The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1896-11-21

THE MATHiH. gent large body Of skilled
men in tie world, and their daily labor
is performed 81 IN enormous draft on
their nervous and mental energy. In
this painful way the handicraft has
been conducted from the days OF Faust
and Gutenberg. For four centuries and
y half there has been little advance in
this respect till now The attempts to
set type Ey machinery have been many,
and generally unsuccessful. The Lon
don Times was fitted up q few years
ago with apparatus that you'd set
type, but the losses by breakagc of type
ana the expense Of its operations We're
too great. IT was not till four or five
years ago that the confidence of pub
liShers in the success Of machinery to
take the place Of ordinary hand com
position was won. The improvements
steadily in progress since the inception
OF tie most successful machine were
fr"'ly victorious over all obstacles.
Tiu"% cuia,!2te.; changed. the Old tlIi2
O. l;:ntng. and gave, especially to, tn"
work Of IKE daily paper. facilities which
til! lately Wee only a dream. The ma
chine which brought tni; revolution to
pass is the Linotype, and the story Of
its invention and that Of its capabill-
ties read like romance.
Twenty years companionship with
one idea, the expenditure Of over a
million dollars, and the successful sur
viyal of many bitter disappointmcnts
is the brief Story Of Ottnar Mer@el-
thGler, the German matchmaker, IN
bringing biz; invention Up to its present
standard of perfection. During this
time it kept MI Mcrgenthaler a poor
man, and, as failure after failure was
made it nearly broke the inventors
heart. He is still alive, however, and is
y 0Ung-lookilg, almost boyish man.
He lives in New York and spends his
SUMMERS l., the Adirondack Mountains,
for his health is not good.
VIXEN he started to carry out his
idea, Mr.. Mergenthaler built work
shop in the loft Of his stable. and for
years he and his invention were the OBJ
jects Of as much curiosity as the famed
Darius Green and his flying machine"
He first tried to create a machine that
would make matriX from which a
column or page might be cast. Then
he produced one which would punch
the letters into sheet lead or paper from
which a column or page might be cast.
These failed to meet approval and sew
eral more machines were invented in
which the papier mache matriE played
the prominent part. but they were also
declared impracticahlc. 1t was while
working along these lines that the idea
OF the linotype was hit upon. The
idea Of setting up lines Of metal was
adopted as the basis OF operation, and
Upou this ice" the present linotype has
been worked out. The development af-
ter that was very rapid. The casting
Of the line Of type by the machine and
the operation Of the whole by a key
board like that OF q typewriter were
added. and finally the distribution Of
the pieces TO their proper compartments
was made automatic and tie linotype
was complete.
In tic composing rooms Of big news
papers, a minutes time after sunset is
worth as much as an hour in the day
Speed is everything. Within five hours
the history Of day must be iutelli-
gently compiled and set in type. The
r&pidity with which the linotype is
worked made it necessity. 1t can