The Circuitous Root Press is a strange sort of undertaking, I suppose. It is my hobby/nonprofit project to restore and print from a small collection of old letterpress equipment, using both linecasting (e.g., Linotype) machines and hand-set type. The primary product of the press, though, will not be the physical sheets I print, but the collection of Notebooks I develop and present here to document my experiences with this equipment.
Inelegant stopgap: I'm basically out of web space right now (I'm working on this, and hope sometime soon to solve this problem). For the present, here is a link to a page listing reprinted documents that I'm currently hosting on a friend's server.
| New: | 2009-03-04 | We Get a Ludlow! |
| 2008-10-15 | Wonderful Experiences at Linotype University VI | |
| 2008-09-03 | My First Linotypes/Intertypes, and a Platen Press |
I should emphasize that I am not an expert, or even an experienced, printer/linecaster/typecaster. I'm a novice. These Notebooks aren't a Treatise by an Expert; they're my notes about learning letterpress and hot metal as I go through the learning process. I learn by writing.
Also, I came to letterpress through a love of old machinery rather than through any proficiency in the graphic arts. Regrettably, I'm sure that shows in the design here. I'm not (yet!) a very good Linotype machinist, either. So - you've been warned.
Further Note: This is all very incomplete. In particular, the (many) items in [square brackets] simply aren't done yet; the links from/for them probably won't even work. Nothing like keeping one's to-do list online!
Discovering It
Introduction
Pointers to better places than this to learn about letterpress printing.
A very quick overview of the processes of: [Letterpress vs. Other Types of Printing,] [Making Type.] [Hand Setting Type.] [Printing.]
A (Brief) Hot Metal Taxonomy. [A Survey of Older Surface Reproduction Processes for Letterpress.] [A Survey of Older Plate Production Processes for Letterpress.]
Measurement. [How to Print with Very Little Equipment]
Tools for Hot Metal and Hand Set Letterpress
Or, how I suddenly happened to have 9,000 pounds antiquarian cast iron printing equipment 100 miles away from home.
This is a more comprehensive but still fairly superficial look at the equipment involved, without yet getting into more detailed topics such as how to rebuild it or how to use it.
[Literature for Machine Composition.]
[Composing Linecasters (Linotype, Intertype).] [Hot Metal Paraphernalia.] [Noncomposing Linecasters (Ludlow, A-P-L).] [Composing Typecasters (Monotype).] Link to Noncomposing Typecasters. [Stripcasters / Material Makers (Elrod, Monotype).] [Noncontinuous-Casting Material Makers.] [Stereotype Plate Casting.]
[Other Composing Machines (Casting and Noncasting.)] [Electrotyping.]
[Hand Set Type; In-Line Spacing (Quads, Spaces.)] [Extra-Linear Spacing (Leads, Reglet, Furniture); Rule.] [Composing Room Paraphernalia.] The Printer's Saw. [Routers, Surfacers, Etc.] [Paper Before the Press.] [Printing Presses.] [Press Paraphernalia and Consumables.] [Paper After the Press.]
Fixing It
Linecasters: Linotype & Intertype; Ludlow
My notes on bringing back to life a Linotype/Intertype "Model X" and an Intertype C4. (For the adventure of hauling home this equipment, see the Tools section linked above.) Note that this set of Notebooks is indended to address fairly detailed technical issues in the construction, maintenance, and restoration of these machines. For their ordinary use (and daily maintenance) see "Composing and Casting Type," below.
Making Printing Matrices & Types
Introduction to the Processes. [Punchcutting by Hand.] [Matrix Making by Hand.] Type Metal (and the Metallurgy of Linotype Metal). [Type Casting in Hand Molds.] [Finishing and Fonting by Hand.] [Punch and Matrix Engraving Machines & Tools.] [Typecasting Machines.] [Bibliography.]
Using It
Setting Type by Hand, and Printing from It
[NOT DONE] [Note to self: include printing annotated bibliography here.]
Composing and Casting Type, and Making it Ready for Printing
[NOTHING DONE HERE YET] [Operating a Linotype or Intertype.] [Operating a Ludlow.] [Operating an Elrod.] [Makeready with Slugs.] [Operating a Monotype.]
Pi
[Why Learn to Hand-Set Type?] The Linotype as Steampunk. [How Do You Read Type?] Save the Linotypes! (Linotype/Intertype/Monotype/Ludlow/Elrod/Etc. rescue near southwestern Wisconsin). Wishlist.
A 2008 search of the USPTO records indicated that while "LINOTYPE" remains a trademark in category 9 for software and typefaces, the original trademark in category 7 for a "machine for producing type bars" / "typesetting machine" (registered 1909-06-29) had expired in both its original and later registrations.
A 2008 search of the USPTO records indicated that the trademark "INTERTYPE", originally registered 1913-06-03, was expired.
A 2008 search of the USPTO records indicated that the trademark "LUDLOW" in category 7 for printing machinery, registered 1949-11-01, was expired. A search for "ELROD" discovered no trademark registration at all.
A 2008 search of the USPTO records indicated that while "MONOTYPE" remains a trademark in category 9 for typefaces and their digital storage, the original trademarks in category 7 for a "type casting and composing machines" and in category 16 for "paper ribbons or controllers" for the same (both registered 1906-02-27) had expired
All portions of this document not noted otherwise are Copyright © 2008 by David M. MacMillan and Rollande Krandall.
Circuitous Root is a Registered Trademark of David M. MacMillan and Rollande Krandall.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons "Attribution - ShareAlike" license. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ for its terms.
Presented originally by Circuitous Root®
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