Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1894-01-11
EXTRAORDINARY TYpEsETTING.
Record Of the Fastest Machine
Operator in the World.

Tho Marvellous Feat of Mr.. Lee Reilly on
n Mergcnthaicr Linotype Mnchine-Re-
suits That Seem Astounding.
Tho Union Printer
Another recor d has been broken. IL
has been great many years since a
record has either been made or broken
in our business. McCann, Barnes and
Duguid have held the only records ever
made which were considered worthy Of
q place OH the pages of books devoted to
records. Joseph Mccain has record
for hour of 2,023 ems of minion UNI
corrected; w. G. Barnes has record of
$3.50 ems in l hour, and Alex.
Duguid set 40,675 ems in 81 hours.
These were all considered meritorious
events underline old regime, but week
up in the composing room OF the New
York Tribune, Mr.. Lee Reilly accom-
plished the unparalleled feat of setting
and correcting All 200 ems of nonpareil
in consecutive nights OF 8 hours
each. This was done on Mergenthaler
Linotype machine and when you take
into consideration the fact that there
was no distribution to be done when his
nights work was completed the feat Is
still more noteworthy. This is larger
"string' than any one man ever got up
in the same length of time before, and
when contrasted with the "records" Of
hand composition it leaves no doubt Of
the fact that typesetting machines have
passed from the "theory" stage TO the
stage of Condition"
Mr. Reilly's daily record was: Friday,
z hours and 10 minutes composition,
65,000; Saturday, 0 hours and 80 min,
utes, $4,000; Sunday, z hours and 80
minutes, $4,000; Monday, hours and
40 minutes, $500; Tuesday, 8 hours,
74,500; Wednesday, hours and min
utes, 83,700. Thus in just minutes
over days of s hours per day he finished
the task of setting 4l1,200 ems. His
copy was not culled and no special
fayors were shown, Reilly worked OF
the hook just as the rest of the men did,
and not more than % per cent of the
matter set was loaded.
Very few trades or occupations have
seen as few changes or advances as has
the printing trade. From the first intro
duction Of the movable type up to
within the past few years the art of
typesetting has been conducted on the
same lines and the only visible improve
ment has been a slight reduction in tho
size of cases, and in some instances
combination of letters in logotypes
which has been of doubtful improvement
at best. As
Fifty years ago an ordinary COM
positor could set 10000 ems of ordinary
matter in day, and 1t took the com.
bined efforts of two men for four hours
to do tho press work on 1000 news
papers. But there came change.
Forty years later saw the pressmen
striding far ahead in their branch Of
the business, and IL place Of the old
lever press and laborlously slow process
OF printing newspapers, we find the per-
fecting press turning out more news
papers in one hour than the old style press
could in week. Here was progress in
printing, surely, but how about the
typesettiug departments Was there a
corresponding advance in that branchp
Was there the natural change and i'm
provement which every mechanical or
artistic business has experienced as II
gained age since the world begun2
No. The compositor set up the type In
the same manner and at the same rate
OF speed which had characterized print
Ing for the past half century. Stereo-
tipping had been invented, electrotypes
had been invented, folding and pastlng
machines had been added to the light
ming presses, which were turning out
papers printed, pasted and folded ut the
, rate OF many thousands per hour, but
the typcsetting was still done in the
same old slow style 1t had taken on at
the beginning. No progress marked an
era in the art. 1t hung back when
everything else pushed forward. But
II was not to be ever thus. An age Of
invention would break down the barrier
to larger, better aud cheaper news
papers. That age has arrived. The
epoch is here. Machine composition is
taking the place of hand composition on
all the metropolitan daily papers, with
! a few exceptions, and the quantity and
quality OF the machine composition Is
such that there is no question rs to It's
success
: Now, what effect is it going to have
|; on our trade-this setting OF type by
machinery at four times the rate we
have been accustomed TO? Will 1t revo-
lutlollze the printing business and cause
us all to seek new fields for liveli-
hoods Hardly. Of course no human
5 eye can see far enough into the future to
5 tell exactly what the outcome will be-,
I but il we can judge the future by the
past, and judge of the effect of the ma
n chimes on our trade by the effect of ma
a chimes on other trades, there will be no
= revolution. Mark the prediction: Five
q years from to day No. will be as large
as 1t is to day. Newspapers will be
/, larger and cheap books more plentiful.
: DAILY newspapers will flourish where
+. weeklies existed before, and tho mad
!. struggle for wealth i'll typographical
circles will continue as OF yore-only
q We will work fewer hours and have less