Summary
This is a typesetting machine in linotype, manufactured by Mergenthaler Linotype, possibly in 1935. This machine is a Model 8 and has three superimposed magazines with one distributor and came into existence in the early 1900s.
Operation
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.
A matrix is a metal block with the shape of a character indented into a flat side.
A magazine is a storage case for mattrices of one face and size and is mounted on top of the Linotype machine.
The matrices are formed into 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.
The set line - the line-of-type - is ejected from the mould into a galley or tray at the side of the machine. When a page of copy is set (complete), the lines are removed and set up in a chase for printing, or, in newspaper work, set up for casting a stereo plate.
A chase is a metal frame into which type and blocks are locked to make up a page or forme?
The stereotype process was used when a typesetting had to be duplicated. A stereotype matrix was made by pressing the typesetting into a special soft, thick paper. The top layer of the paper was of a very fine grain which would faithfully record the finest type, and every dot of a photoengraving.
There are three magazines on the machine, the middle one with a label "7 x188 Bell Gothic". The other two are not labeled and the content is unknown, but in operation for newspaper work, a set of magazines carried the same face so the remaining two probably have Bell Gothic in them as well. The three magazines probably carry, separately, a roman, italic and bold face.
More Information
-
Collecting Areas
-
Manufacturer
Mergenthaler Linotype Company, New York, United States of America, 1930-1939
-
User (Probable)
-
Inscriptions
On the left side is a brass label
-
Classification
-
Category
-
Discipline
-
Type of item
-
Overall Dimensions
1450 mm (Length), 1400 mm (Width), 2250 mm (Height)
-
References
[Link 1] - accessed 13 November 2008 Kahan, Basil, Ottmar Mergenthaler: The Man and his Machine, Oak Knoll Press, 2000 Thompson, John S. The Mechanism of the Linotype, Chicago, 1922.
-
Keywords