El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-11-10
MERGENTHALER DYING.
INVENTOR OF THE TYPESETT1NG
MACHINE WASTING AWAY.
His Long Struggle for Recognition.
How he Completed the Wonder full
LinO ypes-Anether Patent.

Otto Mergenthaler, the inventor of
the linolype, is here-passiug the win
ter-and, id as the Intelligence Is,
perhaps his last days. Consumption
has laid his band upoo him, and L was
told by friend of one of his physicians
that the man of medicine believes his
patients erd is within the ken of NOR
| tai. Despite his mem zee, however, he
| is cheerful and does his work ca b day.
He is counting upon giving the world
| anotE err invention withir yea".
| | called up him in his beautiful
| d ming ht me on the outskirts OF the
town. No one in the east would expect
| to find such house equipped with
| such surroundings away out here on
the great desert. 1t is a large square
brick structure. Through the center
is wide hall, large enough to accom-
modate billiard table that is much
enjoyed by the friends be has gathered
around him and the members of his
family. Wide lawns, kept green bv
liberal sprinkling, are the plav-grounds
of his children. From this point is
eyes may range over magnificent
vista. Looking to the south are the
great Tres Hermsnos (Three Sisters)
mount airs, that twenty five miles away
stand on the border of the sister re-
puDlic, duu lllG tuSir hSduS iiSO Iho
eve blue sky.
Nearer and a little 10 the east are
the Florida mountains, that at dis
lance remind one of the LEGENDS of an
ciept feudal castles. They are ex-
tremely preci pitOus, and their peaks are
serrated and fashioned TO resem b!e
those turrets from which the tocein
sounded the alarms. Further east are
the Organs. and north is the grsa at
Cooks Peak.
When Mrs Mergenthaler showed |
me to her hus bands library the inven- !
tor sat working at some merchanical
problem at his desk. He is pale and !
thinner than when the people of the |
east last saw him, and his cough an :,
noys him frequently. The linotype
that machine that is to newspaper |
making what the telephone and tele-
gra oh are to commercial llte-was. |
of cou-s Sc, the first topic of conversation. |
Referring to his invention, he said he
never expects to see any tVpemasing |
device cheap enough to be With
reach of the smaller class of the cOun
try papers.
DO you expect to give the world
any hew labOr-sa wing devi ce?' asked |
bin
NO. he answered slowly, mo,
not right away, but probably within
year."
"What will it be-"
81 cannot tell you. No one knows |
what it is. The world must wait AID |
ee. l rene mber the time" he contin-
ued refectively, when l was 10y /
in the old country, that saw the need
Of au improved chuck for lathes. |
worked on it diligently, ard when l
thought [ had it completed took it 10
eigh Dor, a n achinist, and showed i,
to him. He gave it such a careless
glance that it I'M III ed me, aud without
saying word reached under his bench
aid brought out iden ideally 'the same
thirg. So, YOU see it is not best to tell
W hat you intend to dountil you have
accomplished it,"
Then he gave me the story of his
life.
At the age of IS years he arrived in
A merica penniless, and WITH nothing
else but bis brief experience in me-
rhaHics. He went to Washing ton, and
during the succeeding four years work
ed on the mechanism of electric clocks
and bells and signal service apparatus
Tor the government. "a the last namc d
be made many improvements and in
vented everal new ones. AT the end
Of these four years he went 10 Balti
more where he thought he saw wider
field for his talents. He has ade that
city bis home until mo e than a year
go, when he cane to the southwest to
seek health.
1t was-in 1876, soon after he located
in the Monum NAL City, t at tie his
tory of the liGo ype begins From then
unit lS80-fcur years-he gave hi
2. cry thought II the cresti II of ii
machine He took little rest. Night
aud day he toiled, and gradually put
into work The gold of his brain aud It e
Drawn OF his body. Only such men as
Morse, Field, Gray, Bell or E iison
could tell what such toll aud applica-
lion means, |,
Finally. at the end of tAese four years
Of stf ugsle, he had machine that
wou' d, by action Of a keyboard some
thing like a typewriter, set a line Of
key dies or tyres Justify trem TO the
exact width of a column of any reauir-
d M as1re and cast it into solid lipe
Of leao or t. pc metal. Yet his work
was rot done, for after be had accom-
pliShe1 all tbi@, and had secured his
patents, another obstacle seemed to
battle him. Men of money discredited
mis- machine, even after they had seen
it work. Publishers said it was i'm
oract cab bic. They were willing to
try his device if he could 8 ow that
It would do Toe work Of five or six men
setting type from the case, but not
until then did they care to take any
risks. By constant pie adiugs, however,
he at last succe, ded in ocgani ling a
company with small capital, which in
the next three years as consumed in
the efforts to p'a"e the linotype in the
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