| Show THE LINOTYPES LINOTYPE'S BIRTHDAY I By Frederic J J. Haskin lIE cr linotype pC that th T THE wonderful ul machine which put this thi article into typo for printing is ono ono years old oM today If newspaper men and printers wore were not too bu busy y t to 10 do anything but work tho they might nave have celebrated tho the day as a arc great rc t. t holiday ny with thank thanksgivings ivin s and nd burnt offerings and antI libations for without with out this machine tho time newspaper of toda today could not ex ex- cx- cx 1st i The Tho J linotype not ro was vias 4 not born M Minerva inena like from any Jovian Jo 10 r. r ian vian brow but as it stands today is the I product 0 of the limo minds of tho the man many master mechanics v- v who have added improvement im improvement im- im provement after alter until improvement the perfections and perversities per of the tuo thea a machine make it seem a body bolly of metal endowed en owed with a human heart and brain The idea upon which tho linot linotype lE was perfected was however tho the conception of oC Ottmar whose name the machine bears and whoso whose heirs collect collect col col- lect a royalty of 50 upon every machine machine machino ma ma- chine chino sold soM This idea took shape in 1883 tho the first machine was built in and tho second one later in the tho same year ear Machines of the typo of If the second model were ere in in man many newspaper and md job joh printing offices offices of of- but there thero was yet yot something Jackin lacking In the shortcomings s o otho of tho the older machines ero reco recognized am and Mr n perfected and pat pat- entel a machine which embodied all alj the essential principles principle of the tho linotype o of today todar That patent was granted grante on April 8 1800 1890 and therefore the linotype lino hino- type is twenty twenty one one years ears old oM today today old oh enough to vote The difference between een the machines machine of 1885 1855 and the machines of 1800 wanso was wan wasso so radical that tho real rei reign n of the mn may bo be said to date dato from the tho introduction of the tho latter type Since Sineo that time it is il true thousands thousand of improvements have havo been patented and applied to the tho machine but non of them has radically interfered with will the principle principIa of the tho patent of 1800 1890 Perhaps other improvements will ye yet ho bo made made certainly certainly some soma inventive gc go- fills niu oll ought ht to devise deviso a system of balancing bal hal ancin the eastin casting lever Jever so 80 that over every operator would not han hang a tin huck t of typo metal II pigs on ott tim the lover or o ot of even we tho the newest machine in tho the shop But that is a bit hit of if technique The r real al reason why the linotype lea leaped cd into universal favor as ns soon as it tt was perfected in 1800 ISOO was that tha it was the tho first practical machine machino to offer a substitute for the thc slow and la laborious Ja ha- process of setting typo type bj hr hand Scores of oC inventors had tried fo for years with moro more or less Jess success success to construct construct con con- a typesetting machine The rho reason rea reaP son Ier succeeded where so many had failed was that he ho discarded tho the idea of setting typo and substituted for or it the idea of casting type a line lino a aa at atEL ata a EL time His first machine wa was fitted with a number of f vertical movable bars into each of which was cut the tho dies o of altho al all tho letters Jetters of f tho the alphabet small letters lot let tors and capitals tho the fi figures ure characters and other signs ns used in tn printing B By touching a key on a keyboard like that tha of a typewriter the tho bars bars would fail fal until tho ho die clio corresponding with the tho letter Jotter on the time k keyboard hoard presented itself itsel exactly before the time orifice of oC a mould connected with a pot of molten typo type metal When a whole line JIM of or letters Jetters had been assembled in this f fashion hion the themo mo metal al was wal injected into the mould am and andt anda a a. t line lino of type was cast cast thus the name annie line o 0 type linotype The Tho second machine machino ma chino chine of 1885 was constructed on the time theor theory that the Jon long lie die bars barR were too cumbersome It had an ont eat matrix or die ie for each cach carp letter or fi figure uro These TheRo were forced flown down through upright slots into the th casting box lox h bj by currents of compressed air The Tho machine machine ma ma- chine chino was practicable hut but it was lia Ha bio hJo to got get et out of order and ancl it did not nol moot med with un universal approval aJ About OO machines of this lila kind were built machine of 1890 1800 obviated obviate these defects h by permitting tho tIme matrices to tofaU fall faU by lr three torce of gravity from an in in in- magazine Mr 11 also materially improved the mechanism of tho the distribution of tho used matrices after tho the castin casting of a line of oC type Tho product of the tho invention of incorporated in tn- as has been said evory every es essential es- es s feature of the time machine as built today After tho the first machine machino of 1883 iSS was constructed a company was formed to tomake tomake tomake make and sell seH the This ant linotypes company com corn pan pan pany was bou bought ht out for by hr a syndicate of newspaper publishers composed composer com coma poser posed of Whitelaw Reid of the tho New NewYork NewYork NewYork York Tribune Walter Waiter N. N of tho thio Louisville Louis Courier Journal Victor Lawson and M. M E D B. B Stone Stono of the Chicago Chi Chi- Ct cage cago O Smith of or- or the thc hi Chi Chicago cage cago Ocean Inter W. W If H. H Rand Ran of the Rand Rand-McNally company and ancI Stilson Hutchins of of tho time the Washington ashington i Post The Tho first machine to he be used com com- was set bet up tip in the tho office of or ortho tho the Now No York Tribune In 1888 Mr Ir and the time company suspended sus sus- pendell relations and tho the factor factory of the time company tva was moved mo to Brooklyn Mr remaining in Balti Bati more The weri wedge c shaped justifier a de device deco co introduced in the thc second Mer er machine to justify the lines of matrices that matrices that is to make them fill tho the line lino by spreading the tho spaces be bc tho the words words became became the time subject of litigation and nail for years there thero was a quarrel in t time the Ie courts about a thousand and one details now happily forgotten In the end all the disputes were set sOt tied fled by hy purchase and when tho the per per- machine of ISOO came out ar arran ran wore made mado by which the company and tho the inventor shared in the tho Tho Time profits were cr soon to be vcr very large for when tho the practical machine was produced el almost every newspaper wanted it it ut once For several years yean the tho factories were behind on orders am and the linotypes were to bo ho had harl only fo for forcash cash f. f 0 o. o b. b While Whilo tho the litigation over or the patents was pending Mr Fr r. r Morgan Morgan- cr an I invented in another kind of justifier justi just fier but it was abandoned when th the tho settlement was made macl Tho rho first machine of the 1890 1800 type type type- the modern a and 1111 perfected linotype linotype- was used in m the office o of the Brooklyn Standard Union Standard Union the next in tho the office of oft the Now Ness Orleans Times Timos The Brooklyn Union Standard also wa was I the tho first newspaper to use the linotype with union labor Jabor The Typo Typographical union minion at first was inclined to oppose tho the introduction of oC the machines but bu its men soon bowed to tho tho inevitable and hustled out of f the thc dusty alJ alleys o othe of the time old handset comp composing rooms t to learn to operate time the machines With the tho of oC tho the linotype and anel tho the transfer lof of tho the newspaper print prin shop from the realm of tho the handicrafts handicraft to the dominion of machinery it wa was waR said that romance would die clio out of th the tho printers' printers trade Of course it wasn't wasn the tho death of romance that the printers printers' union minion objected to toj it was WR tho the substitution substitution tion of one ODO machine with one man fo for jive ic men But as t the he newspapers br bring be- be ing assisted ing-assisted assisted b bY the dis discovery o ery of cheap processes for makin making spruce wood pul paper at once expanded BO so that th the tho composing room now employs nearly a amany as many men as in tho timo old hand Imand RP set Ibs ay and at bettor wa wages ps tho the unions union's f fears fear ars soon at t rest The printers know knoY and tho the editor editors who work with them know that th the tho er has added to rather than tha detracted from the glory of oC their job jobs Tho The man who sits at tho tim keyboard of n a linotype is 13 hy compulsion of nece necessity sit more more steadfast fast more moro sober and moro more industrious than his hia prototype at th time the came in the tho hand s sot set t. t days It t takes a aman man an to run nm a linotype There is iR a 10 jo joy joyin in In tho the rattle and click of tho the composing compos in ing room a delight in the odor of th the hot metal a thrill in tho the whir of th the motors that never had its it counterpart in I the tho good old days No man once once known the tho spoil spell of the linotype ever can escape its influence The perfections of the tho havo have been lauded in in a dozen dOlen tongues tongue's s. s its shortcomings havo have hc been n apologized for in a thousand editorials but hut no on ono one hut but the tho men who work with this thil machine machine ma ma- chine have havo an any notion of how godlike arc are its virtues how human its faults fault In tho the old days n Vs a tramp printer occasionally occasionally occa occa- would fall frill from tho the Water wate wagon just when ho was most needed but hut never was there man so 80 perverse as a linotype on a spree All AlJ over th the country there thero are aro hundreds of well bo ho- linotypes linot that never nover strayed from the tho narrow path of If virtue that tha aro are model machines that machines that never nover hav have o stayed out nights and that dont don't know the first rules of poker poker hut hut there isn isn't isna a a. one of them that isn isn't t waiting quietly quiet quiet- ly lv and patiently for that time timo when the whole shop depends upon it to ge get out mit the tho paper and mcl the he machinist is ou out omit outto to lunch When that time timo comes conies even eve the best and noblest linotype will g gon go o oon on oil a It spree They are machines but bu they arc printers Tho The man in whoso whose brain this machine machin was c conceived was Ottmar thaler ito JIo was born in in 1851 I was brought up tip in tho the clock making tra trade o and came camo to the time United Unite States in 1872 His idea iden for the time linotype lino lino- typo type was ori originated in 1833 1883 tho the first firs machine machino was built huilt and patented i in anI and the perfected perfect d principle principIa was wa applied as has been he en said taid in the machine machine ma ma- chine patented twenty twenty one one years rears ao 0 today Mr r l died at hi homo home in Baltimore in 1800 1899 The rime linotype has revolutionized rc th the business of printing anti and thereby ha has rondo mado a new era in journalism Without With out this machine tho huge newspapers newspaper of today toda with their wide ariet variety o of matter mattor d designed to please the time fan fancy y o oa of ofa a wide willo variety of readers would bo be ut at- terl impossible |
