User:Elcobbola/Mergenthaler

The Mergenthaler Linotype Company was an American manufacturer of hot metal typesetting machines. Founded in Brooklyn, New York in 1885 as the Mergenthaler Printing Company, the company produced and marketed the linotype machine invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler. The linotype, a "line casting" device, revolutionized printing and newspaper publishing by enabling a relatively small number of operators to type set many pages on a daily basis.

Ottmar Mergenthaler


Ottmar Mergenthaler was born in Hachtel, Germany on May 10, 1854. After an apprenticeship as a clockmaker, Mergenthaler emigrated to the United States in October 1872. Mergenthaler found employment in Washington D.C. at August Hahl's tool shop, which primarily produced timekeeping devices for the United States Weather Bureau (the predecessor to the National Weather Service) and constructed prototype models for inventors applying for patents. The Panic of 1873 and subsequent economic downturn, however, prompted Hahl to relocate the shop to Baltimore in 1874.

In 1876, Charles T. Moore and James O. Clephane approached Hahl with a writing machine design, which Hahl agreed to prototype for $1,600.

Mergenthaler resigned in 1888.

Incorporation
In 1884, Clephane incorporated the National Typographic Company in West Virgina to produce the machines. Twelve were ordered by the New York Tribune and were first used to produce the July 3, 1886 issue.

1886 as the Mergenthaler Printing Company. 1890 as the Mergenthaler Linotype Company.

Design
The design initially presented by Moore and Clephane functioned in a manner similar to that of a typewriter. Upon pressing a key, a typebar with the corresponding letter would strike against a papier-mâché sheet, causing a depression. The indented sheet could then be used as a mold to cast a block for use in a letterpress printing machine. The design was problematic, however, as different characters required different amounts of pressure to indent. For example, a strike that would properly impart letter "l" would be too light for a more complex letter, like "m". When printed, inconsistent depths caused characters with deeper impressions to appear too dark and shallower depressions too light, if at all. Variations on the method, such as imprinting a whole line at once (as opposed to letter by letter), were considered, but the fundamental method was ultimately deemed unworkable.

In 18__, Mergenthaler devised an alternative method which resolved the issues inherent to the creation of new molds. Upon pressing a key, a pre-cast mold (matrix) for the desired letter was released from a storage magazine. The matrices would then align along an assembler rail (also called a "band") in the order in which they were released (see image to the right).