Omaha daily bee., 1896-04-04
MACHINE ~TYPEsETTING.
Remarkable Speed of Two st. Louis
Printers.

Printers.
Robert w. Francis, a llnotyper on the
Democrat, and Barney j. Mensing OF
the Post-Dispatch contested for a 5000 purse
in ST. Louis last Monday and incidentally
made a new record for speed on linotype
machines.
In arranging for tine test of speed, relates
the Globe-D Democrat, the question Of establish
ing a new record was not taken into consider
alton, owing to the fact that in the former
contest the results fell considerably below
the worlds record" Although it was ar
ranged and conducted as a local contest of
speed, the fact that all previous records were
beaten was fully appreciated by the printers,
who were quite jubilant in con-
sequence, and this fact enabled the defeated
contestant and his champions to accept the
defeat in good grace.
At the outset both contestants were, by
the rules, required to agree that the ma
chimes were in good order. They were
speeded to ninety-three revolutions per
minute, requiring eleven revolutions to
bring out a line, or about eight and a half
lines to the minute. The copy chosen was
a story of the "yellow-backed novel; variety,
entitled I'm the Blue Fike,'' a small volume
printed in bold, clear type, on small pages.
The leaves were torn apart and turned as
the pages were used. Proofs were read ac-
cording to copy. Each proof was corrected
40 soon as handed back by the referee. and
revised, if necessary. until all errors were
corrected. All tight and loose lines were
reset ana any line that the machinist forced
through was thrown out. The proofs were
read by a representative of each side.
Each contestant was allowed an assistant
TO lock after copy, dump matter and assist
IN any possible way outside of the actual
manipulation, of the keyboard. Each con-
t@S,ant was allowed one machInist, one
nelper and eight friends. The type was No.
2 nonpareil. thirteen and one-half ems Mica
TO measure twenty-seven ems to the line
The time fixed for beginning was 10 a
m, ana seven hours was specified as the
bowevnr o, Inc contest; 1t was 1920 o'clock,
however, when both began humping their
keypoards at a rapid rate. About twenty
Ieh were IN The composing room, nearly
al OF them occupying various positions
considered necessary in the contest
inc match, was kept up without apnrecio b,a
aeiay and but a small degree of excitement
lor three hours and a half, when an intermis.
SION was taken for lunch and recuperation
an interval of about forty minutes ensued
Wheh the operators resumed their positions
a a - sne nlacnHles, and the rapid clicking of the
uies protested aThis was kept I'D fin 6.5a
Q CLOCK, when Francis time was apno,nced
70 pc up, he having lost ffty-nine minutes
IN stoppages of the. machine, and the interval
alluaed to for lunch. One minute Iater
mehslnss time was announced and he arosa
n ~ MS machine, although he had lost
seventy minutes since beginning. This how
ever, was not discovered for some time after
ward When the fact was established that ha
nau quit ten minutes too soon. This. how
ever, was not allowed, for in the results in
winch seven hours time was counted.
'When the measurements were taken and
rooted up they were found to be as follows.
Mensing, 74,1OO ems; Francis, 65, 800 ems
Ihls was an average of O,6S5 ems per hour
Tor Mensing and 9,4OO ems per hour for
Francis. " w.
The previous best record was made IN n
contest conducted at Chicago last fall in
which George w. Green, then an employe of
the Boston Standard, set 70, 700 ems in seven
hours, an average of 10, 100 ems per hour
GREEN'S opponent in this contest was Eugene
Iaylor, then employed on the Rocky Noun
tain News of Denver, who set 81, 627 ems in
seven hours. an average of about 9,147 ems
per hour. 1t Is therefore shown that both
the winning and losing contestants In the
chicago contest were beaten by the winner
and loser respectively of yesterdays match.
The rate of speed attained by the operators
IN the contest was a surprise to the assist
ants. although all were familiar with the
work. Mensing's dexterity was considered
marvellous by Referee Frank A. Hill, who
said that at times he averaged ~, 900 ems
per hour. He was frequently obliged to wait
for the finger" or carriage to carry off a
line, although, as stated above, the machine
was speeded at ninety-three revolutions per
minute.