My First Two Linecasters, and a Platen Press
Bringing home four tons or more of cast iron all at once: a Linotype/Intertype "Model X" linecaster, Intertype model C4 linecaster, Chandler & Price 10x15 platen press, Hammond EasyKaster ingot and plate maker, printer's saw, Hamilton imposing table and related equipment.
[Note: These Notebooks show all sorts of fun equipment. You don't need it all to do printing! For a simple start with as little as possible, see the Notebook on How to Print with Very Little Equipment. You don't even need a printing press.]
This is just a brief illustrated overview of many (though by no means all) of the various machines, tools, and other components of letterpress printing for both hand set type and "hot metal" type. It simply illustrates the equipment. Other Notebooks cover my experiences with the technical details of the construction, maintenance, and restoration of some of this equipment in greater detail. Still other Notebooks discuss my use of some of this equipment (I don't have all of it, alas). For these, go up a level to the CircuitousRoot Press.
As I began learning about this field, I kept discovering more and more kinds of machines, and indeed kinds of processes. It can be a bit overwheling at first. Don't think of it as confusing, though - think of it as a celebration of human ingenuity.
The discussion here covers much more equipment than any one shop would have ever had. (It would have been unusual to find a Linotype shop running Monotype as well, I would suppose, and a pure hand composition does not require any of the "hot metal" equipment.) A printing traditionalist would cover these in a different order, but I'm a Linotype nut, so those go first here.
Literature for Machine Composition
[Until I get unlimited disk space, this must wait] Reprints of the basic public domain technical histories of machine composition: Thompson (1904), Legros & Grant (1916), and the "Machine Composition" column from the early Inland Printer. Bibliography.
See also the: " Bibliography for Making Printing Matrices and Types" and " Literature for Linecasters" Notebooks.
Machines that melt metal and cast type (excluding foundry typecasters and "sorts" casters):
Composing Linecasters (Linotype, Intertype)
[Basic Principle: The Slug.] Basic Principle: The Recirculating Matrix. [The Prehistory of the Linotype.] [Understanding Features which Distinguish Machines/Models.] Linotype Models. [Intertype Models.]
Hot Metal Paraphernalia
It isn't enough simply to have a linecaster or typecaster. They require quite a few supplemental tools, consumable supplies, and accessories, including:
[MOST SUBTOPICS LISTED, but not yet illustrated] [Basic Attire (e.g. leather shoes).] [Basic Hand Tools for Everyday Use (e.g., pot skimmers.)] [Consumables (e.g., oils and graphite.)] [Frequently Needed Parts/Accessories (e.g., molds and mold liners.)] [Fancier Tools and Auxiliary Machines (excluding matrix tools.)] [Matrix Tools.] [Ingot Casting Tools and Supplies.] [Matrices.] [Even Fancier Tools]
Noncomposing Linecasters (Ludlow, A-P-L)
[NOT DONE] [Note that while the Ludlow may be thought of as a display type (line)caster complementary to a composing linecaster, the equivalent Monotype display type caster becomes a "noncomposing typecaster" and thus merges into the "Sorts Caster" category; see below.] [All-Purpose Linotype ("A-P-L")] [Nebitype.]
Noncomposing Typecasters
See the " Typecasting Machines" Notebook in the " Making Printing Matrices & Types" set of Notebooks.
Stripcasters / Material Makers (Elrod, Monotype)
[NOT DONE] [Elrod.] [Monotype Type and Rule Maker.] [Monotype Material Maker.]
Noncontinuous-Casting Material Makers
[NOT DONE] [Linotype Lead and Rule Caster.] [Note alsot that the Linotype might be used this way with border slides.] [The Ludlow for borders and leads.]
Stereotype Plate Casting
[NOT DONE] [Well, my EasyKaster can do it, so I should try it someday...]
[Stanhope] [{ Ringwalt}, 249/g286: US patents for stereotyping] [{ Ringwalt}, 227/g260: Foster 1862 US patent for printing with mixed stereotype and hand set type plate]
Other Composing Machines (Casting and Noncasting)
[NOT DONE] [A few of these, such as the Simplex, achieved some commercial success. For the most part, though, these Notebooks are studies in the history of technology, rather than practical explorations of these machines.]
Partial Composing Apparatus (e.g., just spacing devices)
Electrotyping
I don't think that I really want to do electrotyping, given my preference for mechanical processes, but it has been an integral part of type-making for a century and a half, so I should probably learn something about it. [NOT DONE] [{ Ringwalt}, 227/g260: Lovejoy/Wheeler 1858 US patent for improvements in electrotyping plates]
[Electrotyping type] [{ Ringwalt}, 249/g286: Thos. W. Starr. US Patent February August 4, 1845.]
Other composing and printing machines and tools:
Hand Set Type; In-Line Spacing (Quads, Spaces)
Type Casters Currently Making New Type. [NOT DONE YET] [Anatomy of a Type.] [Review: Foundry, Sorts Caster, Display Caster, and Composition Caster Type.] [Examples of Foundry-Identification on Quads & Spaces.] [Examples of Alternative Sorts.] [Numbering Machines] [Bright Shiny New Type and Really Filthy Old Type.] [Examples of Badly Cast Type.] [Cleaning Type.] [Miscellany.] [Curiousities.]
Extra-Linear Spacing (Leads, Reglet, Furniture); Rule
[NOT DONE YET] [Leads.] [Rule in Lead and Brass, Cutting Rule, Perforating Rule.] [Lead Cutting and Mitering Hand Machines.] [Wood and Metal Furniture.] [Reglet.]
Cleaning: [Wood Furniture.] [Metal Furniture.] [Brass Rule.]
Composing Room Paraphernalia
[NONE OF THIS DONE YET] [Type Cases.] [Composing Sticks.] [Galleys.] [Line Gauges. / Pica Gaguges.] [The Make Up Rule as the Printer's Universal Pocket Tool.] [Imposing Tables (and Surfaces).] [Planers.] [Chases.] [Quoins and their Keys.] [Etc.]
Fancy Rule Work
[NONE OF THIS DONE YET] Rule Bending Machines. Fancy Rule Work, Examples (1880s, 1890s). (See also "Rule Ornaments" in type, e.g. Inland Printer. v. 6 n. 6 (March 1889; printed mistakenly as "no. 7"): 517, Marder & Luse) Bauhaus Rule Work.
The Printer's Saw (Composing Room Saw)
What Makes a Saw a Printer's Saw? The Miller Saw-Trimmer The C & G Saw / Trimmiter by the Morrison Co.; Edward Cheshire. The Nelson Cost Cutter Saw Manual
Routers, Surfacers, Etc.
Other (that is, non-saw) powered composing room cutting equipment. [n.b. for Linotype Surfacing Machine ad, see Useful Matrix Information, October 1937, inside back cover]
Paper Before the Press
[NONE OF THIS DONE YET] [The Inland Printer, advertising for all of these] [Paper.] [{ Ringwalt}, 229/g262: US patents for paper making] [Paper Cutters.]
Printing Presses
[NONE OF THIS DONE YET] [With an emphasis on my Chandler & Price 10x15 New Series Platen Press, of Course.] [Also Proof Presses.] [And I want a Heidelberg "Windmill" someday!] [The Inland Printer, advertising for all of these] [{ Ringwalt}, 236/g269: US patents for printing presses] [{ Ringwalt}, 248/g285: US patents for registering apparatus] [{ Ringwalt}, 248/g285: US patents for rollers] [{ Ringwalt}, 224/g257: feeding apparatus, US patents] [{ Ringwalt}, 225/g258: friskets, US patents] [{ Ringwalt}, 226/g259: inking apparatus, US patents] [{ Ringwalt}, 252/g289: wetting-machines, US patents]
Press Paraphernalia and Consumables
[Tympan] [Gauge Pins] [Packing] [Rollers: Types of, Care of, Casting My Own] [Ink] [Paper] [Cleaning Substances]
Paper After the Press
[NONE OF THIS DONE YET] [Moxon on the Warehouse; also Harper 1880s] [The Inland Printer, advertising for all of these] [Folding Machines.] [Pressing and Binding.] [{ Ringwalt}, 226/g259: mailing machines, US patents]
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.
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.
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