
Linotype Typesetting (1960) [video] - CaliforniaKarl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcp60z0E3ls
======
Animats
That's from the Internet Archive, uploaded to YouTube with ads enabled.
Internet Archive version, with slightly better audio: [1]

The Linotype is dates from 1885. The basic design didn't change much for 90
years. It wasn't the first typesetting machine, but it was much better than
its predecessors, and nothing that came later was significantly better. Until
typesetting became computerized.

A surprisingly small number of people designed the few mechanically complex
machines that worked reliably. The Linotype was designed by one of the greats
of mechanical design, Ottmar Mergenthaler.

Howard Krum designed the Teletype. People had been trying to build printing
telegraphs for half a century, with limited success. Krum got it right, and
the basic mechanism didn't change from 1926 to 1958. A Teletype decodes serial
data entirely by mechanical means, and Krum figured out how to make that work
reliably.

William Burroughs built the first good adding machine, in 1884. There had been
adding and multiplying machines for over a century, but his had reliability.
When you pulled the handle, you were putting energy into a spring, and the
release of the spring, slowed by a dashpot, powered the mechanism
consistently. Earlier machines could get wrong answers if operated too fast.
He also came up with the mechanism which causes adding machines and
calculators to jam rather than produce wrong answers as they wear out. There's
a bail that drops into a slot in the number wheels at the end of a cycle. If
the number wheels haven't made it to a valid position, as can happen with a
worn-out machine, the slots and bail won't line up, the bail won't drop, and
the machine locks up.

Henry Maudslay built the first good lathe in 1787. It's in the Kensington
Science Museum in London, where I've seen it, and it looks like a lathe from
the 20th century. He got the design and feature set right, and that basic
design persisted for centuries.

Few people are really good at this. It takes not only 3D design ability, but
insight into how to design so that machines wear well.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcp60z0E3ls](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcp60z0E3ls)

~~~
digi_owl
Makes me wonder if we lost something with the transition to computers...

~~~
pipio21
Ohhh yeah, we lost a lot of things: We lost all those noises that Teletype did
that drove anyone crazy.

Without the Linotype we lost all the toxic fumes that killed people, and the
accidents with molten lead being expelled and burning people.

We lost the exclusivity factor of only a few companies being able to spend the
enormous price those things had and the many people that were needed to repair
the machines, write, physically send and receive messages.

~~~
jacobolus
But we also have lost the ability for regular people to look at the machines
they use every day and understand them purely by inspection, with no “black
boxes”. That’s no small loss.

While we can now use computer controlled machines to cut materials at higher
precision and into trickier shapes than ever before, mechanical knowledge and
skill is in the hands of a smaller proportion of the population. There has
been a significant erosion in the broader society’s skill at
physical/mechanical reasoning and invention.

We have amazingly precise calculators and displays but the elimination of
slide rules and nomograms and physical measuring devices and drafting tools
and the steady reduction of geometry in school curricula mean that geometric
intuition and insight into the numerical relationships involved are on the
retreat.

Instead of inventors, machinists, assembly workers, or repair technicians we
are left with a society of salespeople and paper pushers, with the occasional
computer programmer or statistician.

Even folks working in architecture, industrial design, mechanical engineering,
or similar careers today spend most of their time sitting and staring at a
screen.

~~~
PJDK
Does this assertion really hold up?

While every day I use machines I can't easily inspect I also have access to a
wealth of very easily accessible information about all manner of
physical/mechanical things, plus the ability to order just about any tool
material that can be dreamt of.

On a personal level, I'm about to embark on a very ambitious DIY project that
I doubt I would have the confidence to undertake if I didn't have access to
thousands of youtube tutorials and an internet's worth of material suppliers.

~~~
jacobolus
It’s easier than ever before for someone enthusiastic to learn just about
anything... and fewer people than ever bother. At least that’s my impression.

Perhaps related to modern children’s lack of free play
[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/hey-
par...](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/hey-parents-
leave-those-kids-alone/358631/) and everyone’s incredible amounts of phone
time.

------
avs733
If you want to see the entire workflow as implemented by the New York Times
there is a great documentary about it.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MGjFKs9bnU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MGjFKs9bnU)

The documentary covers the last day that the NYT used a metal/linotype press
and talks through the entire process that happened from newsroom to printing.
It is a truly interesting way to spend 28 minutes.

~~~
emmelaich
A newspaper printing press at full speed is really something to behold.
Something I did as a morning paper boy.

Such a noise! Wait till it speeds up...
[https://youtu.be/G8cCS3o62iI?t=887](https://youtu.be/G8cCS3o62iI?t=887)

Note the lack of safety measures and ear protection.

------
ballenf
Incredible method of doing full line justification of text:

[https://youtu.be/jcp60z0E3ls?t=17m0s](https://youtu.be/jcp60z0E3ls?t=17m0s)

The machine as a whole really strikes me as akin to complex computer system
engineering.

------
microcolonel
I wish my printer had a vat of molten lead in it.

On a more serious note, I think a lot of people today have a hard time
believing that specialized machines as complex as this were ever built. It's
like looking at one of those pocket mechanical calculators.

~~~
52-6F-62
If you're still in Toronto, pay a visit to Coach House Books:
[https://chbooks.com/](https://chbooks.com/) / Loc:
[https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Coach+House+Books/@43.66628...](https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Coach+House+Books/@43.666286,-79.4025577,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x882b34bdca39db4b:0x5d5cc907ad6c7c08!8m2!3d43.666286!4d-79.400369?hl=en)

I'm not sure how they feel about drop ins these days, but they usually take
part in the Open Doors Toronto days.

They still have an operational Linotype, or at least they did 8-10 years ago.
I don't know if old Stan Bevington is still involved much. They used to show
guests how to operate it. That and an old fly-wheel platen press.

edit: It looks like they've opened a bookstore there now. They also used to do
a fall and spring launch. The fall launch they'd host at the shop and serve
beer. The spring launch used to be held at a venue of some kind. Not sure
about it anymore -- it's been a while.

~~~
KGIII
Beer, machinery, and molten metal! I'm not even kidding when I say that is
right up my alley.

~~~
52-6F-62
Keep an eye out for their fall launch. They let you run the Challenge Gordon
platen press to make a print. They don't let you set any type because it would
be pretty time-consuming, but they do let you get close and personal with a
case of lead type and a composing stick.

I think they ran the linotype when I was last there, made a row of type, or
let you do it, and then tossed it back into the molten lead again.

Just make sure to catch up on some of the poets or authors they've published.
You won't have to go far. Then again, IIRC Stan was not as much the literary
type as he was the technical-mind. He's the founding master-printer. You can
usually find him in some pub around the annex drinking too much Guinness.

~~~
KGIII
I have Canadian citizenship, so I may just have to check it out. I've only
been to Toronto a few times. It'd be a fine excuse to go back. My other excuse
is watching the Jays play.

Thanks! I'll look into it.

------
farss
RIYL this: there's a surprisingly good documentary about the history of
Linotype: [http://www.linotypefilm.com/](http://www.linotypefilm.com/)

------
crispyambulance
FYI, you can see an actual linotype in operation in the Baltimore Museum of
Industry. Fantastic machine.

([http://www.thebmi.org/exhibitions-collections/permanent-
exhi...](http://www.thebmi.org/exhibitions-collections/permanent-
exhibitions/))

------
anodari
I grew up inside a small print shop of my parents where we got to have 3
linotypes. I never learned to work on a linotype, but at certain time, my job
was to melt lead lines to be reused as bars.

------
baldfat
I just lost an hour. Thanks that was really interesting. The New York Times
video in the thread was exactly what I was wondering about. How the switch
happened.

------
bouvin
A great post indeed—this is what Youtube is excellent for! I especially
enjoyed how justification was accomplished using wedge-shaped spacers.

~~~
KGIII
I agree, YouTube is great for this stuff. I watch documentaries, almost to the
exclusion of everything else.

So, I am almost sorry for this...

[https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsETq9h35dgQq8...](https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsETq9h35dgQq80Ryx-
beOli)

You weren't doing anything better.

~~~
bouvin
I'm already subscribed ;)

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ingve
If you want to learn more about this, "Graphic Means" [0] is an excellent
documentary about pre-digital graphic design production that also covers the
Linotype era.

[0] [http://www.graphicmeans.com/](http://www.graphicmeans.com/)

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drivers99
The teletypesetter, driving the keyboard with a paper tape, at the end was the
icing on the cake.

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RockDoggyDaddy
This was great. Thanks for posting.

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thisacctforreal
As mentioned in the video, the teletype add-on described at the end replays
tapes at 20,000 words per hour, or 333wpm for a more familiar unit.

I adore the way the mattresses include rail-readable metadata for being sorted
again :)

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cafard
The old Washington Post building on 15th St. NW used to have a Linotype in a
window by the front door.

HN might also be interested in the Monotype, which made an early use of paper
tape.

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bokey
Great video; thanks for sharing!

