, the figures in the center and the captials 
at the right hand side. The impulse required to 
move these keys is very slight. When they are 
struck, a catch in the upper part of the machine 
releases a brass die, in size similar to a bit 
of long primer column rule two-thirds of an inch 
long, but cut away in grooves at the sides and 
ends. This has on its edge the character to be 
cast, but hollow, and not in relief. When this 
matrix is dislodged it falls down a groove till 
it strikes against an incline which forces it 
against the next preceding character. This was 
formerly done by a blast of air. A sufficient 
number having been brought together for a line, 
the characters are placed on their feet; when 
the blanks or thin wedges are introduced, which 
spread apart the words as far as necessary to 
justify the line; the characters are still 
further straightened, so that each one is 
exactly on a line with all others, and the slug 
is then cast, a perfect reproduction of a 
stereotype line with high spaces. Before casting 
takes place the letters can be examined by the 
compositor to see if any error has been 
committed, as they are in a convenient position 
for this to be done.

The cast is made as it is in a type foundry, 
except that as the line has a great deal of 
metal, more than even the largest letters cast 
for a book office, it ought not to and does not 
chill before every letter is perfectly formed. 
An arm reaches down to this part of the machine 
when this operation is completed, catches the 
matrixes that have been used and lifts them up 
to the top, there to be distributed. The casting 
is extruded at the front and forms part of the 
column which is being set. When the matrixes 
arrive at the top they are moved along in a 
channel and are distributed by the notches and 
hollows on their edges. If these perfectly match 
projections which they meet, as the key meets the 
wards of a lock, they drop and are back again in 
the places from which they originally came. The 
operation is complete.

The alignment of the characters seems to be 
perfect. There are not many imperfect letters, 
and the slugs appear to be perfectly true and 
square. It is claimed by the managers that there 
is very little stoppage and that very few repairs 
are needed. The blast of air and the electric 
communicator are no longer required, and there is 
no difficulty in seeing the progress of the work 
at any time. It is asserted that 5,000 ems per 
hour can be set by an expert and 4,000 by a slow 
operator; that in a week or two a beginner can 
become expert; that most literal errors can not 
take place; that no separate justifier or 
distributor is required, and that there is an 
economy of from 60 to 80 per cent achieved by 
using this apparatus. A statement has been made 
by the Providence journal to the effect that $250 
a week is saved on its bills, the workmen making 
as much as before and all of the expenses of 
repairs, gas and power being included, which were 
not included in the New York Tribune statement 
previously circulated.




The Mergenthaler Linotype Printing-Machine
—Paper and Press

Here's a very detailed discussion of 
Mergenthaler's new machine of 1889, accompanied by 
one of the very best illustrations (a wood 
engraving) of the Square Based machine already 
mentioned. As the article indicates, the actual 
copy was composed on the Linotype and the original 
piece was printed direct from Lino slugs. 
Curiously, the article would serve well to explain 
the process to folks today who are not familiar 
with how the machine worked.

A very cursory study of the typeset article 
reveals the machine at this stage of development 
did not yet have two-letter matrices and therefore, 
italics were not available for the names of 
publications and/ or emphasis, notwithstanding the 
third claim listed in the article. Some of the 
general rules relating to punctuation (quotes 
within quotes) were not followed and I have chosen 
not to attempt to correct these obvious problems.

The piece comes from Paper and Press for December, 
1890, pages 3S7-359. Illustrated here is the 
so-called "Square Based" Linotype, which actually 
was introduced in 1889. The "Simplex" Linotype 
followed in 1890 and Mergenthaler explained the 
differences in his biography.

Having been removed from manufacturing activities
(and literally from the original company), 
Mergenthaler found time on his hands so he went to 
work improving the machine's defects. The result 
was a radically changed device introduced in 1889, 
called the "Square Based" machine. It was brought 
to trial and proved to be an unqualified success. 
However, "it was entirely too heavy, a fault 
brought about by the draughtsman's general 
inclination from which he could hardly ever free 
himself entirely." It was decided to lighten the 
patterns as much as possible and to build from 
them a second machine which was to serve as the 
pattern for large numbers to be built thereafter. 
This "Improved Model l" ( or "Simplex") served as 
the basis for virtually all future Linotype 
machines until the Electrons of the 1960s.
—Richard L. Hopkins


When in July, 1886, the first Linotype machine was 
placed in the composing-room of the "New York 
Tribune," to be used in the regular daily work of 
that paper, the first practical step was taken in 
revolutionizing the art of printing by raising the 
unit of composition from a single letter or 
character to an entire line of type. The "Tribune" 
was rapidly followed in this innovation by the 
"Louisville Courier-Journal" and the "Chicago 
News," and some time thereafter by the "Providence 
Journal." Notwithstanding the predictions of 
failure on all sides, the machines have never 
failed to perform the task allotted to them and 
the daily appearance of those journals before the 
public has been entirely dependent upon the work 
of this wonderful automation. To-day over 150 of 
them are in regular operation in various offices 
in the United States and Great Britain, doing 
substantially all the work of composition which 
had been previously done by hand, with great 
economy of time, labor, and cost, as will appear 
from the following:

The foreman of the "New York Tribune," in an 
affidavit under date of November 14, 1890, states 
that "during the past twelve months there have 
been produced in the "Tribune" Office by the 
Mergenthaler machines about 274,472,000 ems of 
matter, which cost about $80,000 less than it 
would have cost if set by hand in movable type in 
the usual manner;" and in this he does not 
include the savings effected by dispensing with 
the purchase of type.

Walter N. Halderman, publisher of the "Louisville 
Courier-Journal," in an affidavit under date of 
November 17, 1890, states that "during the past 
year the machines (Linotype) used by me have 
produced about 184,102,800 ems of matter at a 
cost of about $35,000 less than it would have cost 
at the prevailing rates if composed in the 
ordinary manner from movable type."

Victor F. Lawson, publisher of the "Chicago 
News," in an affidavit under date of November 20, 
1890, states that: "My long practical use of the 
machines (Linotype) has demonstrated the fact that 
they reduce the cost of composition in the "News" 
office from fifty to sixty per cent, as compared 
with the methods previously in use."

Similar testimony is furnished by the proprietors 
of other establishments as to the value of the old 
Linotype. It is claimed that the New Linotype, 
which is now presented to the attention of the 
trade, is more compact and simple in its 
construction, more certain in its action, and less 
liable to derangements in its working than its 
predecessor.

The main changes in the new machine consist in the 
substitution of a delivery belt for a blast of air 
to transfer the matrices to the point of 
assembling; in the more certain and simple 
arrangement of the magazine for receiving, holding, 
and delivering the matrices; and, especially, in 
the simplification of the distributing mechanism.

The machine is styled the Linotype for the reason 
that it casts solid lines or type-blocks to be 
used in printing, instead of individual type "set 
up" and "spaced" to make the required measure, the 
object being to dispense with the employment of 
movable type and the necessity for "distribution," 
which attends their use, and thus to reduce the 
labor and expense of composition.

A series offinger-keys, similar to and as easy
of touch as those of a typewriter, control the
operation of the machine, each key representing
a letter or character to be printed. The 
manipulation of the keys results in the 
production and assembling of an indefinite number 
of single-line type-blocks, each of which is cast 
in metal by the automatic action of the machine, 
and bears on its edge the letters and characters,
evenly spaced, to print a complete line. When
locked in the chase, these linotypes are ready 
for the press without further preparation.

To form the linotypes, a collection of matrices 
or female type is used, each matrix containing 
the inverse representation of a letter or 
character. These are arranged in the channels of 
a magazine, provided with escapement devices so 
connected with the finger-keys that the touch of 
a key is followed by the discharge of a matrix 
bearing the same character.

The "spaces," which are long, tapered wedges, 
are arranged in a magazine, and are similarly 
discharged.

As the matrices emerge from the magazine, they 
are received on an inclined traveling belt, by 
which they are delivered, one after another, into 
a receiver, in which together with the "spaces" 
they are composed or assembled in line; and the 
mechanism is so arranged that the matrices 
furthest off comes into position as quickly as 
those which are nearest, and all danger of 
transposition of the letters, even when the 
machine is worked at its greatest speed, is 
avoided.

When all the characters to appear in a line
are assembled, the operator depresses a key and
the assembled line of matrices and "spaces" is
transferred to the face of the mold. In this 
position the "spaces" are automatically adjusted 
to elongate the line to the required limit, or, 
as it is technically termed, to 'Justify the 
line."

A melting-pot, containing an abundant supply of 
molten type-metal and provided with a force-pump, 
is connected with the mold. As soon as the line 
of matrices is presented to the front, the pump 
causes the molten metal to flow into and fill 
the mold, where it solidifies in the form of a 
bar or linotype, bearing on its edge the impress 
of the matrices, which are, for the time being, 
assembled in the front.

The machine then automatically withdraws
the matrices, moves the mold, planes the cast
metal line, ejects it, and deposits it on a 
galley in proper order with those which preceded 
it. As soon as the line of matrices and "spaces" 
is withdrawn from the mold, the machine 
automatically picks out the "spaces" and returns 
them to their appropriate magazine, while the 
matrices are transferred to the distributing 
mechanism, by which they are returned to the 
respective magazine channels from which they 
started.

If more than one cast of the same line is 
required, as is frequently the case in newspaper 
advertisements, the touching of a lever at the 
operator's left will stop the distribution and 
return the line intact, to be again cast; so that 
the same line may be multiplied indefinitely 
without being again "set up" or assembled.

The distribution mechanism consists essentially 
of a single bar extending horizontally above the 
upper ends of the magazine channels, having along 
its sides a series of horizontal ribs, differing 
in number and arrangement, over each matrix 
channel. The V-shaped upper ends of the matrices 
are provided with teeth by which they may be 
suspended from this bar while being moved 
lengthwise thereunder.

As each matrix is propelled along the bar, its 
teeth may engage and disengage certain of the 
ribs. When the matrix reaches the point directly 
over its appropriate channel, all of its teeth 
are, for the first time, disengaged from the 
ribs of the bar, and being no longer supported, 
it falls by gravity into the magazine, there to 
remain until all of its predecessors in that 
channel have been called into use.

The mechanism by which the matrices are 
transferred to the distributing bar and then 
carried along the bar in the manner above 
described is simple and effective, and the 
distribution is accomplished with great rapidity 
and absolute accuracy.

The number and variety of the automatic 
functions which the machine performs is most 
astonishing, and they proceed in due order with 
the precision and regularity of clock-work. The 
only thing the operator is required to do is to 
manipulate the finger-keys; the machine does the 
rest.

Recognizing the fact that the machines are to be 
used largely under the hurry and severe pressure 
of getting out great newspapers, the inventor 
has caused them to be constructed in the 
strongest and most substantial manner. They are
operated by a small expenditure of power, and
are free from excessive strain and wear.

Errors can be corrected by the operator as he
proceeds with the assembling of the line. Each
matrix has stamped on the edge facing the 
operator the character which it represents; so 
that he has constantly in view the matrices "set 
up," and any mistake can be rectified before 
casting the line. The liability to make mistakes 
is by this method reduced to the minimum; for, 
in the first place, the operator has to touch a 
key on which the character he desires to "set" 
is plainly represented, and, in the next place, 
the entire line of characters assembled is 
before his eyes just as it would appear on the 
printed page. Experience in the use of the 
Linotype in various offices for the past three 
or four years has demonstrated that proofs by 
this process are much "cleaner" than by the hand 
system, as none of the errors of careless 
distribution or turned letters can occur.

Proof corrections and authors' changes are made 
by recasting the lines, where necessary, and 
require far less time to accomplish than when 
made in a galley of type.

This statement is fully verified by the letter 
of Mr. William H. Rand, of the printing house 
of Rand, McNally & Co., of Chicago, under date 
of May 3, 1890, in which he gives the results 
of a series of experiments to determine the 
relative length of time required in the 
correction of a galley of the Linotype as 
compared with hand work. In some 4,600 ems of 
matter, taken from the daily press, there were 
introduced numerous errors of all sorts, 
including "outs" and "doublets." In this 
condition the matter was given to an operator 
on the Linotype as copy. After setting the 
matter with all its errors, a proof was taken, 
and the galley corrected by him. An accurate 
record of the time occupied showed that the 
composition took one hour and five minutes 
and the corrections twenty-seven minutes. The 
copy containing the same errors was then given 
to a first-class hand compositor in the office 
of Smith & Porter, of Boston, who occupied 
five and one-half hours in the composition, 
and one and one-half hours in correcting the 
galley. In the latter case, the type yet 
remained to be distributed, which would 
certainly require an hour and a half's work, 
while the Linotype distribution is automatic.

The capacity of the Linotype is the capacity
of the most expert operator who may be 
employed upon it, for there is no touch, 
however rapid, to which it will not instantly 
and certainly respond.

A compositor will ordinarily "set up" about
one thousand ems an hour, and one-third of 
his time, in addition thereto, is required to 
"distribute" his type, or return them to the 
case. The machine performs both these 
operations simultaneously, and at a speed 
equal to that of a typewriter. The ordinary 
typewriter operator makes a speed of about 
forty words per minute, which is equivalent 
to 6,316 ems an hour; and this amount should 
be set, after a few weeks' experience upon 
the New Linotype, by any one competent to 
operate it. There are no stops or waits and 
the operator goes on continuously, for, when 
once discharged from the magazine, by the 
simple touch of a key, the matrices perform 
the rest of their mission and the line is 
justified, cast, and distributed, without 
thought on the part of the operator.

The most intelligent and influential members 
of the Typographical Union are now satisfied 
that the Linotype is a success and that it 
has come to stay. Whatever hostility was 
manifested towards it originally has 
disappeared or is fast disappearing. The 
president of the Typographical Union No. 6, 
New York City, thus writes: "After a careful 
examination of the Linotype, and after 
witnessing an exhibition of its capacity by a 
skilled operator, I conclude that the acme of 
perfection in a type-setting machine has been 
reached. I was convinced that the amount of 
matter which the machine was capable of 
producing could be limited only by the speed, 
accuracy, and endurance of the operator."

The International Union, at its meeting in 
Kansas City, advised Union printers to learn 
to operate the Linotype machine; and at the 
convention in Denver a resolution was passed 
that in all offices where type-setting 
machines are used practical printers should be 
employed to run them.

It is the universal testimony of the 
publishers in this country and in Great Britain 
who use the Linotype that the machines attract 
and keep bright men, who make good wages, with 
shorter hours, and that the work is less 
tiresome than hand type-setting.

The following are among the advantages claimed 
for the Linotype machine:

1. A saving of from fifty to seventy-five per
cent in the cost of composition, in addition 
to the saving in the cost of replacing old and 
worn out type.

2. Matrices representing fonts of type from
agate to pica can be used in the same machine;
which matrices are practically indestructible.

3. Small caps, italics, and arbitrary 
characters of any font, may be cast in the same 
line with ordinary matrices.

4. The appearance of fresh type with each issue 
of a newspaper, pamphlet or book.

5. The ease and rapidity of handling matter
and making up forms, facility of distribution 
by means of the melting-pot, and impossibility 
of "pi-ing."

6. The facility of getting up at short notice a
large amount of extra matter.

7. The same line may be cast any number of
times where necessary, without "setting up" the
line more than once.

8. The length of line can be changed in about 
ten minutes.

9. The justification is automatic and
perfect.

10 . The bars or slugs, which can be cast at
the rate of six per minute, are automatically
shaved and freed from burrs and ready to go
immediately into the form.

11. Matter can be kept standing at the cost
of old metal, and, when no longer desired, 
remelted and used over and over again.

12. Rapidity with which corrections can be 
made.

13. An editor or author can dictate to the 
operator with as great comfort and ease and 
with as much rapidity as to a typewriter.

14 . Assembling, justifying, casting, 
delivery of slugs in galley, and 
distribution accomplished by the single 
process of touching keys.

The inventor of the Linotype is Mr. Ottmar
Mergenthaler, a native of Wurtemburg, Germany, 
but for many years a citizen of Baltimore, Md. 
Mr. Mergenthaler began his studies and labors 
to improve upon the old system of manual 
type-setting in the latter part of 1876, or 
early 1877, his attention being directed 
thereto by Mr. James 0 . Clephane and Mr. 
Andrew Devine, two pioneers in this enterprise. 
His researches led him to see the futility of 
attempting to deal with single type, as in the 
case of type-setting machines, and he boldly 
launched out in an untried and novel field. He 
has produced five different systems for 
accomplishing the object which he sought, the 
New Linotype being the last of these, which he 
declares meets every requirement. It cannot be 
denied that he was the first inventor to 
produce a machine which could assemble matrices 
and cast a perfectly "justified" line of type. 
As a recognition of his labors in this line, 
the Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, 
awarded to Mr. Mergenthaler the Elliott Cresson 
Gold Medal, an honor only accorded for the most 
meritorious invention.

(This article was first dictated to the 
Phonograph from which it was immediately 
reproduced in Linotype bars upon the 
Mergenthaler Linotype Printing Machine at the 
rate of over 7,200 ems per hour.)




Colophon

This issue of the ATF Newsletter is produced for
members of the American Typecasting Fellowship, 
an informal group of amateurs and professionals 
concerned with the preservation of the equipment 
and technology of hot-metal typecasting and design.

This particular issue, the fourteenth, was done as 
a special keepsake for the 1990 ATF Conference at 
Nevada City, Califomia,July 19-21, 1990. The cover 
is produced by letterpress and hot metal. All 
inside pages are by offset, typeset and printed at 
the Pioneer Press of W. Va., Inc., Terra Alta, West 
Virginia.

The ATF Newsletter will be sent to any enthusiast 
willing to spend a minimum of $2.00 per issue (4.00 
overseas). Institutional subscriptions refused 
because of paperwork. Address Richard L Hopkins, 
Editor, P. 0. Box 263, Terra Alta, West Virginia 
26764.

Additional copies of this issue are available at $5.00
each.




The Rogers Typograph
—Paper and Press

The Rogers Typograph cast lines of type very 
similar in appearance to those from the 
Linotype. It was a truly successful machine 
everywhere except in the United States. It was 
introduced in-you guessed it-1890!

John R. Rogers was the inventor and the machine
gained quick acceptance in the U.S. But there 
were problems on the horizon, evidenced by the 
ad reproduced herewith from the Mergenthaler 
company, appearing in The Inland Printer, 
September, 1890, page 114 3. They contended The 
Typograph infringed upon many of their patents 
and eventually won an injunction which 
prevented manufacture and sale of the Typograph 
in the United States.

That did not stop its manufacture in Canada, 
England, and in Germany. Indeed, it flourished 
in those countries and across Europe. The German 
factory was bombed out during World War II, but 
it came back in 1960. After certain Mergenthaler 
patents expired in 1904, some Typographs again 
were built in the United States, too.

Prior to 1890, a man named]. W. Schuckers had 
invented a spacer device we all know today as 
being the precursor of the spaceband used in the 
Linotype machine. Schuckers didn't have a 
machine to use it in, so he sold his patent to 
the Rogers company. Ironically, Rogers did not 
use it in his machine, but since the Schuckers
space-band patents preceded (by only a few 
months) Mergenthaler's own patent application, 
Rogers had infringement claims against 
Mergenthaler too.

The entire matter was settled when the 
Mergenthaler organization bought the Rogers 
Typograph Company for $416,000. Mergenthaler 
lament this deal greatly, for he had already 
devised a new spacing apparatus which avoided 
the infringement claims (and manufactured over 
200 machines with these stepping bands). 
Mergenthaler also noted the sum of money far 
exceeded anything he had ever received from the 
company himself.

As part of the deal,John R. Rogers joined the 
Mergenthaler organization. Many patents for 
improvement of the machine-primarily in the 
area of matrix handling including the adding of 
more magazines and "mixers"-were taken out in 
his name. He remained with the company until his 
death in 1934.

Paper and Press seemed to advocate use of the 
Typograph and during 1890 carried several stories 
relating to its successful use in various plants 
across the country. It ended the year with a full 
discussion of the machine, typeset on the 
Typograph and accompanied by excellent line 
drawings (wood engravings?) in the November, 
1890, edition, pages 293-295.
—Richard L. Hopkins


For many years past inventors have been trying 
to produce a machine to do the work of the 
compositor. Their efforts have taken three 
directions.

1. Machines which set and distribute the actual 
type. These machines are by necessity complex 
and delicate in their parts. The justification 
of the lines and the distribution has to be done 
by separate operators, and there is a very large 
percentage of broken type. On account of these 
difficulties, none of the many type-setting 
machines invented have obtained more than a very 
limited success.

2. Another set of inventors have endeavored to 
make a simple machine by stamping a single die 
or a line of dies into a papier-mache, or 
similar matrix. The workers in this line have 
met with apparently insuperable difficulties. 
These are: The great difficulty of corrections, 
the want of a dry matrix in which the impression 
can be made, uniform depth, good alignment and 
the necessity of two stereotyping operations 
before the product can be used on a cylinder 
press.

3. There is still another line upon which 
inventors have worked. In this class of machines 
the types are cast singly or in lines, as wanted 
and are re-melted after each use. To this class 
the Rogers Typograph belongs. The former machines 
in this class, however, have been open to the 
same objections-of great complexity, and 
delicacy-making them unreliable, especially for 
newspaper use. The Rogers Typograph seems to be 
the only machine which combines great simplicity 
in its construction, while avoiding or overcoming 
the difficulties encountered in all other 
machines.

The machine performs four operations. In the 
first the type, or rather the matrices are 
assembled. These type are long bars having a 
matrix or female type impressed or stamped in a 
small notch in one edge near its lower extremity. 
The matrix is strung  upon a rod by an eye at its 
upper extremity. This wire is inclined at an 
angle of about 30 degrees and is supported in a 
frame. There are as many of these wires as there 
are different characters to be used in the machine 
and these wires diverge in their upper extremities 
to an arch or bow; while at the lower extremities 
they converge into a common vertical plane. The 
matrices hang normally next to the arch at the 
upper extremity of the wire and are released by a 
simple key mechanism and slide down by their own 
weight upon the wire, and are thus assembled at 
the lower extremities of the wires.

The second operation is the spacing mechanism. At 
the end of each word the compositor touches a key 
which permits one of the spacers to come into 
place between the matrices. This spacer is a 
composite cam and is threaded upon a shaft a 
little back of the line of matrices. When 
revolved these spacers spread the line to a 
predetermined limit, justifying the line 
instantly, evenly and absolutely correct.

In the third place the mold moves up to the now 
justified line of matrices, a spout connected 
with a reservoir of molten metal comes into the 
mold, and a force pump in the reservoir drives a 
jet of the liquid type metal into the mold 
filling it and the matrices. The liquid metal 
cools instantly and becomes a solid slug or line 
of type having the printed characters upon its 
edge. The operations of justifying and casting 
are performed in less than two seconds.

The frame supporting the wires is then tipped by 
a motion similar to that of raising the carriage 
of a Remington Typewriter. The types slide back 
upon the same wires upon which they came down, 
falling to their places instantly and without the 
possibility of their getting wrong. These 
operations setting the line, justifying, casting 
and distributing are repeated until the form of 
slugs or type bars is filled, when it is ready to 
be printed from, or stereotyped, or electrotyped 
just as any ordinary form of type.

The simplicity, accuracy and beautiful
working of this machine has held the admira-
tion of all who have seen it. Almost everyone of
the leading newspapers of New York and Phila-
delphia, together with many others throughout
the country, have given orders for this machine.
The inventor, Mr. John Raphael Rogers, was
born in Roseville, Illinois, thirty-four years 
ago. He is the son of a clergyman, who was 
during most of his life a college professor. The 
boyhood of the inventor was spent partly in Ohio 
and partly in Kentucky. Mr. Rogers graduated from
Oberlin College, Ohio, at the age of eighteen.
The plans of his parents and his whole training
naturally fitted him for a professional life, and
he spent thirteen years as a teacher, ten of that
time as superintendent of the public schools of
Lorain, Ohio.

But the inventive instinct was so strong in him 
that he was continually turning his mind to 
mechanics. During about twelve years of his 
teaching, in the intervals of his professional 
life, he was working upon a machine to take the 
place of the slow method of composition now in 
use. During this time he showed his plans to 
Joshua Rose, the great English mechanical 
engineer, and it was his encouragement and 
approval which finally determined Mr. Rogers to
abandon teaching and give his entire attention
to the development of the machine. He found a
firm in Cleveland ready to undertake with him
the development of his plans, and in two years
from that time the machine as it stands, owned
and controlled by The Rogers Typograph Company, 
has been produced.

As Mr. Rogers possessed no practical knowledge 
of mechanics he early felt the necessity of 
associating with him a mechanical engineer who 
could give shape to his ideas. He was fortunate 
in finding such a man in Mr. F. E. Bright of 
Cleveland, who has given to the machine his 
earnest thought and mechanical skill for the 
period of two years past. Many details and the 
general design of the working parts of the 
machine have been suggested by him and are 
covered by patents which are also owned by the 
Rogers Typograph Company. He is now 
superintendent of the company's factory, and is 
devoting his energy to the rapid production of 
the Typograph. Mr. Bright is a native of 
Wisconsin, but has spent almost the whole of his 
life in Ohio. He received his education at Mount 
Union College, Ohio, but having a very dedicated 
taste and genius for mechanics he determined to 
give his life to that work. Beginning at the 
bottom and learning his trade thoroughly, in a 
few years by his own exertions alone he acquired 
a machine shop of his own, where he manufactured 
his own inventions and built and designed many 
machines of various kinds for others, and 
acquired an enviable reputation, which has gone 
far beyond the limits of Cleveland. He sold his 
business to The Rogers Typograph Company, and 
became their superintendent about a year ago. 
Mr. Bright, like Mr. Rogers, is a comparatively 
young man being now in his thirty-fourth year. 
He is a man of fine personal appearance and has 
hosts of friends.

The general management of the Rogers Typograph 
Company has been conducted by Mr. C.C. Ruthrauff 
since the enterprise was first started. Mr. 
Ruthrauffwas for many years a journalist, having 
been connected with newspapers in all capacities 
from reporter to owner. He was the first one to 
foresee the magnitude of the invention and to 
secure the cooperation of other capitalists in 
its development. Under his management the policy 
of the company has been very conservative, and 
no statements have been allowed to go out 
regarding the enterprise, that could not be 
substantiated by the facts. The public was not 
made acquainted with the invention until it was 
about ready for the market. The business has 
been conducted in a thoroughly business-like 
manner by business men, who have laid broad 
foundations for its future.

[Originally composed,justified and cast upon a 
"Typograph" in the offices of The Rogers 
Typograph Company, Pulitzer Building, New York, 
as a practical demonstration of quality of work, 
etc.]




The "Triangle" Monotype Machine
—Richard L. Hopkins

Since this publication is written primarily for
members of the American Typecasting Fellowship 
and since we have a strong inclination toward 
the Monotype machine, it's only natural to ask 
where this machine was in 1890. We know Tolbert 
Lanston got his first patents in 1887, but his 
"Embossing Type-Maker" was a far cry from what 
eventually became the Monotype.

Dick Huss's book, The Development of Printers' 
Mechanical Typesetting Methods, 1822-1925, 
indicates nine different machines were 
introduced during 1890.

We've already mentioned the Simplex (Model 1) 
Linotype by Mergenthaler, and we've mentioned 
the Rogers Typograph. A couple other inventions 
pursued the concept of punching images into a 
stereotype matrix for subsequent casting and 
printing; also introduced was yet another 
device for assembling foundry type.

Still another device was the St.John Typobar,
which stamped images into cold metal (very soft
metal) which was to be milled into slugs much 
like Linotype slugs. The metal was too soft for 
direct printing and thus, the slugs could be 
used only to make stereotype printing plates.

This 1890 invention by St.John is mentioned
because it pursued the idea of cold metal 
stamping. This was the process Lanston 
incorporated into his first invention three 
years earlier, in 1887. Lanston's machine 
formed individual types (not lines) by 
literally stamping cold metal into preformed 
dies. The cold stamping process did work, but 
was judged detrimental because it was too slow. 
Two important aspects of this 1887 invention 
were (1) Lanston's introduction of the concept 
of line justification through mathematical 
calculation, and (2) the idea of controlling 
an apparatus through the use of tapes punched 
separately.

Both these ideas were carried forward to 
Lanston's next experimental machine, introduced 
in-you guessed it-1890. This was when Lanston 
introduced his "Triangle Monotype," his first 
hot metal machine. Again, the machine was a 
success-it did cast and justify type. Just as 
his first device was controlled by two separate 
ribbons punched on a separate keyboard, the 
Triangle Monotype was controlled by two ribbons. 
Lanston succeeded in creating a mold for casting 
individual letters in rapid succession and again, 
the justification process was controlled by 
mathematical calculation.

There was no visible press coverage of this new 
machine for it was still largely experimental. 
Apparently, only one machine was made. But the 
Triangle Monotype of 1890 provides clear evidence 
that Lanston was on his way toward a viable 
device for type composition. Virtually all the 
principles incorporated into this machine were 
carred through subsequent Monotype models, 
including reverse delivery of composition (from 
end to beginning) into the galley, the 
up-and-down motion of the metal pot, the galley 
mechanism, and much much more.

Ottmar Mergenthaler was himself responsible for 
refinement of his invention into a 
well-developed production machine. Tolbert 
Lanston was not nearly as well equipped in 
mechanics, and thus, the various machines he 
developed tended to be ever larger, more bulky, 
extremely complex and therefore, undesirable. He 
even developed a machine (in 1893) which had 
four paper towers and four molds, capable of 
casting four different jobs at the same time, or 
four copies of a single job. All of Lanston's 
machines worked, but it took the creative genius 
of J. Sellers Bancroft, an accomplished 
mechanical engineer, to reduce Lanston's ideas 
to a compact, smoothly running and commercially 
successful machine. Bancroft, whose firm was 
first employed to build machines for Lanston, 
completely redesigned Lanston's models, coming 
up with his version of the Monotype in 1897. He 
eventually became general manager of Lanston 
Monotype Company.

The illustration which accompanies this piece is 
a true rarity. The halftone is direct from an 
historic photograph, miraculously salvaged from 
the residue of Lanston Monotype by Richard 
Hartzell when the company was liquidated in 1969.

Photographs of eight experimental Monotype 
machines were saved by Dick Hartzell, and all 
will be reproduced in the future as the 
opportunities present themselves.




Related Activity in the Industry in 1890
—Richard L. Hopkins

There were many other forces in play during 1890 
which we probably should touch upon. For example, 
there was serious discussion relating to the 
merits of various means of powering equipment, 
lighting the shop, illustrating printed 
material-and some familiar names were among the 
advertising pages.

Lighting. No, electricity had not become
undeniably established as the way oflighting 
the shop-or any other facilities-by 1890. There
were articles suggesting that electric lights 
would cause health problems for people working
underthem, and there was suggestion that elec-
tric light would seriously damage books and
publications kept in libraries lit by 
electricity. Alternatives? Gas lights, for one. 
They were praised in some articles, and also 
comments were put forth claiming gas fumes were 
damaging to books and to humans.

Powering equipment. The individual electric 
motor was not yet considered by most persons 
seeking to power the heavier equipment as it 
was being introduced. First we went through 
a phase where a single "motor" was installed 
in conjunction with overhead shafts and belts 
extending down to drive individual machines. 
It was earlier mentioned that one typesetting 
machine was driven with a foot pedal. Several 
presses were driven by foot treadles too. The 
source of power was very much unsettled. Gas 
engines, gasoline engines, steam engines, and 
electric engines all were heavily advertised 
and all were suggested for use in conjunction 
with belt and pulley systems.

One interesting sidelight involved a press 
which somehow became entangled in its own belt, 
lifting it from the floor to the ceiling and 
then crashing back to the floor in several 
broken pieces. Rather than questioning the 
validity of this preposterous claim, the 
article speculated as to whether the "boy" went 
up with the press, how many impressions he 
pulled on the way up, and whether he spilled 
the printed stock as all fell to the floor.

The point system. Everyone has read my book, 
right? (Origin ofTheAmerican Point System for 
Printers' Type Measurement, back in print and
available, if you want one.) So we all know 
about the American point system and that it was 
first introduced about 1877. But the issue 
remained a topic for heated debate for many 
years thereafter. It's significant to note that 
a fairly comprehensive study of the issue was 
conducted and published in the October, 1890, 
Inland Printer (page 71), prepared for the 
United Typothetae of America. This study 
endorsed the system as it had evolved, and in 
general closed all arguments to its further 
modification. 

Familiar names. The April, 1890, 
issue of The Inland Printer contained this 
business notice:

"We are pleased to note the rapid advancement 
made during the past year by the Hamilton 
Manufacturing Company in the wood type and 
printers' furniture line. Although the youngest 
house of the kind in the country, it has, by 
its enterprise and careful attention to the 
wants of the trade, taken the lead, and is 
prepared to hold it. It claims that its end 
wood type, made from thoroughly seasoned rock 
maple, is unequaled, and always recommends its 
customers to order it in the small sizes. Its 
holly wood type, owing to its improved method 
of manufacturing it, is undoubtedly preferable 
for large size, for the reason that there is 
absolutely no chance for it to warp or twist."

Another familiar name in use in 1890, Samuel 
Bingham's Son, roller manufacturers. Their 
revolutionary manufacturing process, "A 
Gatling gun battery" for casting several 
rollers at once, was highly touted in a 
two-page ad in April, 1890, with this curious 
footnote: "The accompanying illustrations of 
the methods by which these results are secured, 
are taken from photographs; and photographs 
won't lie; if circulars or advertisements of 
lying fakirs do. These machines are protected 
by letters patent, consequently no one but the 
Binghams' can use them."

One wonders whether the Rosback perforator 
advertised frequently in 1890, was from the 
company that now makes Rosback equipment 
including automatic collator-stitcher-trimmers. 
The name's right-F. P. Rosback.

Methods of illustration. Many of the articles 
herein are illustrated with wood engravings, a 
popular but threatened medium in 1890. Newer 
process were being examined with virtually 
every issue of the various trade publications. 
There were zincotypes, various kinds of 
halftone processes, and all sorts of other 
ideas were proffered for engraving, such as on 
plaster of paris and then electrotyping, 
engraving on wood photographically, etc. Many 
of the photos reproduced via these new processes 
were exceptional. The June, 1890, Inland Printer 
contained this brief article under the heading 
"The Decay of An Industry."

"An illustration of the effect of improved 
methods of production upon a particular industry 
has been brought very forcibly to public 
attention by the announcement that the trustees 
of the Cooper Union, New York, will probably 
discontinue the wood engraving classes in that 
institution at the close of the present school 
year. In explanation thereof the statement is 
made that the mechanical processes of pictorial 
reproduction have virtually destroyed the wood 
engraving industry. This result has long been 
recognized as inevitable by those most familiar 
with the subject."

Typefounding. The variety of type styles 
offered in 1890 would make the frenzy for added 
type designs in desktop publishing today look 
like child's play. Keep in mind, cut-throat 
competition was underway. The big merger of 
1892 (American Type Founders) was still in the 
future. And where do you think "The Gay 90s" 
typography came from? The Inland Printer's 
business directory generally listed 18 different 
founders (which was evidence these foundries 
were advertising in the publication), and we all 
know there were many more foundries in operation 
at the time. Type designs ranged from the 
absolutely elegant (I love the French Script 
shown by MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan), to the 
grossly bizarre (too many to mention). By far, 
the bizarre were the most heavily advertised.