Type Metal

1. What Is and Is Not Important

The study of type metal alloy is at best vexed, and at worst futile for anyone who isn't simultaneously a metallurgist and an experienced printer. I am neither. This Notebook, then, just gathers various bits and pieces of information from the literature, in some attempt to sort it all out.

1.1. Important: Use the Right Alloy for a Given Hot Metal Machine

There is, however, one aspect of type metal alloy which is very important to the practical use of hot metal machinery. The machines are very sensitive to the alloy used, and the alloy used was not necessarily the same for different kinds of machines. It isn't all just "lead," and it isn't all just "type metal."

The lead used for fishing weights, curtain weights, tire weights, toy soldiers, or real soldiers is not an alloy designed for any kind of printing. Its composition is unknown (unless you assay it), but it is probably relatively un-alloyed lead (which is the heaviest and cheapest part of the various alloys, anyway). Typically it is much too soft for hot metal machines such as Linotypes or Ludlows. Running such a soft alloy will severely mess up the machine.

Traditional type metal is much harder, to be sure, but it is also the wrong alloy for Linotypes. In particular, it often contains copper, which should not be present in Linotype alloy.

In brief, it is very important to use the right alloy for the particular hot metal machine in use.

1.2. The Hardness of Type Metal

Traditional type metal was a particular, and relatively hard, alloy. Hardness is good in this case, as it means the type lasts a long time. Linotype alloy is much softer. This was necessary to allow it to be used for rapid production. It isn't really a problem, since the type is remelted after use and was not intended to last decades or centuries like traditional type. The Monotype actually used several different alloys, some relatively soft (similar to, but not the same as, Linotype alloys) and some a bit harder (especially when used to cast individual types for hand setting). In between, especially in the early 20th century, "sorts" casters were sold to printers for casting their own type. The alloys used by these were often intermediate in hardness between Monotype alloy and traditional type metal.

So you can see that there is some degree of confusion and complexity. You can imagine also that strong opinions might result, of the "my type metal is better than your type metal" variety. I get the feeling that this was particularly true when there was a great deal of active competition between the "real" type foundries, type being cast on the Monotype, and a whole range of "sorts" casters in between. Today, I'm just glad to be able to get new type at all!

1.3. Order

Logically and historically, I should start with "foudry" type metal (because it is typically the hardest of the alloys, and because historically it came first) and work my way down through the other alloys, perhaps from hardest to softest. Logic and history don't always prevail, however.

I'm going to start out with Linotype metal, both because I've got two Linotype/Intertype machines sitting in my garage, and because from a metallurgical standpoint it is really a most remarkable alloy.

So the order here will be:

• The Metallurgy of Linotype Metal
• Other Metallurgical Topics
• Linotype Metal
• Dross, Depletion, and "Plus" Metal (Linotype)
• Type Metal ("Foundry" and "Sorts Caster")
• Monotype Metal
• Stereotype Metal
• "Combination" metal
• Electrotype Metal
• References

2. The Metallurgy of Linotype Metal

2.1. A Near-Eutectic Alloy

All metals used for type are a combination of the basic ingredients (lead, antimony, and tin, usually, with other elements at times) to emphasize some particular property or set of properties. Linotype metal is, however, not simply a particular empirical formula that works in Linotypes. Metallurgically, it is most interesting indeed: it is a near-eutectic ternary alloy of lead, antimony, and tin.

Understanding what "near-eutectic ternary alloy" means involves a little bit of metallurgy - but not much, and it isn't hard.

2.2. Melting Alloys

If you have a pure metal of some kind and you heat it, at some more or less well-defined point it will melt. Simple enough.

If however you have an alloy of, say, two metals, the alloy differs from a pure metal in two very important respects:

First, it will on the whole melt at a lower temperature than either one or the other, or sometimes both, of its constituent metals individually. This is quite remarkable, really.

Second, for the most part, it won't all melt at one single temperature. An alloy is composed of atoms of metals held in a crystalline structure, not chemically bonded with each other (at least in the alloys of interest here). One of the metals is going to start to melt first, and the other is going to catch up. The result is a sort of a slushy mixture above the temperature at which things start to melt ("solidus," or the point below which everything is solid) to the temperature at which everything has melted ("liquidus," or the point above which everything is liquid).

2.3. The Lead-Antimony Alloy

This is easiest to visualize on for a two-metal alloy, because you can plot a two-dimensional chart. This is sometimes called an "equillibrium" diagram (because at any point in the chart the metals are in a state of equillibrium and unchanging), or sometime a "phase" diagram (because it represents the different phases of the substance: solid, liquid, etc.) or sometimes a "constitution" diagram (because it shows the behavior of the alloy at various constitions or compositions). Here is the diagram for the lead-antimony alloy:

{Hoyt 53}

The horizontal axis of this chart plots the percentage of the alloy which is lead vs. antimony. So each vertical slice through the diagram would represent a particular example of a lead-antimony alloy. (This diagram would have been derived experimentally by making all of these alloys, melting them, watching them melt, and plotting the results.) The vertical axis plots temperature.

So at the very left of the diagram, the "alloy" consists of 100 percent lead. It melts at 327 Celsius (about 620 degrees F). On the far right of the diagram, pure antimony melts at about 631 Celsius (about 1167 degrees F.)

Now consider an alloy which is a 50-50 mix of the two. It would be represented by a vertical line at the middle of the diagram. Follow this line up from the bottom (0 Celsius). At this point, the alloy is "lead + antimony" as a solid. As it warms up, it reaches a point at 248 C (478 degrees F) where it begins to melt. This is the point of "solidus" (everything solid below it). Continuing up, from 248 C to, oh, about 490 C it is a mixture of melting lead and antimony (the "Sb + M" means that the slush ("M" for "Melt," I would guess) contains mostly crystals of antimony ("Sb")). Above this point ("liquidus") everything is a liquid.

The diagram shows that the spread between solidus and liquidus (or liquidus and solidus, when cooling down; it works the same either way) is different for each composition of lead vs. antimony.

(Aside: I am ignoring some things here, such as the composition of the "Pb + M" area vs. the "Sb + M" area, and the fact that at the two extreme ends the "M" component in the mixture goes to 0. These things aren't important now.)

What is very important, though, is the fact that there is a unique point on the diagram - a unique alloy of lead and antimony - where the spread between solidus and liquidus goes to zero. A 12.5 percent lead / 85.5 percent antimony alloy will upon heating or cooling through 248 C (478 F) go from solid to liquid (or liquid to solid) instantly, without any intermediate slushy state.

This point is called the "eutectic" point, from the Greek prefix "eu-" (good) and "tekein" (to melt); it is indeed the point where it melts good. Er, melts well.

2.4. The Lead-Tin Alloy

This curiousity of metallurgy can have interesting practical applications. Consider for example not the lead-antimony phase diagram but the much more common lead-tin phase diagram:

It's a bit more complicated, but we can ignore most of it for now. The eutectic point is 63 percent tin (37 percent lead) at 182 C (360 degrees F). This alloying percentage, 63/37, should look a little familiar to someone familiar with electronics. It's very nearly the same as 60/40 tin/lead solder. Actually, of course, things are the other way around: 60/40 solder is 60/40 because that's a good round-number approximation of the eutectic point. You want solder to go right from the liquid to the solid, after all, not to slush around for a while.

2.5. The Lead-Antimony-Tin Alloy

When you go from a binary (two-metal) alloy to a ternary (three-metal) one, the same principles apply, but the diagrams become more difficult (because you have to represent four dimensions (three composition percentages plus temperature). Ternary alloys can also have more complex melting (or solidifying) patterns. Still, the basic principles are the same.

Here is the phase diagram, simplified, for the lead/antimony/tin ternary alloy. It is taken from William Campbell's paper "Lead-Tin-Antimony and Tin-Antimony-Copper Alloys." as published in Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting. of the American Society for Testing Materials, Volume XIII (1913): 630-668. Even though this paper is nearly a century old, it is still very good reading. It summarizes the first fully modern phase of the understanding of these alloys.

In this diagram, the lower left corner represents 100 percent lead, the top point represents 100 percent antimony, and the right corner 100 percent tin.

Temperature is not shown. If it were to be shown, it would be perpendicular to the plane of this figure. It must therefore be imagined in this diagram.

In other words, if you took the lead-antimony phase diagram above, cut it out, and stod it up vertically, you could place it over the line from B to A on the left edge of the triangle above. Similarly, the lead-tin diagram could go along the bottom. With enough work, a whole three-dimensional figure could be created.

Campbell (and others after him) go into considerable detail regarding the patterns of melting/solidifying implied in this triangle, essentially working their way around the three-dimensional figure imagined above. It's interesting reading, but more than we need here.

What is important about this diagram is the point marked "O" near the lower left. This is the eutectic point for the ternary alloy: the point of composition where there exists a temperature (240 Celsius, or 464F) where the alloy goes from solid to liquid instantly, without an intermediate slushy stage.

Campbell doesn't actually give the composition for this point, but later data from Jaffe and Nielsen report it (from studies done in the 1930s) as:

{Jaffe and Nielsen, 1267}

Compare this to the composition of Linotype metal given by Rogers (published by the Mergenthaler Linotype Company) in 1925: lead 85 percent, antimony 11 percent, tin 4 percent.

2.6. Linotype Metal as the Ternary Eutectic Alloy

In other words, Linotype metal is almost exactly the eutectic alloy of lead, antimony, and tin. Given that you're going to use these three metals, it is exactly the alloy which will solidify instantly (and by implication where all three constituent metals will solidify simultaneously). The speed of Linotype composition and slug casting depends upon the metal solidifying as rapidly (and as evenly) as possible.

So Linotype metal isn't just an empirical hack. It's theoretically the perfect metal for the job. What makes this all the more remarkable is that Campbell cites the work of the researchers who first determined the ternary phase diagram shown above. This work dates from 1911, fully 25 years after the introduction of the first Linotype!

2.7. Tracking Back Bibliography

In the interests of completeness, the work cited by Campbell is: by R. Loebe as published in Metallurgie, Vol. VIII (1911): 7, and by Campbell and Elder as published in School of Mines Quarterly, Vol. XXXII: 244. I have not checked these references.

The work cited by Jaffe and Nielson is K. Iwasé and N. Aoki in Kinzoku-no-Kenkyu, 8, 253 (1931) and F. D. Weaver, J Inst. Metals, 56, 209 (1934). I have not checked these, either.

2.8. Confirmation from (Slightly) More Modern Literature

Finally, I read the following in {Gosner and Winkler, "Type Metals," in Metals Handbook (1948), 958} after I'd figured out the eutectic nature of Linotype metal:

"The Linotype and Intertype machines are used in newspaper type composition because of the speed of production that can be obtained. For this purpose, a low melting point and short temperature range during solidification are of greatest importance, and the ternary eutectic alloy or compositions near this are favored." (958)

3. Other Metallurgical Topics

3.1. Antimony and Expansion

3.1.1. Gosner and Winkler on Expansion of Type Metal

{Gosner and Winkler, "Type Metals," in Metals Handbook, (1948), 958} note:

"A common fallacy in accounting for the sharpness of definition of printing characters is to ascribe this excellent reproduction to a slight expansion of the type metal during solidification rather than to fluidity of the molten metal. In reality as shown in table II, all type metals contract slightly." (958)

(Here are the data from Table II, rearranged slightly.)

Their reference for this is: Y. Matsuyama. "On the Volume Change in Certain Type Metals During Solidification." Sci Reports. Tokyo Imp Univ, Ser 1, 17, 1 (1928). These are results from the experimental literature which indicate, among other things, that pure antimony, measured in the laboratory, contracts during solidification. Many in the history of typefounding have believed otherwise.

(Note that this is an unusually low lead alloy for Linotype Metal.)

They go on to note that bismuth may be added to overcome contraction (as, I might add, it is used in "fixturing" alloys) but that it is expensive and has poor mechanical properties.

3.1.2. Imperial Type Metal Company on Antimony and Expansion

The Imperial Type Metal Company, in Type Metal Explained (1918) asserts that a form of expansion occurs, and that antimony plays an active role in it:

"... Not only this but [it has] also the property of filling out the mould and expanding just as solidification occurs. The alloy contracts after solidifying just as any other metal or alloy, but at the instant of passing from the liquid to the solid it fills out all the detail of the mould, and after solidifying draws away, retaining a perfect reproduction. This is a most remarkable and valuable property, and is very essential to the alloy. ... Next to antimony, bismuth alone has this power, but is prohibitive in price, so there is no feasible substitute for antimony." (9)

Without seeking to judge an area where I have no expertise, I would want to see this rather remarkable activity on the part of antimony confirmed before I accepted it. Moreover, the analogy with bismuth is flawed, as bismuth simply expands on cooling.

3.1.3. Patricia Cost (and Linn Boyd Benton) on Antimony and Expansion

Patricia Cost, in her excellent paper "Linn Boyd Benton, Morris Fuller Benton, and Typemaking at ATF" summarizes neatly both the misconceptions about the role of antimony held even by such eminant type founders as Linn Boyd Benton, and the current state of knowledge:

"ATF's type was cast from a mixture of tin, antimony, lead, and a small amount of copper. The mixture was proportioned so that, according to Linn Boyd Benton, "the expansion of the antimony will practically counteract the shrinkage of other ingredients." In actuality, antimony does not expand but rather acts as a retardant in the shrinking process of the alloy." (42-43)

Cost's citation is from Linn Boyd Benton's 1906 paper "The Making of Type," which appeared in Frederick H. Hitchcock, ed. The Building of a Book. Cost cites the second edition (NY: R. R. Bowker, 1929), but the paper was written for the first edition (NY: The Grafton Press, 1906) pp. 31-40. From the first edition, Benton says in full:

"Type are made of type metal, a mixture of tin, antimony, lead, and copper. As antimony expands in solidifying, advantage is taken of this quality, and the mixture is so proportioned that the expansion of the antimony will practically counteract the shrinkage of the other ingredients." (31)

3.2. Tin and Melting Point

The Imperial Type Metal Company, in Type Metal Explained (1918) says this about tin (pp. 9-10):

"Tin is the third and last principal element in type alloys, its functions being frequently much confused with those of antimony. Tin does not reduce the melting point of the alloy, as is usually believed, when considering stereotype, line-slug and unitype metals. The alloys freeze at approximately 475 in all cases, whether present or not. Tin does add very much to the fluidity of the alloy, however, and permits the work to be done at much lower temperatures and with much more perfect results. It is for this reason that it is often regarded as having reduced the melting point, whereas it has simply increased the fluidity when molten, just as certain oils thin inks. Tin causes a much slower setting of the alloy, and an excess often becomes a detriment for this reason. This is occasionally noticed in line-slug machines where squirts and hollow slugs follow an excess." (9-10)

4. Linotype Metal

4.1. Rogers (1925) (Linotype Metal)

John R. Rogers, in his Linotype Instruction Book (1925; published by the Mergenthaler Linotype Company and presumably therefore endorsed by them) has this to say about the alloy for use with Linotypes:

"The ideal metal for use on the Linotype must have the proper composition, purity, and microstructure. This is attained by the alloying of as nearly pure as possible lead, antimony and tin in proportions of about eighty-five per cent of lead to eleven of antimony and four of tin.

"Lead alone is too soft; but the fact that it has a low melting point makes it a good basic metal for use with antimony and tin. Antimony lends both hardness and fluidity to lead (hardness when cold and fluidity when molten), and fills out the mold by expanding just as solidification occurs. Tin, by combining lead and antimony, holding them together, as it were, lends body to the metal. It also adds considerably to its toughness and gives the resultant characters smooth, even faces. Moreover, by enhancing the fluidity of the alloy, tin permits the use of the metal at a lowered temperature with good results." {Rogers, p. 105}

Note that Rogers here makes the same point that the Imperial Type Metal Company makes: that tin does not lower the melting point of the alloy, but makes the alloy more useful at a lower temperature.

4.2. Campbell (Linotype Metal)

{Campbell, "Lead-Tin-Antimony and Tin-Antimony-Copper Alloys" (1913): 645} cites the following percentages for Linotype Metal:

4.3. Gosner and Winkler (Linotype Metal)

{Gosner and Winkler, "Type Metals," in Metals Handbook (1948), 958} cite the following percentages for Linotype Metal (and give some physical data):

Their references, in turn, are:

• (1) Fry's Metal Foundries Ltd., Printing Metals. 1936.
• (2) F. D. Weaver. "Type Metal Alloys." J Inst Metals 46, No. 1, 209 (1935).
• (3) B. W. Gonser and S. Epstein. "Metals and Alloys in the Printing Industry," Metals and Alloys, 8 (1937).
• (7) Y. Matsuyama. "On the Volume Change in Certain Type Metals During Solidification." Sci Reports. Tokyo Imp Univ, Ser 1, 17, 1 (1928).

4.4. Hofman (Linoype Metal)

Formula for "Linotype" metal from Hofman's Metallurgy of Lead (1918), p. 25:

4.1. Older? (79% Pb) Formulae for Linotype Metal

{Hoyt, Metallography, 69} cites a curious alloy for Linotype metal:

4.2. Still Other Formulae for Linotype Metal

I've run across other formulae as well. Needless to say, as these differ from those recommended by publications of the Mergenthaler Linotype Company, they cannot be recommended. I'm just cataloging them here for their historical interest.

Just one for now:

A formula for "Linotype metal" given in Chung Yu Wang's Antimony (1919), p. 150 seems high in antimony and correspondingly low in tin: lead 84.5%, antimony 13.5%, tin 2%.

5. Dross, Depletion, and "Plus" Metal (Linotype)

5.1. Rogers (1925) on Dross and Depletion (Linotype)

Rogers (Linotype Instruction Book (1925) says:

"Dross is the waste substance resulting from oxidation - from the metal absorbing oxygen from the air. The hotter the metal becomes, and the longer it remains molten, the more dross results. Undue agitation of the metal by continually exposing fresh surfaces to contact with the air, makes for increased dross production. Every bit of dross removed, of course, reduces the original supply of metal, and for that reason every pound of dross removed should be replaced with a pound of new metal, the new metal being added to the older in the remelting furnace, and not in the metal pot of the Linotype [italics present in the original]. This procedure must apply even when the new metal is received in pig form for use in metal feeders.

Naturally, the metal of the lowest melting point oxidizes faster than the others. Tin oxidizes faster than lead, and lead faster than antimony. An alloy which contained originally, say, about eighty-five per cent of lead, eleven per cent of antimony, and four per cent of tin, after many remeltings may have changed to about eighty-four and three-quarters percent of lead, twelve and one-quarter percent of antimony, and three per cent of tin. The percentage of antimony rises in proportion to the lead and tin percentages decreased through oxidation.

"Undue loss of tin necessitates increased temperature, and makes for poor faces and hollow slugs. Undue loss of antimony causes the alloy to become too soft to withstand long press runs; an excess of tin tends to clog up the crucible throat and the mouthpiece holes." {Rogers, p. 105-106}

Rogers goes on to discuss the remelting of dross.

5.2. Rogers (1925) on Contamination and Retoning (Linotype)

Rogers (Linotype Instruction Book (1925) says:

" Some Metal 'Poisons.' - Some of the things that most often contribute to the contamination of unbalancing of Linotype metal [sic], in addition to dirt, improper stirring and overheating, are copper, brass, and zinc. None of these metal 'poisons' should be permitted to enter the metal pot.

"Even the slightest amount of zinc is bad.

"Copper, by unduly hardening the metal, will contribute to mouthpiece stoppage, and will have a bad effect on the trimming knives.

"Zinc etchings, brass rules and matrices, battery plates, old lead pipes and foundry type must be debarred.

"Electrotype trimmings that accumulate beneath saw trimmers must not be mixed with Linotype metal. If, by mistake, a copper shell gets into the remelting furnace, it will rise to the surface, and must be quickly removed." {Rogers, p. 107}

Rogers has this to say about "retoning" Linotype metal by adding additional metal of special composition to compensate for losses (such metal is commonly termed "plus metal," although Rogers does not use this term).

" Retoning. - Occasionally a proportionate quantity of new metal must be added to the old, the old, of course, ahving been first freed as much as possible from impurities. The new metal, we repeat, must be thoroughly mixed with the old in the remelting furnace [italics in original], and not placed directly into the metal pot of the Linotype. Unless the old metal has become too impoverished, such treatment usually will serve to keep a metal supply in good working condition.

"When Linotype metal has become unbalanced and is causing trouble of any sort, no chances should be taken on retoning the metal haphazardly, but hte advice of some competent metal company should be solicited. And be sure to state the exact nature of the trouble.

"An approved way to secure representative samples of a metal supply for analysis by ametal company is for some person in a plant to select one slug a day from the regular output of the plant, for from six to ten days. Such slugs will constitute a fairly representative sample, and will enable the metal company to prescribe the proper toning metal.

"No single toning formula can be followed in all cases. Each case must be treated as a special problem. Sometimes it is found advisable to replace an old supply of metal with an entirely new one.

"It is well to hae the metal supply analyzed and retoned at regular intervals." {Rogers 107-108}

6. "Type Metal"

6.1. Jaffe and Nielsen on Non-Eutectic Alloys

The ternary alloy of lead, antimony, and tin is actually quite complex - much more so than the folklore of type metal and presentations before the second decade of the 20th century might indicate.

In their brief overview of the data as of 1948, Jaffe and Nielson in Metals Handbook (p. 1267) have this to say:

"The structure of ... commercial alloys [that is, type metals, babbit metals, etc.] usually consists of hard particles of antimony ... or SbSn [antimony-tin] ... in a matrix of ternary eutectic."

That is to say, when a type metal alloy solidifies, either hard bits of antimony (in one set of alloying compositions) or hard bits of tin-antimony (in a different set of alloys) will freeze out first and end up as hard particles embedded in a sea of metal which is of the ternary eutectic composition. (Of course, if the whole thing is ternary eutectic, such as Linotype metal, then these Sb or SbSn bits don't solidify and the result is all ternary eutectic. This would account for the softness of Linotype alloy vis a vis other alloys of type metal.

6.2. Campbell (Type Metal)

{Campbell, "Lead-Tin-Antimony and Tin-Antimony-Copper Alloys" (1913): 645, 646} cites the following percentages for Type Metal:

6.3. Gosner and Winkler (Type Metal)

{Gosner and Winkler, "Type Metals," in Metals Handbook (1948), 958} cite the following percentages for Foundry Type (and give some physical data):

Their references, in turn, are:

• (1) Fry's Metal Foundries Ltd., Printing Metals. 1936.
• (2) F. D. Weaver. "Type Metal Alloys." J Inst Metals 46, No. 1, 209 (1935)
• (5) J. G. Thompson. "Properties of Lead-Bismuth, Lead-Tin, Type Metals and Fusible Alloys," Bur Standards J Research, 6, 1085 (1930)
• (6) Aoki, Osawa and Iwase. Kinzoku-no-Kenkyu, 7, 147 (1930)

6.4. Hiorns (1901) (Type Metal)

Arthur Hiorns, in Mixed Metals, Or, Metallic Alloys (1901) says the following about type metal (pp. 326-328):

"§ 107. Type-Metal. - An alloy for type-metal should be readily fusible, not show a great tendency to crystallise near the surface of the mould, sufficiently hard to present the crushing of the letters when printing, and capable of expanding on cooling so as to fill the moulds sharply.

[Note: But see "Gosner and Winkler on Expansion of Type Metal," earlier in this Notebook.]

"To fulfil these conditions lead has generally been adopted as the base for type-metal, other metals being added to harden it, and impart the properties enumerated above. Zinc has been tried, but it does not alloy well with lead. Antimony answers the purpose fairly well, but if present beyond a certain amount, the alloys become very crystalline, hard, and brittle. Lead-antimony alloys not exceeding 15 per cent of antimony have the important property of expanding on cooling, which makes them very suitable for the manufacture of type. This alloy with 15 percent of antimony is the most satisfactory as regards fluidity and expansion on cooling. It is more fusible than either of the constituent metals. However, this alloy of lead and antimony, notwithstanding the proper degree of hardness, has a vitreous structure, and imperfectly resists the action of the press, and of the scouring caustics. It was then tried to increase the resistance without losing the other qualities of the alloy. This result was obtained by the employment of tin or bismuth. The best propotion of tin appears to be from 6 to 8 per cent. A greater amount causes waste by oxidation; the alloy also becomes to brittle, with a great tendency for the tin and antimony to crystallise. Other metals have een added to lead and antimony for special purposes. Copper andiron in small quantity have been added to produce a hard resisting alloy for newspaper work. The following table tives the composition of several type alloys: -

[Note: the data in Hiorns table are given in parts. I have converted them here to percentages.]

[I have omitted the final four lines of this table, which cover 'Plates for engraving music, etc."]

[Note that Hoffman (see below) presents data from the 1912 edition of Hiorns.]

6.5. Hofman (Type Metal)

Formulae for "type metal" from Hofman's Metallurgy of Lead (1918), p. 25:

Later (p. 28) Hofman writes (in a section devoted to the Pb-Sb (lead-antimony) binary alloy:

"Type metal usually contains some Sn [tin], as this makes the alloy harder and more rigid, without increasing the brittleness; this is of special importance in die-casting. [Note: hot metal line/typecasting is a form of die casting.] The Pb-Sb alloy is used mainly for quads; howver, the following compositions are given by Hiorns [Hiorns, Arthur H. "Mixed Metals, or Metallic Alloys," NY: Macmillan, 1912] as examples of regular type metal: Pb 90, 85, 80, 75 with Sb 10, 15, 20, 25.

[Note: The data and text from the 1901 edition of Hiorns have been reproduced earlier in this Notebook.]

"A good type metal contains Pb 50-55, Sb 25-30, Sn 25-15 parts. As these compositions are rather high-priced, a mixture of Pb 60, Sb 30, Sn 30 parts is chosen for ordinary type." (28)

6.6. Imperial Type Metal Company (Type Metal)

Curiously, the Imperial Type Metal Company, in Type Metal Explained (1918) gives no type metal formulae.

6.7. ITU (Type Metal)

An anonymous article in the "Technical Topics" column of The Typographical Journal. Vol. IX, No. 7 (October 1, 1896) Indianapolis, Indiana: International Typographical Union, 1896, p. 261 (p. 947 of the Google Books PDF) discusses "Type Metal." After a brief historical overview, the author notes:

"In mixing his metal, the modern typefounder usually calculates the amount of tin, antimony, and copper used in proportion to 100 lbs. of lead. For the sake of uniformity this method will be followed. The type cast at the beginning of the [19th] century probably contained

[This works out to 83% lead, 12.5% antimony, and 4.2% tin.]

"This mixture is about the same hardness as modern electrotype metal.

"Since then the progress has been steadily upward, and the printer who has occasion to compare the type of twenty-five years ago with that of today can at once see the improvement. Until recently it was the practice of the founder to make several grades of metal, soft for the large type, and gradually harder for the small ones. Thus, some foundries had nonpareil, bourgeois, pica, and job metals, besides quad and script. It is however only reasonable to suppose that if hard metal renders small type more durable, it is preferable for larger ones, and most of the type foundries have adopted a standard metal for general use." (261)

6.8. Legros (Type Metal)

Legros, in his extended paper "Typecasting and Composing Machinery," notes (p. 1033):

"Type Founding. - Type is generally case from an alloy of tin, antimony, and lead; the proportions in which the various metals are used vary between rather wide limits, of which the following may be taken as examples: -

{Legros, Lucien A. "Typecasting and Composing Machinery." in Proceedings [of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers]. 1908, Parts 3-4. (London: The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1908): 1027-1222.} The quotation here is from p. 1033. Legros' paper is in general excellent, and although the citation here is brief, the paper is well worth the attention of any Linotype, hot metal, or typefounding enthusiast.

6.9. Sharp (Type Metal)

John Sharp, in Modern Foundry Practice (1900) says:

" Type Metal. - lead 9 parts, and antimony 1, forms common type metal; 7 lead and 1 antimony is used for large and soft type; 6 lead and 1 antimony, for large type; 5 lead and 1 antimony for middle type; 4 lead and 1 antimony, for small type; 3 lead and 1 antimony for the smallest and hardest kinds of type.

" French Type Metal consists of lead 2 parts, antimony 1, and copper 1.

" Common Type Metal is lead 80 parts and 20 antimony; a more fusable stereotype metal is lead 77, antimony 15, and bismuth 8. If much tin is used it renders the metal rather soft, but fusible and fit for fine impressions. A superior alloy is said to consist of lead 9 parts, antimony 2, and bismuth 1. To alloy lead with these metals, the lead is first melted and the other metals added to the fluid lead." (page 724)

Reworking these "parts" formulae into percentages, this gives:

His formulae exhibit a curious absence of tin, and for the most part copper.

6.10. Wang (Type Metal)

Formulae for "type metal" from Chung Yu Wang's Antimony (1919), p. 150 (I've reordered the table):

He also gives an alloy of lead 72, antimony 18, and tin 25, but that's 115 percent.

7. Monotype Metal

7.1. Recommended by Monotype (1912)

In The Monotype System (Philadelphia: Lanston Monotype Machine Co., 1912. Available freely online via Google Books), p. 195, the Lanston Monotype Machine Company recommends the following alloys for use on the Monotype (presumably for straight composition, not for casting sorts or fonts of type):

"A suitable metal for ordinary composition should be made from clean new materials in about the following proportions:

"For unusually long runs the antimony and tin must be increased."

These alloys contain considerably less lead, and correspondingly more antimony and tin, than Linotype alloys.

7.2. Gosner and Winkler (Monotype Metal)

{Gosner and Winkler, "Type Metals," in Metals Handbook (1948), 958} cite the following percentages for Monotype Metal (and give some physical data):

Their references, in turn, are:

• (1) Fry's Metal Foundries Ltd., Printing Metals. 1936.
• (2) F. D. Weaver. "Type Metal Alloys." J Inst Metals 46, No. 1, 209 (1935)
• (6) Aoki, Osawa and Iwase. Kinzoku-no-Kenkyu, 7, 147 (1930)

7.3. Hoyt (Monotype Metal)

{Hoyt, Metallography, 69} cites these percentages for Monotype Metal:

7.4. Cited by Imperial Type Metal

The Imperial Type Metal Company, in Type Metal Explained (1918) has the following to say about Monotype Metal. (But note that their recommendations and terminology do not concur with that of the Lanston Monotype Company.)

"The monotype machine is more flexible with regard to metal than other machines, and for this reason we find four distinct grades of metal in use and all giving satisfactory results from a type casting stand point.

"(1) The softest metal being used to-day in the monotype machine is regular line slug metal. This metal has come into common use in newspaper plants where non-distribution has been installed. The advantages are many, but hte most important is that one supply of metal can be used throughout the composing room. The line slug mixture always sells for less than monotype metal, so a considerable saving is effected with no loss of efficiency.

[Note however that the Lanston Monotype Machine Company advises specifically against using Linotype metal {LMM. The Monotype System (1912), p. 195.}]

"This mixture is a softer metal and therefore we find less wear and deterioration in the casting parts; so here again is a saving. There is less heat required to operate with this metal, and we often find successful results being obtained from 680 F to 720 F, except on the very small sizes.

"Occasionally we have found printers operating with this grade of metal, and undoubtedly there are cases where perfectly successful results are obtained and a saving realized because of the nature of the work, but it is not to be recommended for average work. [italics in original]

"(2) The next grade of metal is commonly known as regular monotype metal, and is suitable to most grades of printing. The antimony and tin percentage has been considerably increased in this metal of the line slug formula, but it is lower than the monotype formula frecommended by the Lanston Monotype Co., of 9 per cent. tin, 19 per cent. antimony, and 72 per cent. lead.

[Comment: My interpretation of the above is that the recommende alloy is 72/19/9 (as indeed it is) and that this so-called "regular monotype" metal is of lower antimony content than the regular alloy recommended by Monotype. And you wonder why type metal is confusing!]

"It has been adopted by the metal houses because of its satisfactory results and cheapness. It not only saves the printer money in his metal costs (usually being 2 cents per pound or more cheaper) but is superior to the Monotype Co. formula in its wear of casting parts.

"Of course, it is not suitable to all requirements with respect to hardness, but in as much as three tons of this mixture are sold to one ton of the harder monotype, it is readily seen that it has proven very satisfactory and should always stand up for a much longr run than line slug metal. We would always advise the printer to use this metal if his work does not call for unusually long runs, because of its saving and advantages to him.

"(3) The formula recommended by the Monotype Co. of 9 per cent. tin, 19 per cent. antimony, 72 per cent. lead, is sold by the metal manufacturers under the name of "special monotype". Largely because it is for special work and is the unusual rather than the usual metal bought by the printer.

"It gives very satisfactory results. It is harder than the other mixtures, takes more heat to run and shows greater wear on casting parts. It should always be recommended where this hardness is an advantage and required. Its higher price is offset by its service. It is the hardest metal that can be cast at 140 type per minute in monotype machines.

"(4) The efourth grade ofmetal sold for monotype machines and filing a distinct need under certain conditions is the metal whose hardness equals that of foundry type. This metal is sold under several names by different manufacturers.

"It is never intended for composition work, as it can not be cast at composition speed. It is designed for casting type and sorts to replace foundry type. It should be as hard as metal used by the foundries and give a product equally satisfactory if cast with care." (pages 36-39)

8. Stereotype Metal

8.1. Campbell (Stereotype Metal)

{Campbell, "Lead-Tin-Antimony and Tin-Antimony-Copper Alloys" (1913): 645} cites the following percentages for Stereotype Metal:

8.2. Gosner and Winkler (Stereotype Metal)

{Gosner and Winkler, "Type Metals," in Metals Handbook (1948), 958} cite the following percentages for Stereotype Metal (and give some physical data):

Their references, in turn, are:

• (1) Fry's Metal Foundries Ltd., Printing Metals. 1936.
• (2) F. D. Weaver. "Type Metal Alloys." J Inst Metals 46, No. 1, 209 (1935)
• (4) S. Epstein. "Constitution and Properties of Type Metals," Graphic Arts Tech Conf, Graphic Arts Div. ASME, May 1936.
• (5) J. G. Thompson. "Properties of Lead-Bismuth, Lead-Tin, Type Metals and Fusible Alloys," Bur Standards J Research, 6, 1085 (1930)
• (6) Aoki, Osawa and Iwase. Kinzoku-no-Kenkyu, 7, 147 (1930)

8.3. Hoyt (Stereotype Metal)

{Hoyt, Metallography, 69} cites the following percentages for Stereotype metal:

8.4. Partridge (Stereotype Metal)

{Partridge, Stereotyping (1909), 57-58} says the following about stereotype metal:

"For newspaper work the proportions are about as follows: lead 75 pounds, antimony 17 pounds, tin 7 pounds. For book work, lead 80 pounds, antimony 15 pounds, tin 5 pounds. For country plate work, lead 85 pounds, antimony 12 pounds, tin 3 pounds. These formulas are not exact, for no two makers use eactly the same rule, but they are approximately so. The antimony is added to the lead to give hardness to the metal and to reduce contraction when cooling, and the tin acts as a flux." (57-58)

The three formulae given, while expressed in pounds, add to 100 (or nearly so) and are thus also percentages:

8.5. Sharp (Stereotype Metal)

John Sharp, in Modern Foundry Practice (1900) gives a ratio of 4:1:1 for stereotype metal, which works out to lead 66.6%, antimony 16.6%, tin 16.6% (p. 722). At a later point (p. 724), he gives two different alloys: lead 77%, antimonty 15%, and bismuth 8% ("rather soft, but fusible and fit for fine impressions") and lead 9 parts, antimony 2, and bismuth 1 ("a superior alloy").

In summary:

Note however that while he does have a detailed treatment of stereotype plate casting, Sharp's formulae for ordinary type metal are decidedly curious.

8.6. Southward (Stereotype Metal)

John Southward (and/or his editors Arthur Powell and George Joyner) give the following for stereotype metal in the Sixth Edition (1911) of Practical Printing:

{Southward, 6th edn., vol. II, p. 465}

(Actually, he gives the first of these in parts (6 lbs lead to 1 lb antimony). I've converted it to percentages.)

The formula given in the Second Edition of Southward (1884) is more fun, though:

"The simplest mode of making stereotype metal is to melt old type, and to every 14 lbs add about 6 lbs of grocer's tea-chest lead. To prevent any smoke arising from the melting of the tea-chest lead, it is necessary to melt it over an ordinary fireplace for the purpose of cleansing it, which can be done by throwing in a small piece of tallow about the size of a nut. Then stir it briskly with a ladle, when the impurities will rise to the surface, and can then be skimmed off." (550)

{Southward, 2nd edn., p. 550; available online via Google Books.}

There is simply no way to convert this into percentages, or even to know what the alloy is, as the composition of the ingredients is unknown.

8.7. Smith (Linotype Metal as Stereotype Metal)

An article on shopmade stereotype plate casting methods, by Herbert W. Smith appeared in Popular Mechanics in June 1920. This was reprinted as a section entitled "A Stereotyping Outfit for the Small Newspaper Shop" in pp. 55-58 of his "Picture Plates for the Press: Some Mechanical Phases of News and Advertising Illustration" published as the The University of Missouri Bulletin, Vol. 22, No. 28 (Journalism Series, No. 23) and collected in the Deskbook of the School of Journalism Revised by Robert S. Mann. 7th edition - 1920 Columbia, MO: The University of Missouri, September 1920; available online via Google Books.

After that tremendously long bibliographic citation, the only point is this: he advocated using plain Linotype metal for stereotyping:

"The allurement of molten linotype metal has caused many printers in country newspaper shops to experiment with stereotyping. Few who have been in the game eight or ten years have not tried it. Some results have been good, considering the crudity of means available." (p. 55)

8.8. Wang (Stereotype Metal)

Chung Yu Wang's Antimony (1919), p. 150, gives the following two formulae for "stereotype plate":

It may be well to recall, however, that Wang's formula for Linotype Metal differs from that recommended by the Mergenthaler Linotype Company.

9. "Combination" Metal

Rogers (Linotype Instruction Book (1925) says:

"'Combination' metal should not be used on the Linotype. By 'combination' metal is meant metal alloyed for use not only with the Linotype but in the stereotype department and possibly on other machines. Such metal can be alloyed to work fairly well both for linotyping and stereotyping, but only fairly well. It will not be ideal." {Rogers, p. 105}

The Imperial Type Metal Company has this to say about "Combination Metal":

"Where the same metal is used for both stereotyping and line slug casting, it is the best practice to use a metal slightly higher in antimony than is the best practice for line slug casting, but this should not be overdone, as the operation of the line slug machines will not be as satisfactory as it should be.

"A the name implies, it is a metal designed especially for use either in the Stereotype Plant, or in the Composing Room, and is therefore of a composition which will give reasonably good service for either type of work. It is not of the ideal formula used for eithr of the other metals. Where this system of operation is used, we would recommend that care should be exercised to see that all metal in the plant is handled in such a way that the entire supply may become uniformly mixed and that the metal in both departments is thus in the best possible condition to use." (p. 36)

However, {Gosner and Winkler, "Type Metals," in Metals Handbook (1948), 958} speak more highly of something like "Combination" metal:

In making all the machine-cast type, including foundry type, the molten metal is forced into metal dies under only moderate pressure, so there is a tendency for the casting to be porous within, although the printing surface is sound because it is chilled first. There is a tendency for the alloys with high tin and antimony contents - for instance, with more than 12% Sb - to segregate during slow cooling, but these alloys make homogeneous chill castings. To avoid the necessity for handling several alloys of not widely different compositions, there has been some tendency to use a compromise composition for monotype, linotype, and stereotype metal. The U. S. Governmetn Printing Office has used an 822% Pb, 6% Sn, 12% Sb "universal" alloy for this purpose." (958)

10. Electrotype Metal

10.1. Campbell (Electrotype Metal)

{Campbell, "Lead-Tin-Antimony and Tin-Antimony-Copper Alloys" (1913): 645} cites the following percentages for Electrotype Metal:

10.2. Gosner and Winkler (Electrotype Metal)

{Gosner and Winkler, "Type Metals," in Metals Handbook (1948), 958} cite the following percentages for Electrotype Metal (and give some physical data):

Their references, in turn, are:

• (1) Fry's Metal Foundries Ltd., Printing Metals. 1936.
• (2) F. D. Weaver. "Type Metal Alloys." J Inst Metals 46, No. 1, 209 (1935)
• (3) B. W. Gonser and S. Epstein. "Metals and Alloys in the Printing Industry," Metals and Alloys, 8 (1937)

10.3. Hoyt (Electrotype Metal)

{Hoyt, Metallography, 69} cites the following percentages for Electrotype Metal:

10.4. Imperial Type Metal Co. (Electrotype Metal)

The Imperial Type Metal Company has this to say about Electrotype Metal:

"The commercial electrotype alloy will vary in percentages of tin and antimony with different manufacturers, but as a result of many analyses the tin has been found to vary beteen 1 3/4 % and 5 % and the antimony between 2 % and 3 1/2 %. A great quantity of the electrotype metal today, is made 2 1/2 % antimony and 3 % tin with the balance, 94 1/2 % lead, but much is most unsatisfactory because of the large variation in formula between different lots from the same manufacturer.

"The reason for this is that competition has forced the manufacturer to make up the metal from old materials. ..." (pages 39-49)

11. Ending Remarks

So what can be made of all of this?

Linotype metal alloy is well-defined, if it is taken to be the ternary eutectic alloy of lead, antimony, and tin, or some relatively close commercial approximation of that.

"Monotype metal" can mean any of several alloys for different purposes; the term "monotype metal" by itself is insufficient. These seem to have been relatively well documented by Monotype.

"Stereotype metal" seems to have been whatever was at hand. Its alloys as used vary from 93 percent lead (not pure lead, but getting there) to 35/5/60 lead/antimony/tin, which is pretty close to solder.

Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, it would seem that the terms "foundry type" and the term "type metal" for non-Monotype type for hand composition, vary so widely as to be nearly meaningless. This may be significant because these terms have been used very commonly, and at times strong words have been uttered using them.

Recall the words of Lord Kelvin:

... when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind ... (From "Electrical Units of Measurement" (1883); well-presented online at: http://zapatopi.net/kelvin/quotes/)

All of the numbers in the tables above are specific measurements (at least one hopes they were). But given a particular piece of type of unknown provenance, or, worse, given an opportunity simply to remark in abstract terms upon one kind of typefounding vs. another, there is no way of correlating the piece of type or the belief in the process to particular numbers.

When kiosks with public-access mass spectrometers finally start appearing in shopping malls, we won't believe how we ever got along without them...

12. References

{Anon 1896} "Type Metal" in The Typographical Journal. Vol. IX, No. 7 (October 1, 1896) Indianapolis, Indiana: International Typographical Union, 1896, p. 261 (p. 947 of the Google Books PDF)

Available online via Google Books.

{Benton} Benton, Linn Boyd. "The Making of Type," in Frederick H. Hitchcock, ed. The Building of a Book. First edition. (NY: The Grafton Press, 1906) pp. 31-40.

The first edition is available online via Google Books. There was also a second edition (NY: R. R. Bowker, 1929).

{Campbell} Campbell, William. "Lead-Tin-Antimony and Tin-Antimony-Copper Alloys." in American Society for Testing Materials. Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting. Volume XIII (1913): 630-668.

Contains the lead-antimony-tin phase diagram. Available online via Google Books.

{Cost} Patricia A. Cost. "Linn Boyd Benton, Morris Fuller Benton, and Typemaking at ATF." in Printing History. Whole Nos. 31 & 32, Vol. 16 Nos. 1 & 2 (1994): 27-44.

Available online from the publisher, at: http://www.printinghistory.org/htm/journal/articles.html, specifically: http://www.printinghistory.org/htm/journal/articles/31-32-Cost-Benton.pdf

{Gonser and Winkler} Gonser, Bruce W. and J. Homer Winkler. "Type Metals." Metals Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The American Society for Metals, 1948. Pages 957-959.

{Hiorns} Hiorns, Arthur H. Mixed Metals, Or Metallic Alloys. London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1901.

Available online via Google Books.

{Hofman} Hofman, H. O. Metallurgy of Lead. NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1918.

Available online via Google Books.

{Hoyt} Hoyt, Samuel L. Metallography: Part II - The Metals and Common Alloys. NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1921.

Available online via Google Books.

{Imperial} Imperial Type Metal Company Type Metal Explained Philadelphia: Imperial Type Metal Company, 1918

This contains much information, including several photomicrographs of Linotype, Monotype, and stereotype metal. Available online via Google Books.

{Jaffe and Nielsen} Jaffe, R. I and H. P. Nielsen. "Pb-Sb-Sn Lead-Antimony-Tin." (in "Constituents of Ternary Alloys" section of) Metals Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The American Society for Metals, 1942. Pages 1267-1268.

{MS} Lanston Monotype Machine Co. The Monotype System Philadelphia: Lanston Monotype Machine Co., 1912.

Available online via Google Books.

Legros, Lucien A. "Typecasting and Composing Machinery."

Published in two versions (at least), both of which are available online via Google Books:

(1) ["Excerpts Minutes of Proceedings of the Meeting of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London, 18th December, 1908."] London: The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1908. (The reproduction of this version in Google Books is much better than that of the next version.)

(2) Proceedings [of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers]. 1908, Parts 3-4. London: The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1908. Pages 1027-1222. The reproduction of this version in Google Books is poorer than that of the previous version, and several of the plates are incomplete (it looks as if they were photographed while being turned).

{Partridge} Partridge, C. S. Stereotyping Second Edition. Chicago: The Inland Printer Co., 1909.

Available online via Google Books.

{Rogers} Rogers, John R. Linotype Instruction Book Brooklyn, NY: Mergenthaler Linotype Company, 1925.

{Smith} Smith, Herbert W. [article probably entitled] "A Stereotyping Outfit for the Small Newspaper Shop" Popular Mechanics (June 1920) as reprinted as a section entitled "A Stereotyping Outfit for the Small Newspaper Shop" in pp. 55-58 of his "Picture Plates for the Press: Some Mechanical Phases of News and Advertising Illustration" published as the The University of Missouri Bulletin, Vol. 22, No. 28 (Journalism Series, No. 23) and collected in the Deskbook of the School of Journalism Revised by Robert S. Mann. 7th edition - 1920 Columbia, MO: The University of Missouri, September 1920.

Available online via Google Books.

{Sharp} Sharp, John. Modern Foundry Practice. London: E. & F. N. Spon, Ltd., 1900.

Available online via Google Books.

{Southward, 2nd} Southward, John. Practical Printing: A Handbook of the Art of Typography. Second Edition. London: J. M. Powell & Son [at the ] "Printer's Register" Office, 1884.

Available online via Google Books.

{Southward, 6th, v2} Southward, John. Practical Printing: A Handbook of the Art of Typography. Ed. Arthur Powell (4th, 5th editions). Ed. George Joyner (6th edition). Sixth Edition. Vol. II. London: The "Printer's Register" Office, 1911.

{Wang} Wang, Chung Yu. Antimony: Its History, Chemistry, Mineralology, Geology, Metallurgy, Uses, Preparations, Analysis, Production, and Valuation, with Complete Bibliographies. London: Charles Griffin and Company, Ltd., 1909

Available online via Google Books.

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