The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-10-27
THE PRINTERS DOOM.
Typesetting BY Hand VIII Very
Soon be Obsolete.
The NEW ROGERS TyPooRAPt
Does the work Of several Kan ana Takes
No lers Roon rhsa Cass-
simple In Operates.


mp Park row yesterday, and actuated BY
motives Of curiosity, wandered into an
Office not . hundred feet from the Sun
building, simply to see how his art had got
along after his DEATH the chances are that
he would have received ashOck OF astonishs
ment that would have made him gasp. He
would have seen Z young wearing Derby
hat and diamond scarf pin, gently tap.
ping some Iettered keys on machine that
looked something like the framework Of .
girls corset. and il he had asked him what
he was doing. the young man would have
replied:
I'm setting type."
And this would probably have scar cd
old man Gutenberg back to death.
The queer-looking machine was . Rogers
typ0graph, named after its inve ntor,
Professor John r Rogers. It seemed the
easiest thing IN the world to operate it.
corresponding to the letter that you
wanted. and then another key and another,
until you had finished line, then touch .
lever. and there you had your writing set
up In solid line of brand-new type. man
ufactnred on tho spot II is q wonderful
machine, and San reporter spent an hour
yesterday in examining It. A description
OF It In technical language would be IS
difficult Cor the reporter to write as it
would be for the reader to understand.
SO here's what il looks like to Z layman:
The whole affair, in the FIRST place, rests
on the floor. feet square. and is ~ feet
high. 1t weighs $50 pounds. At the first
sight it il seen that there are two distinct
parts, the body. mass Of iron ana steel,
and tho upper part network of wires,
which, with its key board. looks something
like big typewriter. In the bowels of the
machine the reporter could see blue fame
surrounding the mouth of small black
ripe. The keyboard was almost the same
~ that Of an ordinary typewriter. except
Ing in the arrangem ent Of the
letters and in the size of the
keys. When you pressed . KEY it
sank down into hole IN the board. Con-
nected with the lower end Of each key was
stih wire which ext ended hack about
eighteen inches. and from the outer en- i OF
this wire dangled strips of metal which
looked like the steols Of q corset only tn ey
were notched along the side. These are
the features Of the machine v hich first
strike the observer. When the reporter
looked more closely he found an intricate
maze Of wheels and levers and bars and
nlouids and cutting machines. But compli-
Gated - the machine looked, its work
ing was very simple and could b learned
in . few minutes.
The dangling strips ct the back Of the
machine were matrices. In the steel side
Of each was the perfect impression of
printed letter. from which . type could b
made. At the end Of each stiff wire hung
several matrices containing certain letter,
but the letter was different on every wire.
For instance, at the end Of one wire hung
perhaps dozen matrices, all containing q
mould Of the letter sc, and another wire
contained matrices Of the letter ga" and
so on, the number Of matrices Of each letter
depending on the frequency with which
sem. ''f Thus shsls Would adv'ra e
twelve or thirteen .'e's" for three
or four "x's," In another part Of
the machine 10 q wire which contains q lot
of peculiarly shaped disks Of metal which
are used for spacing the words. These will
be explained further on. The keyboard is
about one foot wide, and the stiff wires as
they emerge from under it cover about that
space. Now, these wires spread out and
upward and outward. so that at the end
from which the matrices hang they form
almost q semicircle. with the diameter par
ailel with the edges of the key board. This
gives all the wires . slant, and when the
matrix Is released 1t slides down tho wire
toward the keyboard. That much for the
upper part.
The black pipe, the mouth of which pro.
trudes from the hot fame of gas Jet, or
lamp. or whatever may be used, connects
with an iron box which is filed with mol
ton type metal. This IL 90 arranged that
when rod in the back Of the machine re.
wolves u squiris . stream Of silvery liquid
through the pipe.
And now for the working OF the ma
chine. Fastened to an iron stand in front
OF the machine was . leather seat. Just
like those used on . bicycle. Mr.. G. C.
Ruthrauff. the vice-president and general
manager Of the Rogers Typograph Com
pany, who was explaining all the things TO
the reporter. asked him to sit down here
and TO set type. He did not ask If the re-
porter knew anything abouttypesetting. He
ing seen the young man with the Derby
hat a. work, and knowing little about
writing on typewriters. the reporter went
ahead. He pressed the key bearing the let
ter H." There was little rattle. then q
matrix. which had been released by the
pressure, came sliding down me wire and
fell into grove right under the key board.
The lower end OF the matrix hung near the
mouth of the black pipe. The reporter
looked at Nj. Ruthrauf TO sec II that was all
right.
go ahead. Just write whatever you
want to-
The reporter touched ST." and there was
another rattle and y slide and another
matrix came down on another wire and
hung beside the first. 80 that the moulds OF
the Two letters were on an even line side
by side.
''Supposing want to write another word
now. how do make the space?" asked the
reporter.
'Just touch that brass key without any
mark on IL.
The reporter did so. and disk slid beside
the letter IT" Imagine piece of iron the
size of haif-d0liar, one.quarter of IN inch
thick on one side and then narrowing down
until it was about as thick as an ordinary
visiting card on the other side.
Ii would form sort OF circular wedge.
Oae OF these wedges slipped down with its
narrow edge next to the matrix of ii. !"
The reporter then spelled out You. space,
see. space. 1T, space, i'm. space. THE.
space. Sun. space, i-t-'-s, space, so. Mr..
nnger, and could not see what he had writ
ten.
The reporter said he had finished. Mr..
RuthtauH glanced 1t the row OF matrices
and said: "You haven't filled tho line.
Touch the quad mark several times.
There. that's right. Nov. press that lever
near the floor with your foot and then take
IL OF again."
The reporter did 90, and II seemed that
the whole machine was in r>otion. The
lever threw rod in the back OF the ms
chine into the gear Of Q small dynamo, and
the rod turned once and performed won
ders. First il moved bar which pressed
against the space disks between the mat
rices, and these, acting like wedges, spread
the words apart IS far rs the width OF .
newspaper column-which was marked
of by pieces of steet-would permit
When they we're thus spread out sort OF
iron box seemed to rise and envelop the