page_title: Monotype typefaces
section_title: Hot metal
hierarchical_section_title: Monotype typefaces / Hot metal
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Monotype Giessmaschine fotografiert von: Softeis im Deutschen Museum GNU-FDL
context_page_description: Monotype fonts were developed by the Monotype company. This name has been used by three firms. Two of them had their roots in "hot metal" or lead type in the printing industry. They could not adapt when the market changed as computer, offset and photographic systems became dominant. These were
  Lanston Monotype Cooperation in Philadelphia, USA
  The Monotype Corporation Limited in Salfords, UK
  A third firm produces fonts for computer use:
  Monotype Imaging Inc.
  The latter firm is in a sense the successor to the English Monotype factory. It has the rights to the original designs, and later obtained rights to many more designs from other sources. The remains of the production archive and what is left of the machines are at the Type Museum in London, England. There the original matrices can still be accessed and parts of the old machines ordered. The collection itself is the property of the British Science Museum. The survival of the Type Museum is threatened since the building is no longer owned by the Science Museum, is in a very poor state of repair, and the new owner intends other uses for the property.
context_section_description: The first two firms mentioned above produced a long list of fonts, which were identified by names and serial numbers. That type design eventually acquired a very good name and the "Monotype" brand was synonymous with high quality and reliability. 
  In their name much typographic research on historical character designs from the early years of typography has been carried out. Many of the letters were produced as "revivals" , including characters in Garamond, Baskerville, Bodoni, Bembo, Caslon and many other typefaces.
  The major difference between the two firms is that the American fonts do not match the English fonts. Letters with the same name had in most cases a different designer, and their appearance and implementation differ. The identification numbers do not all correspond.
  The matrices of the two firms also differ in terms of depth, the image inside the matrix, implementation, and size. For example, the American matrices are shallower by 0.025  mm (0.010   inch), and consequently the interior of American foundry moulds need to be higher to produce characters with a type height of 23.3  mm (0.918   inch). This was one of many measures taken by the two Monotype companies to divide the world market between themselves. For example, the Americans served the Americas and the Canadian markets. The British company, The Monotype Corporation Ltd. in Salfords, had many customers in India, Africa, and Asia. For these countries many non-Latin typefaces were created for printing in Hebrew, Javanese, Sanskrit, Sinhala, Thai, and other languages.
  The composition-caster machines of the Monotype Corporation produced ready-to-use composed pages with text consisting of single pieces of type. The machine provided filled lines, justifying them by adding spaces of varying widths. These ending machines were controlled with a paper ribbon. Typing the texts on keyboards was manual work that took much more time than casting. A composition-caster needed the ribbons of at least three separate keyboards. Correction of the final composition was accomplished by simply replacing the moveable type. The lines did not to be recast, as with Linotype machines.
  These composition-casters could produce type in sizes up to 14 point pica or Didot font width. "Large-composition" customized machines and moulds could provide composition up to 36 points. The matrices are correspondingly larger and there is room for only one alphabet in the die case. For this reason one machine-run could not provide composition in both Roman and italic typeface, so additional hand work was required in such cases.
  Type for hand-composing was also cast with Monotype machines; all characters up to 36pt, and rules, could be cast on a large-composition machine. Another machine was the "super-caster" or "supra", which could cast single type. After conversion it could also be used to cast any material needed in print shops, including reglettes, ornaments, and similar designs, as well as characters up to 72 points. There were moulds with inserts for sizes 14 to 36 point. For the even larger sizes of 42, 48, 60 and 72 point another type cast was used. The machine had to be reconfigured for each different type requirement.
caption: A Monotype caster
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