The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1912-12-20

The machine was invented By
German named MergenthaleF wis
eame to this country and lived in
Baltimore. 1t has been undergoing
Improvements fer the last thirty
years and the machine in the Jour
Aal office is the latest, representing
in itself all the inventive genius of
the printing trade since Gutenberg
first made movable type nearly five
hundred years ago.
Hundreds of years ago the type
written page was engraved, each let
ter separately Then a type represen-
ting each letter was invented by Gut
enbePs. These were picked up one
at time. Now the operator sits
down at a machine, manipulates
keyboard like typewriter and the
machine casts an entire line at once
and does the work from six to twelve
times as fast as it can be done by
hand.
The machine in the Journal office
weighs over two thousand pounds
and is driven by an electric motor.
1t is difficult TO describe it but we
will endeavor to give an idea and we
invite our friends TO come in when
convenient and see it in operation.
There is a keyboard similar to that
of a typewriter, except that it is
about four times as large The oper-
ator touches the keys and little molds
representing the various letters drop
into place and form a line That is
done as rapidly as writing ON a type
writer, or usually about six times as
fast as the letters could be picked up
separately from printers case The
worlds fastest operator has set twelve
times as much as good printer could
set by hand.
This process of setting the line OF
molds is very simple and constitutes
81 small part of the machines work. !
II is after the line Of molds is set
that the machines wonderful work is
a0@e. When the line OF molds is ready |
the operator touches lever that
starts the wonderful casting machin- |
cry. From that point nothing what |
ever is done by the operator, 80 far
aS casting the line is concerned he
turns back 10 mis- keyboard and goes
ahead setting another line. Meantime
the machine ia automatically doing
twenty three separate and distipc4
things. 1t spaces the words and moves
them out TO make ala ry@n gull line. |
Then ID raises them over against q
mold the length OF line Then il
brings a pot or melteG metal to the !
opposite side OF the line mold Then |
it sends a plungeF into the pot OF
metal and drives the metal imto the |
mold Then it carries the pot back
where it was, Then it moves the mold |
containing the cast line to o. differ
ent point. Then it drives the line out
of the molG and trims it to- the exact
width and height it should be. Then
1t shoYes the line out complete and
ready to 90 in the paper AS soon as
the line is cast an arm reaches down
like the fingers of hand, picks up
the little molds and carries them
back to the channels from which
they started, putting every letter or
figure, or punctuation mark exactly
where it belongs Meantime the prin-
ter has set another line, touches the |
lever again and the operation is re-
peated.
A friend seeing the machine in OPP
said:
That machine is almost human;
it seems to have sense like a man. F." |
The reply was:
lit has sense. all the sense, all
the thought that has been put into
he invention of printing machinery