Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/687

* TYPE FOUNDING. 593 TYPESETTING MACHINES. proved machine was followed by one designed by Henry Earth, of Cincinnati, O., in 18S8. This machine easts the types, finishes them, and pro- duces them set up in lines read}- for inspection. The output of the most recent type-casting ma- chines varies from 100 to 140 types per minute, according to the size of the letter. In conclusion, mention should be made of the type punch cut- ting machine, invented by L. B. Benton, which operates on the principle of the pantograph and produces from one pattern letters of any size desired. For the history of English type founding, con- sult Reed, History of the Old Eiifilish Letter Founders (London, 1887), and De Vinne, His- toric Printing Types (New York, 1886). See Typesetting Machines. TYPES, Theory of. Sec Chemistry. TYPESETTING MACHINES. Machines devised to set or compose printers" types auto- matically and mechanically. In hand composi- tion the types are picked one at a time from a wooden case and then set one after another in the proper order to form the words which it is de- sired to print. After the set types have been printed from, thej' are distributed, i.e. re- turned to their proper compartments in the case. (See Printixo.) The processes of com- position and distribution by hand are tedious and expensive, and from quite early times efforts have been made to devise a machine which would perform these tasks more speedily and economic- ally. Until within recent years, however, these attempts were not commercially successful. Per- haps the first serious attempt to design a machine to do away with hand composition of types was made by Dr. William Church, whose device was patented in England in 1822. His machine was designed to cast types and leave them in reser- voirs, and they were set from these reservoirs by pressing kevs arranged much like the keys of a piano. After use the types were remelted, the inventor in this way getting around the problem of distribution. Evidently Church was a man ahead of his times, for it was not until a score of .years had elapsed that the issuing of patents for typesetting machines began to be frequent. • In 1840 .James H. Young, of England, completed a machine, which is said to have set types at the rate of 13,000 per hour, but the types had to be arranged in lines, distributed, and. presumably, placed in the magazines by hand, which required three persons besides the machine operator. The first distributing machine patented in America was invented bj- Frederick Rosenberg, in 1843, and the first English patent on a distributor was taken out by Etienne Robert Gaudens, in 1840. After this among prominent American inventors follow the names of Mitchell, Alden, Felt, Brown, Westcott. Kastenbein, Paige, Richards, Burr, and in recent years Tliorne, MacMillan, and Mer- genthaler. Among the prominent foreign inven- tors who achieved more or less success were Hat- tersley, Mackie, and Fraser, in England; Soren- sen, of Denmark; Fischer and Von Langen, of Germany ; and Delcambre, of France. At present only the Thome, MacMillan. Mergenthaler, and Lanston machines are much used, but the com- mercial success reached by some of the earlier machines was quite remarkable. The Alden ma- chine was at one time used in the New York Tribune olUco. Ten of the Mitchell machines, invented in 1853, are said to have been used at one time in a single office. In 1872 the London Times began to use the Kastenbein ma- chines, and finally set the whole paper by them. In 1880 tlic Burr machine was tried in the New York Tribune ollice, and three of these machines were in use there for some years. In 1884 the Fischer and Von Langen machine was u.sed in the oflice of the Cologne (lazette. All these successes, however, have been so far outdone by the Thome, .MacMillan, Mergenthaler, and Lanston machines that only these four need be mentioned further. The Thorne machine, a combined .setting and distributing machine, consists of an upright cyl- inder with vertical channels around a periphery, each channel holding a line or column of types, one channel holding o's. another li's, and so on. The lower half of the cylinder is stationary, and its channels contain the distributed types. The upper half of the cylinder turns with a step by step motion, and Its channels contain the lines of type to be distributed. The motion of the upper cylinder is such as to bring its channels opposite those of the lower, when an instant's pause oc- curs, permitting any type which is opposite a channel in the lower cylinder, who.se projections correspond to its own nicks, to drop down. Then the upper cylinder is rotated one step, bringing the channels again in coincidence. The type is set from the channels in the lower cylinder, the lowest type being pressed out radially when the operator depresses the key which governs it. A rapidly revolving plate whirls the type around and delivers it to an endless belt, which carries it to a setting-up mechanism. Here the type is turned upright and added to the continuous line of types, which is slowly pushed along, as type after type is added, toward the justifier, which divides it into lines of column or page length. The machine described Is an excellent example of combined setting and distributing machine. In the MacMillan machine the setting and the distrib- uting are done by separate machines. The maga- zines of the setting machine are removable, being exchanged for full ones as fast as they become empty. The operator ejects the types from the magazines by pressing suitable keys, and they are set up in long lines to be justified by hand. The distributor consists of a horizontal wheel with radial channels, in which the tyjies to be dis- tributed are placed. The frame surrounding the wheel contains other radial channels having pro- jections corresponding to the nicks in the types. The movable magazines are placed radially in connection with these outer channels. When the wheel slowly revolves, the t,vpes pass from the channels of the wheel into the outer channels whenever a type comes opposite one whose pro- jections correspond to its nicks. The MacMillan machine is a fairly typical example of the sep- arate setting and distributing machine. Both the Tliorne and the MacMillan machines set types which are previously made by the regular type-foimding process. (See Type Founding.) This is a distinction which should be noted be- fore proceeding further, since the Mergenthaler and Lanston machines, instead of composing pre- viously east types, themselves cast the types as they are desired by the operator. The Mergenthaler 'Linotype' machine was in- vented by Ottmar Mergenthaler, and the first ma-