The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-01-26
TYPE-sFTTING MACHINES
Many Daily Papers Set Up Withou
CompoSitors.


In no other art, perhaps, has so little
progress beenmade during the past four
centuries as in that of type-setting since
the days of Gutenberg. In all other work
connected with printing there has been
great advancement, the cylinder press
and stereotyping, for example, have
revOlutionized their respective branches
of the art. Not until recently. however.
have any attempts of note been made to
avoid the tedious work of picking up
each separate type from the chaotic heap
III its allotted apartment in the lease, -
carefully turning it right end up and
right side foremost and placing it in line
in the composing stick" 1t may seem
surprising that this work, so important
in its results, should have remained in a
crude stage throughout the period of the
worlds history marked by the greatest
achievements Of inventive genius. 1t is a
hard problem to solve to be sure, with an
exacting set Of conditions to meet-deIi-
cate operations to be performed quickly,
automatic adjustments to be made and a
changing of vocation of an army Of work
ers trained i'll the ''old way"
But is it too much for the indomitable
will, pluck and everlasting energy Of our
trained inventors? They claim that it is
not; that they have overcome other tasks
equally difficult, and that they are now
in a position to promise positively all
that the printer asks in this line. 1t is
significant, to say the least, that within a
few weeks a contest between four type
setting machines, continuing through
six days, under the most exacting re-
quirements, has been held in Chicago
under the auspices of the American
Newspaper Publishers Association, and
that the manufacturers of these machines
have since received numerous orders
from newspaper offices. Already several
important daily journals in this country,
and few in England, are set up without
the aid of "compositors. The Typo
graphical Union, it is understood, now
regards the coming of the type-setting
machine as inevitable
The actual setting of type by machinery
is not new thing. The arrangement Of
the type in lines, properly spaced, has
required some manual work, however,
with the result that the machine afforded
no economy In newspaper printing. OF
late this manual assistance has been so
minimized as to wholly remove the OBJ
lections from many minds and the most
distinguished printer in this country is
at the head of a company formed to
manufacture machine which took part
IN the Chicago contest. Standard type is
used, and the result, as shown in the
printed page, is the same as that from
type set by hand. The machines of this
class automatically distribute the type
after it has been used in printing. The
type-maehine inventors are not content
to stop here, however, but insist upon
producing device which shall not only
dispense with handwork in ''iustifvinoD
the lines, but also with the use of types
as that word is now understood. The
problem is to produce from pot of
molten type-metal, the equivalent of
lines or columns of printing-type, the
whole to be done by machinery What
is aimed at is rather a ''matrix ma
chine than type-setter, since its pur-
pose is to east letters or lines of type-not
to set types bought from the foundry.
With one exception the machines COM
peting at Chicago were of this Glass;
Walter E. Crane in the Engineering Mag
aZine