Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
1 TYPES OF TYPESETTING
easily accommodated manually, or automatically using a the matrices are aligned vertically and face-wise while a
quadder attachment).
bar rises from below to force the movable sleeves on the
space bands upwards to cause them to ll out the line to
the exact width of the mold. If the justication bar has
1.1 Linotype
made a full cycle and the line is still not fully justied, the
second safetythe pump stopprevents the plunger in
Main article: Linotype machine
the metal pot from going down. The space bands were an
important feature of this machine, providing automatic
The key feature of the Linotype is the use of molds which justication of each line by equally adjusting the white
circulate through the machine in its various stages of op- space between each word. Since the type used was proeration. One type is a space band (a special two-part slid- portional and not xed in width, solving this justication
ing wedge) and the other is a letter matrix made of brass. problem mechanically was very important. Some later
The matrices are stored in one or more magazines on top models had a feature that permitted the lines to be cast
of the machine (providing the operator with a choice of with the alignment to either left, right or centered. Opfonts; these can also be exchanged with other extra mag- erators running earlier models would use special blank
azines as desired) while the space bands are stored in a matrices (in 4 sizes) to manually create the proper amount
of whitespace beyond the space bands range.
box closer to the keyboard.
Once a key is pressed, the matrix passes through what
is known as the assembler front, down past a rotating
ber reinforced wheel (known as the star wheel) and into
the assembling elevator which serves the same purpose
as the hand compositors stick. When the space band key
near the keyboard is pressed, one of the space bands drops
out of the box and almost directly into the assembling
elevator. The assembling elevator (or more commonly
just the assembler) is adjustable for dierent lengths of
line (in picas).
Once the line approaches its correct length, the operator is
made aware of this by a bell or other indicator. If the line
is loose or too short, there is too much white space for
the space band wedges to ll out the line, and the matrices could possibly turn sidewise or fail to seal against each
other as the machine prepares for the casting operation.
If the line is tight or too long, the elevator carrying the
matrices and space bands will not seat properly in front of
the mold slot. Both the Linotype and Intertype machines
have two important safeties that act during the casting
operationthe pump stop and the vise automatic'to
prevent a squirt of molten type metal from escaping the
mold, encasing the matrices and the elevator in metal in
the process. Not only is it time-consuming to clean up after a squirt, matrices can often be damaged, so it is considered very poor form for an operator (or the machinist
who cared for the machine) to permit this to happen.
With the matrices aligned and the space bands set to the
correct measure, the machine then locks up the line with
great force and the plunger injects the molten type metal
into the space created by the mold cavity and the assembled line. The machine then separates the mold disk (carrying the freshly cast slug), the metal pot, and the rst elevator. The mold disk then turns to present the line at the
ejecting position, in the process passing by a knife that
trims the base of the slug to type height (0.918 on US
machines). The slug is then forced through an adjustable
pair of knives to trim the slug to the proper body height
before sliding down into a galley of nished lines next to
the operator. Depending on the model of machine, the
mold disk could have 4 (standard), 6, or 2 molds, giving
the operator his choice of line lengths and body sizes.
As the mold disk is turning, the rst elevator simultaneously rises to its upper position and the space bands and
matrices are vertically aligned in preparation for the second transfer. The matrices have a series of teeth in a Vshaped notch on top, and as the transfer is completed,
the matrices slide onto the second elevator bar which carries the matrices by these V-shaped notches. The space
bands, having no such notches, remain in the second
transfer channel and are soon gathered by two levers and
pushed back into the space band box. While the space
bands are being pushed into their box, the second elevator continues rising towards the distributing mechanism
at the top of the machine, which returns the molds to
their proper places in the magazine. At the top of the
machine, a lever moves left to make way before coming
back to push the matrices o the second elevator and into
the distributor box. This mechanism feeds the matrices
at precise intervals such that they travel between three rotating screws. Each matrix is carried along a notched bar
between the three screws until the notches on the bar and
matrix match, whereupon the matrix drops down into its
proper channel in the magazine.
When the line is assembled to the correct length, the operator presses down on a lever which raises the assembling elevator up into the delivery channel and starts the
automatic casting cycle. The delivery channel transfers
the matrices out of the assembler and into the rst elevator. The rst elevator then descends to a position in
front of the mold, and if the elevator has not descended
fully by the time the machine starts the process of aligning the matrices (most often caused by a tight line), the
rst of the two safetiesthe vise automaticbrings the
machine to a full stop before the supporting lugs on the It was a source of pride for trained operators to boast of
matrices are crushed by the mold. Once the matrices are being able to hang a line: to keep a line waiting in the dein proper position, two actions take place in sequence: livery channel while the machine was casting the previous
1.3
Ludlow
3
The Ludlow consisted of a very heavy metal table with a
at top about waist high and a depressed slot into which
a stick was inserted. Underneath was a pot of molten
type metal and a plunger. The stick was used to hand
compose the lines of type, typically headlines in 18 point
or larger with 72 point commonly being available, but
the machine could cast type from 4pt to 600pt without
a mould change. This was from brass matrix stored in
cases on either side of the Ludlow. The cases were not the
traditional "California Cases" used to set body type, but
simpler alphabetically arranged wooden or metal cases,
each one containing a given font in a specic size and
style such as bold face, italic or condensed. The metal
type cabinets were built with inclined drawers for easy
access to the matrices.
After a line of type was assembled into the stick a special blocking slug was inserted to seal the end. Then the
stick was placed mold side down into the slot on the table,
a clamp locked down to securely hold the stick and the
Ludlow activated. The plunger would snap down into the
pot with considerable force, injecting molten type metal
into the mold at a high rate of speed to ensure the mold
was lled before the metal solidied. If the stick was not
properly lled out or mounted rmly, or the special terminating block was forgotten, a dreaded splash would
result, often encasing the operators toes in molten lead
and leaving a mess that needed to be peeled o the Ludlow surfaces. Operators were encouraged to wear heavy
boots with steel toes and be quick at removing one. It was
also not uncommon for some of the type metal to be projected up onto the ceiling, no matter the height. As with
the Linotype / Intertype machines, the Ludlow machines
were often tted with metal feeders to keep the pot lled
to optimum level.
1.2
1.4
Monotype
EXTERNAL LINKS
ual proof press where it was hand inked and a single very
high quality proof was pulled. This proof could then be
photographed and converted to a negative.
Black paper was inserted before the proof was photographed for each of the photos on the nal page to create clear windows in the negative. The separately made
halftones would be taped into these clear windows on the
negative. This negative could then be used to expose the
photosensitized printing plate for an oset press. In this
way the heavy investment in hot metal typesetting could
be adapted to the newer oset technology during a transition period.
3 Comparison to successors
[1] A Few Words About Words. Pressed for Time. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
5 External links
British Printing Society
Transition
Towards the end of its life hot metal composition in newspapers was kept alive by the proof press. As each page
was set and locked up, it was moved on a turtle (a rolling
table with an accurately at steel surface[1] ) to the man-
6.1
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6.2
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6.3
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