Last typewriter factory in the world shuts its doors

[Russell reiter]

My high school had a working Linotype machine. I had to learn how to
hand set type out of the California Job Case before the teacher would
let me set type for the school newsletter. A linotype was a
typewriting machine connected to a small lead foundry. It had three
carousels which could rotate into service and you had three different
font sizes or combinations of fonts during a run. You had to fire this
thing up and melt the lead for casting to get started.

You would visually scan the line of text to be cast, then decide
generally how close the text would come to the end of the slug. Then
you would space between each word using either an EM quad or EN (nut)
quad, which was a blank space the size of either the capital M or N of
the font you were using. The better you got at it, the fewer of the
variable spacers you had to use. The variable spacers were tapered
wedges which automatically adjusted when the casting was started. They
would throw off the scansion of the prose if you had to use too many
of them.

Two rules in the printing room were, "don't spit in the lead pot" (it
spits back) and "don't get your nuts in an em quad", meaning don't
plan to use two en quads in a line when you could use an em quad. Font
metrics are all pretty much automatic now, the computer decides how
far to put the o from the T in To.

It took quite a bit of skill to be a line-o-type writer. The name was
copyrighted as Linotype by one of the groups working on automating
typesetting. Mark Twain went broke backing his own invention and moved
to Paris to raise money to cover his debt.

Incidentally the first typewriters were the operators of the
typewriting machines and the qwerty keyboard was designed to slow the
operator down so as not to jam up the keys.


On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 3:45 PM, Scott Allen <mlxxxp-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On 27 April 2011 10:50, Lennart Sorensen <lsorense-1wCw9BSqJbv44Nm34jS7GywD8/FfD2ys at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> Whatever happened to daisy wheel printers?  They had beautiful letters,
>> but of course no graphics at all.
>
> Actually, some daisy wheel printers did have limited graphics
> capability. I have a Diablo 630 printer (actually 2, 1 serial & 1
> parallel) which can use the period to draw bitmap graphics and vector
> lines. There are built in modes and commands to support these
> functions and the paper and head movement mechanisms allow pixel sized
> movements. The plastic wheels had the period symbol metal plated to
> extend its life when used for this purpose.
>
> The Wikipedia article on daisy wheel printers has a brief description of this:
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_wheel_printer#Graphics>
>
> --
> Scott
> --
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