The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-11-17

"'rhe machine ought O. lao nlle"ca
To vote, Mas the comment af q sehtlc
nun yesterday aftef witnessing the
operation az tne three new Meeevn
thaler Linotype a,aahipe plaeed 50 ctr
office IL set up the hailY Neva aud
Observer aod the weekly North Caro-
linian. both II which pspeta are pub
hahed bN tho News and Observer Pub.
fishing Company
Since lass when Outtcnhotg invent
ed the art OF printing, no Invention has
been made IN the printing art se radi'
cal and important as the invention of
the Linotype Cline Of type) machine.
Indeed il may be we'll doubted whether
any invention, SO wonderful and that
contributes so much to the instruction
and good of mankind, in any depart
ment has been perfected since Gutten-
burg, in the year 1438 made contract,
in Strasburg, with Andrew Dryzehn, or
Dritzehn, and others, by which he
bound himself to instruct them in all
his "secret and wonderful arts and
to employ these for their common adj
vantage.
The introduction of the Linotype
machines marks a more radical
change in the printing business than
when the printers stopped making
L. xx,ht fhnu nGpI
and created the business of typefound-
ing. This was in the sixteenth cen
fury. In the domain of printing, thanks
to the invention of Mergenthaler, the
printers have returned to the original
plan started by Guttenburg, thus
eliminating the middleman workers
in the type-foundry. Then letter by
letter was cut out with great difficulty
and consequent slowness. Now the
operator of a Mergenthaler Linotype
by simply playing on keyboard like
typewriter, casts his type as he sets
them, and casts them, not letter by
letter in the old way, but a whole line
at casting. An expert can set an
average of from 1900 to 10000 ems
per hour, depending upon the size OF
the type, the legibility of the copy,
and the experiences of the operator.
The record of $500 ems per hour was
made by Lee Reilly, an operator in the
New York Tribune Office. The fore
man of the office and Mr.. Reilly make
affidavit that Mr.. Reilly set ION the
Mergenthaler machine, taking copy
from the hook in the regular course
of business, All, 200 ems of nonpareil
matter, all of which appeared in print,
the actual working time being 48 hours
and five minutes. II All of this
matter, except that of the last day,
was corrected by him within the time
above named x X that seyenty-fye
per cent or upwards Of this matter
was set solid, and that no hand-work,
such as heads or leads was counted,
and that no special preparation was
made for doing such work"
But while Nr. Reilly's record is
good, perhaps the best on record for
whole week, three men have surpass-
ed it. Mr.. l.. A. Johnston, of the New
York Times, set from the hook in
solid matter, without heads, leads or
rules, net average per hour of eight
hours 9,028 ems.
Charles Il. Cole, of the Cincinnati
Post, beat this record, having set in
7 hours and Sc minutes 10000 ems,
1914 ems measure, an average of $500
per hour.
1t remained for the great west to
beat the world. j. j. Smith, AMI opera
tor in Denver, set and corrected 1884,
900 ems of nonpareil matter, % ems
plea ia length, in four days of nine
hours each, an average of 10000 per
hour
The smaller the type, the more the
ems that can be set per day. The aver
age work of a good operator is 1000
CHS per uOuI. AT inns tfEidSCS
working eight hours, a compositor
would set $4,000 ems per day, and in
number of offices the weekly wage
is made dependent upon setting that
average. The advantage of these ma
chimes is seen when we state that
first class printer, at hand compost
ton, in this section will not average
on BREWER type more than 1000 ems
per day, though some swift compost
tors do average more than that.
The reduction in the cost of compo
sition by the use of the Linotypes va
ries. In Chattanooga, Tenn, the price
of hand composition was 33 1-3 cents
per Thousand ems. Since the introduce
ton of the Linotype, the price is 9
cents per thousand ems for day work