Present! - Linotype with Jim Gard

[felipe200794]

hell yeah, I definitely wanna be an engineer

[SyN4G]

thanks for the cool video, really interesting machine!!

[DDEB12]

Thanks for the great video. It took me back to my times in the composing room of my local newspaper. I used to operate the Linotype, Ludlow and Elrod (not all at the same time - lol). When eventually they were phased out and computers took over the silence was deafening. It was never the same.

[hotrodZack1948]

thank you for sharing this, that was great!

[ssnoc]

An excellent educational and enjoyable video, it reminded me of the many years I heard my dad speak about the Linotype and Big 6 - The typographical union in New York City - Well Done!

[FarceTheory]

? Linotype Model 8 Success the cams are rotating every thing is moving and, Ya its not stopping!  Once in a while it will after a cycle or many. The clutch works and the control handle works. I have Linotype machine principles if anyone can refer me to page and part. Thank you

[mikeylik7051]

@FarceTheory Greetings. Glad to hear of progress. Clutch leathers could be buffed if glazed or shimmed a little. Mold polishing also can be helpful. Am on Intertype site if I can be of further help.

[jimgard2609]

If you are having trouble with your own linecasting machine, please take your questions or discussion to the Yahoo group: IntertypeWorld. The description: This group is for folks who own, or who are interested in, Intertype Lincecasting Machines. Also welcomed to this group are folks interested in Linotype, Elrod, and Ludlow slug and strip casting equipment. Ask questions; chat about your equipment, and generally enjoy the conversation. Please post often and keep this list active! Enjoy!

[mikeylik7051]

@jimgard2609 Have joined this group. Only thing I see mentioned there relates to Ludlow.

[FarceTheory]

? Could someone help me! I have a Lino model 8. And I can't open the vise. After the first elevator where the matrices are pushed left. I believe that the Short Jaw is not in it's appropriate place. I could be wrong, But it is located at the very top of the vise and is preventing me from opening it. Please help!

[mikeylik7051]

@FarceTheory Quadder??

[FarceTheory]

@mikeylik7051 I made a mistake. The Short Jaw is used for Quadding. This is out side the Vise at the very top. I’m convinced that the machine lost power in mid cycle.

I’m having difficulties finding it in my manual. I have a index to refer to if you or anyone would like to suggest any.

Most Thankfull

[mikeylik7051]

@FarceTheory Fairly sure it's quadder-related, should be some way to disengage it. It's been a long time. Where are you located? Do you have Linotype Machine Principles? Best Wishes!

[mikeylik7051]

@FarceTheory Many more thoughts. Was there a squirt? Is the lead in the pot liquid or frozen? If frozen, you can pull the plunger pin and try to cycle the machine over. Can you back it up manually by pulling backwards on the large cam outside. Not trying to be a smart _ _ _, just don't know how much knowledge of these beautiful beasts you have. Keep in touch.

[FarceTheory]

@mikeylik7051 I will try this tomorrow. I have no intention of forcing it. I found it! It’s the delivery with the short and long fingers together as if they contain no matrices. Directly above the vice before matrices are pulled down to the mold. I have "Linotype Machine Principles" published 1940. And I’m very new at this.

Pleas keep in mind I am fully capable.

[mikeylik7051]

@FarceTheory See page 102 of Lino Machine Principles. The link (44) could be unhooked. Spring-loaded piece with slot.

[FarceTheory]

@mikeylik7051 I was obsessed with that page last night. Noted! Thank you very much. Until next time I find my self out of sorts.

[gedejong]

Thank you so much, you made my day! As a techy and philomath, it's beautiful to read about the operations of the machine on Wikipedia, and then see a video presentation afterwards. Sadly, I live in the Netherlands, too far away to drop by for a visit to see the machine in real life.

[FarceTheory]

This is the best Linotype video I've seen!

[nwesterbeckmaster]

i met him in real life lol

[jimgard2609]

Andrew, I have been very careful to select a proper mold. The only squirt I've had was when I cast a a border slide and had put it in upside down. A waterfall of molten type metal came pouring out of the top. It took hours to chip it all out.

The only burn I've gotten from the machine was from the light fixture. After that I changed to a compact florescent and haven't been burned since.

[andrewkiwi1]

my parents used to own a small print shop out here in New Zealand. We had a model 32 with most ly sparton,helvetica,and times roman from 6pt to 18pt. I uesd to work there for 6 years. I stil have faded scars on my left arm from selecting the wrong mold on the mold wheel and having a squirt. I miss that old lino , now 25 yrs later im a mechanic. cheers Andrew

[Nudekwood]

A very inforamtive video, thank you.

[k0rc]

Follow-up...

Somewhere tucked in a drawer at home I have a single Linotype Matrix which has the entire 26-letter alphabet. This was given out at trade shows as a demonstration of the high quality that could be produced with the Linotype equipment.

[jimgard2609]

The keyboard is an etaoin shrdlu layout. Mergenthaler could have used the qwerty keyboard that was becoming popular with typewriters of the time, but chose to use this much more efficient layout based on character frequency of use.

The alphabet mat fits all 26 letters into a 6 point square. I have a couple of these mats and the Pecks enjoy it so much they insist that I put the little square into printing work I do for them.

[k0rc]

Thanks for posting this video! I worked for the Mergenthaler Linotype Company during the 1970's installing the new "analog" typesetting machines that were the precursor to the digital technology used today. The Linotype machines remained in use, parallel to the new equipment, for many years while the workforce adjusted to this "new technology". If I recall, the keyboard layout was not the same as today's QWERTY system. Edison was right, the Linotype machine was the 8th wonder of the world!

[buzbee1]

Fantastic! This brings back lots of memories. Growing up, I spent a lot of time in the small Kansas newspaper that my dad worked at. It had a hot-lead press until the late 60's, and I was mesmerized by the linotype and teletype machines. I remember the slugs being pressed into semi-circular cardboard which was then used as a mold to cast the plates.

Fortunately for my wife, I haven't yet tried to restore a linotype machine - but I'll attach a response video of my 6-level Teletype machine.

[TOUSNESP]

Thank you for the video. I had my last business prospect printed from lead out of a 1963 Linotype machine in Basel. Nothing compares to letterpress printing.

[robotMadeByEvolution]

Interesting way to print stuff.

How did the machine handle horizontal justification?

Desktop publishing programs do maths to work out whether a word should be pushed over to the next line, squashed onto the current line or hyphenated so that it is partly in both lines. How did the Linotype user know whether the words they were typing would fit onto a line?

Also, anyone know how expensive Linotypes were compared with today's PC+software combo? Thanks in advance & thanks for posting the vid.

[jimgard2609]

An indicator on an advancing rule shows the remaining space on the line. When near the end of a line, the operator looks at the remaining space vs. the number of space bands. If there are enough, the remaining space will fill up when they are lifted (expand). If not, the operator types another word, or portion of it with a hyphen.

Sometimes, especially on narrow lines, there's no way to space it cleanly. So, you add fixed spaces with the space bands, or letterspace a word.

[GaneshRamachandra135]

I wonder what those machines did to their poor operators' health.

The engineering of a Linotype seems great but a Health & Safety Executive officer in the UK today would faint on seeing one: metal vapour in the air, moving machine parts near bodies, no arm or back rests on the seats and -- scariest of all -- molten lead close by!

I'm a sub-editor. The Linotype operator's job is now part of mine. If it were not for computers I'd have so much lead in me I could probably wear uranium underpants.

[jimgard2609]

There's no metal vapor. The type metal is a eutectic alloy of lead, tin, and antimony at 535 F (280 C).

The machine is pre-OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) in the U.S. Some later machines had more guards.

Yes the seat is missing the back, but I use it because it has wheels - I can roll back from the machine.

I come in contact with type metal every day of my life. When I last had a blood sample they checked for lead - none was found.

Fear lead paint, not type metal.

[GaneshRamachandra135]

Many thanks, jimgard2609, for the interesting info about a fascinating machine. Best wishes.

[delevingne]

Super ! Thanks.

[ossowiecki]

what a magnificent and immense creature. the clicks and clacks are an orchestra of sounds. i love watching it in motion.

[parkerea1]

Excellent! It is sad that so few people really understand how remarkable the Linotype is, and how it literally changed the course of history, almost as much as movable type did. Invented in the mid 1880's, the Linotype remained in use for almost hundred years (!) before being replaced. I was a Graphic Communications (i.e. printing) major at Cal Poly SLO, and our family business had about a dozen. I spent many hours watching them run, though only ran a few lines through them myself.

[LoveAndPeece]

Go Jim! That is Way cool!

[mexcalus]

I used to be an linotype operator back in 1960, in Guaymas, México. Who remembers "La Gaceta"?

Yo fuí linotipista en "La Gaceta" de Guaymas, Sonora, en 1960.

[meghannorren]

Great explanation. Would love to get my business cards printed that way.

[MouYijian]

I live in a small town near Rome. Our typographer still prints businnes cards out with that small printer, but he assembles the glyphs manually. Using such a huge mechanism as a Linotype just for composing name, surname, address and telephone number(s) would be highly antieconomical. But the result doesn't change at all: beautifully neat and tridimensional characters not just printed, but almost ENGRAVED into the paper. Old-fashioned typing, made art.

[Foxpawpress]

Awesome video! Thanks for sharing this-"-The Power of the Press Belongs to Those Who Own One."--AJ Liebling