The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1902-1905, 1903-07-03

The Baltimore Sunday Herald of
June 2lIa has a fu | page illustrated
article "Baltimoreans Invent a Ma
chine that Revolutionizes Printing
the Linotype is Followed by the
Composotype." r. e illustrations
are of the machine itself, the in
ventors, Frank II. Brown and John
f. Hanrahan, and Geo. A. Boyden,
the mechanical expert.
Because of the fact that Frank
Brown is q former Crescent City boy
and that his first ideas of the print
ing business We're gained here,
where he and Allen Maull began
newsp iper opertions with a small
amateur plant at Grovesdale, the
story of his rise will have peculiar
lterest. Because of limited space
the Ntws can onl, reproduce a lit
lie of the story, and this must natur-
ally Inave' to do with Mr.. Browns
part in the invention. 1t will be
seen that the idea originated with
lim. Here is the story:
The printer was Frank H. Brown,
g. delicate fellow, and the period in
printing history was that just prior
10 the advent of the Mergenthaler or
linotype machine invented by Ott-
mar Mergenthaler, q Baltimorean,
and which was destined even then to
revolutionize. the business of issuing
IL newspaper,
Brown went to work on the
Herald in its old plant, at Charles
and Baltimore streets, and worked
hard Mt his trade.
RumOrs III the meantime began
floating in of an invention by one
Mergenthaler, which men said would
put the typefounder out Of business
and throw countless thousands OF
printers out of their jobs. Brown
heard this and went to this Mergen-
thaler plant, then at Locust Point
and studied this machine, learning
70 operate it and fixing himself fol
The revolution when it came. For a
wear he did this, putting III portion
of each day on the new machine =
the linotype. In the end when II
came out and when the plans OF q
syndicate to confine the new ma,
chine to the five papers controlled
by it failed, and when every paper OF
any size in the country put III the
machines, Brown went on with the
first, on machine No. 3 in the Herald
office-and still No. 3-setting stocks
and market reports, because these
columns were considered the most
difficult to set and because he wanted
to learn the full limitations of his
machine, and that as soon as posi-
bic.
In about a years time he had sue
ceeded in doing this, and the lino-
type, so complicated to the layman
and really a familiar thing 10 so Few
was to him an open book. He knew
its limitations as well rs its strength
Frank Browns mother was Miss
Mary Howarth, of Richmond, Va.
and his father was Mr.. Ezra w
Brown, carpenter, of Boston, but
the noint to be noticed here is that
Miss Mary Howarth was the daugh
Ter of John Howarth, a man who
made three great fortunes on lnven'
tons; so to make inventions was al
most An inherit an with Bro wn.
John Howarth invented carbon
black, the principal Ingredient OF
printers ink, by so simple an expe'
dent as burning natural gas beneath
n soapstone and collecting the biacF
inns formed; and he made one in,
yention after another and managed
RI realize on most of them. But the
fact remains that Frank ID. Brown
his grandson, grew up absolutely de'
nandent on his own eXertions, with
pothing i'm the world but his mother
wit and his inventive genius lnhert,
ted through his mother from Ole
Virginia. 80 II
Browns hands was familiar thlng
and its limitations, combined WIN
fine inventive streak in his makeup
induced the printer to try to remedy
these limitations, and while WORKING
on this daring scheme, since aDah'
doned as too advanced for the time
came TO the printerand was partially
worked out by him, This schem'
was nothing more nor less thar
using male characters, or canoes, u