Linotype machine
The Linotype machine is a "line casting" machine used in printing which is manufactured and sold by the former Mergenthaler Linotype Company and related It was a hot metal typesetting system that cast lines of metal type. Linotype became one of the mainstays for typesetting, especially small-size body text for newspapers, magazines, and advertisements from the late 19th century to the 1970s and 1980s, when it was largely replaced by phototypesetting and then digital typesetting.
The name of the machine comes from producing an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o’-type. It was a significant improvement over the previous industry standard of letter-by-letter manual hand composition using a composing stick and shallow subdivided trays, called “cases”.
The Linotype machine operator types text on a 90-character keyboard. The machine assembles matrices, or molds of the letter forms, in a line. The assembled line is then sent to the casting part of the machine where it is cast as a single piece, called a slug, from molten type metal in a process known as hot metal typesetting. The matrices are then returned to the type magazine via a distribution bar, to be reused continuously.
The Linotype allows for three to five times faster composition of text when compared with hand composition. It revolutionized typesetting and with it newspaper publishing; making it possible for a relatively small number of operators to set enough type for a multi-page, daily newspaper, even in the smallest towns. Ottmar Mergenthaler invented the Linotype in 1886 alongside James Ogilvie Clephane, who helped organize and provide the financial backing for commercialization.
History
In 1876, a German clock maker, Ottmar Mergenthaler, who had emigrated to the United States in 1872, was approached by James O. Clephane and his associate Charles T. Moore, who sought a quicker way of publishing legal briefs. By 1884, he conceived the idea of assembling metallic letter molds, called matrices, and casting molten metal into them, all within a single machine. His first attempt proved the idea feasible and a new company was formed. Improving his invention, Mergenthaler further developed his idea of an independent matrix machine. In July, 1886, the first commercially used Linotype was installed in the printing office of the New York Tribune. Here, it was immediately used on the daily paper and a large book. The book, the first ever composed with the new Linotype method, was titled The Tribune Book of Open-Air Sports.Initially, the Mergenthaler Linotype Company held the patents producing linecasting machines. This created an environment in which only Linotype could produce new machines. A patent war with the Typograph from R. Rogers, invented around the same time, started soon. but several companies bought old machines and made improved versions of it. After the patents expired, other companies would begin manufacturing similar machines: The Intertype Company started producing its own Intertypes around 1914, a machine closely resembling the Linotype and using the same matrices as the Linotype.
Major newspaper publishers retired Linotype and similar "hot metal" typesetting machines during the 1970s and 1980s, replacing them with phototypesetting equipment and later computerized typesetting and page composition systems., the last-known newspaper still using Linotype in the United States is The Saguache Crescent in Colorado. is the last one in Western Europe.
Overview
The linotype machine consists of four major sections:- Magazine
- Keyboard
- Casting mechanism
- Distribution mechanism
Some Linotype machines included a paper tape reader. This also allowed the text to be typeset to be supplied over a telegraph line. Perforator operators produced paper tape text at a much higher speed which then was cast by more productive tape-controlled Linotype machines.
Design
Matrices
Each matrix contains the letter form for a single character of a font of type; i.e., a particular type face in a particular size. The letter forms are engraved into one side of the matrix. The most common matrix has two letter forms on it, the normal and auxiliary positions. The normal position has the upright form of a given character, and on the auxiliary, the slanted form of that character will be used, but this can also be the boldface form or even a different font entirely. The machine operator can select which of the two faces will be cast by operating the auxiliary rail of the assembler, or, when setting entire lines of italics, by using the flap, which is a piece that can be turned under a portion of the first elevator column. This is the origin of the old typesetting terms upper rail for italic and lower rail for Roman characters. These terms persisted into phototypesetting technology even though the mechanics of the auxiliary rail do not exist there. The character on a Linotype matrix, when viewed, is incised below the surface rather than raised above it. This is because the matrix is not used directly to print onto the paper—rather, it is used as the mold from which a metal slug will be cast.Magazine section
The magazine section is the part of the machine where the matrices are held when not in use, and released as the operator touches keys on the keyboard. The magazine is a flat box with vertical separators that form "channels", one channel for each character in the font. Most main magazines have 90 channels, but those for larger fonts carried only 72 or even 55 channels. The auxiliary magazines used on some machines typically contained 34 channels or, for a magazine carrying larger fonts, 28 channels.The magazine holds a particular font of type; i.e., a particular type design in a particular size. If a different size or style was needed, the operator would switch to a different magazine. Many models of the Linotype machine could keep several magazines available at a time. In some of these, the operator could shift to a different magazine by raising or lowering the stack of magazines with a crank. Such machines would not allow mixing fonts within a single line. Others, such as the Models 25 and 26 allowed arbitrary mixing of text from two magazines within the same line, and the Model 9 extended this capability to mixing from up to four magazines within a single line.
Escapement
In a linotype machine, the term escapements refers to the mechanisms at the bottom of the magazine that release matrices one at a time as keys are pressed on the keyboard. There is an escapement for each channel in the magazine.Maintenance and lubrication
To keep the matrices circulating smoothly throughout the machine, it is necessary that oil not be allowed anywhere near the matrix path. Oil in the matrix's path can combine with dust, forming a gummy substance that is eventually deposited in the magazine by the matrices. This can cause the matrix to be released from the magazine slower than its usual speed, and usually results in a letter or two arriving out of sequence in the assembler — a "matrix transposition". When these machines were in heavy use, it was not uncommon for an operator to set type at the rate of over 4,000 ems per hour. The fastest operators could exceed 10,000 ems per hour, hence careful lubrication and regular cleaning were essential to keep these machines operating at full potential.Keyboard and composing section
In the composing section, the operator enters the text for a line on the keyboard. Each keystroke releases a matrix from the magazine mounted above the keyboard. The matrix travels through channels to the assembler where the matrices are lined up side by side in the order they were released.When a space is needed, the operator touches the spaceband lever just to the left of the keyboard. This releases a spaceband from the spaceband box. Spacebands are stored separately from the matrices because they are too big to fit in the magazine.
Once enough text has been entered for the line, the operator depresses the casting lever mounted on the front right corner of the keyboard. This lifts the completed line in the assembler up between two fingers in the "delivery channel", simultaneously tripping the catch holding it in position. The spring-operated delivery channel then transports the line into the casting section of the machine, and engages the clutch that drives the casting section and the subsequent transfer into the distribution section. The operator is now finished with the line; the remaining processing is automatic. While the line is being cast, the operator can continue entering text for the next line.
Keyboard
The keyboard has 90 keys. The usual arrangement is that black keys on the left were for small letters, white keys on the right were for capital letters, and blue keys in the center for digits, punctuation marks, spaces, small capital letters, and other items. There is no shift key of the kind found on typewriters.The arrangement of letters corresponds roughly to letter frequency, with the most frequently used letters on the left. The first two columns of keys are: e, t, a, o, i, n; and s, h, r, d, l, u.
Because the left column letters make up about a half of letters in most English texts, an experienced operator can operate only the spaceband key and the left column of keys with their left hand and all the remaining keys with their right hand.
In case of an error, the operator would often run his fingers down the first two columns, thus filling out the line with the nonsense words etaoin shrdlu, in what is known as a "run down". It is often quicker to cast a bad slug than to hand-correct the line within the assembler. The slug with the run down is removed once it has been cast, or by the proofreader.
The keys of the keyboard are connected by vertical pushrods to the escapements. When a key is pressed, the corresponding escapement is actuated, which releases a matrix from the magazine. With one exception, each key corresponds directly to a channel in the standard magazine. The one exception is the lower-case letter e: that letter is used so often that the 90 channel magazine actually has 91 channels, with two channels both used for the letter e. Similarly, the 72 channel magazine actually has 73 channels, with the leftmost two being used for lower-case e. Alternate lines release matrices alternately from the two e channels in the magazine.
On machines that support multiple magazines, there is a shifting mechanism that controls which magazine is currently connected to the keyboard. In most machines, this is done by raising or lowering the stack of magazines.