Summary

Linotype machine, manufactured by Mergenthaler Linotype Co., USA and is dated to 1896. It was used in the production of the Launceston Examiner from 1896 to 1953. It was one of the first linotypes in Australia and the first in Tasmania.

There is a single magazine on the machine and the magazine and matrices are not interchangeable with later machines.
A key is pushed for each character of text being set. An operator using a keyboard types an instruction that drops the letter matrix from a magazine. The matrixes form a line and then are moved to a mould, where lead is injected. The line is ejected from the mould and the matrices are taken back and distributed automatically into the magazine, ready for use again.

A linotype sets the type from which a newspaper is printed. A printing press prints - a typesetting machine sets type for the printing press..

The machine has a single magazine which held 8pt type and is thus known as a Brevier model.

This is one of two machines installed at The Examiner newspaper office in March 1896. This would date its manufacture to 1895 and possibly 1894. Known as a Model 1, it is the third generation of linotype machines. The first was known as the 'Blower Linotype', the second the 'Square Base' and the third, the Simplex, or Model 1 as it came to be known. The Model 1 replaced the square base, introducing a lighter base known as the star or 'claw' which became standard on most later models. There were technological advances on all machines, but the Model 1 was the last machine invented during Mergenthaler's lifetime. The second machine purchased by The Examiner was donated to the Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston. Both machines had been converted to electricity on the melting pots. The machines appeared to have been traded in and Carmichael & Co, the agents and distributors for Mergenthaler Linotype products, wanted the electric heating unit on the machine because of its commercial value. They replaced the electric unit with the original gas unit. This Model 1 has the double pulley for steam power drive. W. R. Rolph & Sons [The Examiner, Launceston] advised that they had attached the inscribed presentation plate.

Operation
An operator using a keyboard types an instruction that drops a letter matrix from a magazine. The matrixes form a line, are moved to a mould, where lead is injected. The line is ejected from the mould and the matrices are taken back and distributed automatically into the magazine, ready for use again. The set line - the line-of-type - is ejected from the mould into a galley.

Significance

Statementof Significance:
The linotype is regarded as one of the three key inventions in printing technology since Guttenberg four hundred and fifty years previously. (Guttenberg invented movable type in 1436). This linotype machine was used to print the Launceston Examiner from 1896 to 1953. It was made by the Mergenthaler Linotype Co., U. S. A. and was one of the first linotypes in Australia and the first in Tasmania.

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