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Hub AI
Mergenthaler Linotype Company AI simulator
(@Mergenthaler Linotype Company_simulator)
Hub AI
Mergenthaler Linotype Company AI simulator
(@Mergenthaler Linotype Company_simulator)
Mergenthaler Linotype Company
The Mergenthaler Linotype Company was a company founded in the United States in 1886 to market the Linotype machine (/ˈlaɪnəˌtaɪp, -noʊ-/), a system to cast metal type in lines (linecaster) invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler. It became the world's leading manufacturer of newspaper and book typesetting equipment. Its main competitor was the American Intertype Corporation and the British-American Monotype Corporation.
Starting in the late 1950s, the Mergenthaler Linotype Company became a major supplier of phototypesetting equipment which included laser typesetters, raster image processors, scanners, and typesetting computers.
In 1987, the US-based Mergenthaler Linotype Company became part of the German Linotype-Hell AG; in the US the company name changed to Linotype Co. In 1996, the German Linotype-Hell AG was taken over by the German printing machine company Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. A separate business, Linotype Library GmbH was established to manage the digital assets (mainly fonts).
In 2005, Linotype Library GmbH shortened its name to Linotype GmbH, and in 2006, Linotype GmbH was acquired by Monotype Imaging Holdings, Inc., the parent of Monotype Imaging, Inc. and others. In 2013, Linotype GmbH officially ends when it is renamed Monotype GmbH. In August 2023, Monotype announced that it was discontinuing Linotype.com, effectively closing the business.
The invention of a machine to replace the labor-intensive task of setting type by hand had been tackled by many inventors during the 19th century. The most time consumed was not in creating the text, but in returning the characters to their proper position for future use. Ottmar Mergenthaler solved this problem by placing a type mold for a letter on the side of a specially keyed matrix (with multiple matrix/molds available for any given letter). The linotype operator would type in a line of text. The machine would drop each matrix with its mold into place, assembling the matrices into a line of text that was needed. Hot lead alloy was then forced into the molds of matrices, creating the fresh line of type.
The linotype operator would then go on to type in the next line. Multiple lines would be stacked into blocks, sometimes paragraphs, to be set in place in the proper column of the page layout. Meanwhile, back inside the linotype machine, the matrices used for a line would progress through the machine, where the special keying system on one end of the matrix, unique for each character, would allow the matrix to drop back only into the correct storage slot, ready for the next use. Another benefit of this overall process was that each edition of the paper was created from a fresh casting of metal, thus avoiding problems of type wear.
Another problem Mergenthaler solved was in justifying the type, or ensuring that in a column of print, there were flush margins on the left and right. Hand compositors had previously done this by inserting spaces of different widths between words in a line, to ensure that the lines all aligned. Mergenthaler adapted the “spaceband” (patent awarded to J. W. Schuckers), a device consisting of two opposing wedges of connected metal which expand when pushed in opposite directions. When a line of type was being justified, all the spaceband wedges would be pushed up by the justification-slide block to spread the line out to the full measure (all the way to the left and right width) being cast. The spacebands were stored for reuse in the spaceband box; a different location from the matrices (which were stored in the magazin).
The invention of the first working Linotype was a long, arduous and intricate process that involved many players and the creation of a long succession of companies.
Mergenthaler Linotype Company
The Mergenthaler Linotype Company was a company founded in the United States in 1886 to market the Linotype machine (/ˈlaɪnəˌtaɪp, -noʊ-/), a system to cast metal type in lines (linecaster) invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler. It became the world's leading manufacturer of newspaper and book typesetting equipment. Its main competitor was the American Intertype Corporation and the British-American Monotype Corporation.
Starting in the late 1950s, the Mergenthaler Linotype Company became a major supplier of phototypesetting equipment which included laser typesetters, raster image processors, scanners, and typesetting computers.
In 1987, the US-based Mergenthaler Linotype Company became part of the German Linotype-Hell AG; in the US the company name changed to Linotype Co. In 1996, the German Linotype-Hell AG was taken over by the German printing machine company Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. A separate business, Linotype Library GmbH was established to manage the digital assets (mainly fonts).
In 2005, Linotype Library GmbH shortened its name to Linotype GmbH, and in 2006, Linotype GmbH was acquired by Monotype Imaging Holdings, Inc., the parent of Monotype Imaging, Inc. and others. In 2013, Linotype GmbH officially ends when it is renamed Monotype GmbH. In August 2023, Monotype announced that it was discontinuing Linotype.com, effectively closing the business.
The invention of a machine to replace the labor-intensive task of setting type by hand had been tackled by many inventors during the 19th century. The most time consumed was not in creating the text, but in returning the characters to their proper position for future use. Ottmar Mergenthaler solved this problem by placing a type mold for a letter on the side of a specially keyed matrix (with multiple matrix/molds available for any given letter). The linotype operator would type in a line of text. The machine would drop each matrix with its mold into place, assembling the matrices into a line of text that was needed. Hot lead alloy was then forced into the molds of matrices, creating the fresh line of type.
The linotype operator would then go on to type in the next line. Multiple lines would be stacked into blocks, sometimes paragraphs, to be set in place in the proper column of the page layout. Meanwhile, back inside the linotype machine, the matrices used for a line would progress through the machine, where the special keying system on one end of the matrix, unique for each character, would allow the matrix to drop back only into the correct storage slot, ready for the next use. Another benefit of this overall process was that each edition of the paper was created from a fresh casting of metal, thus avoiding problems of type wear.
Another problem Mergenthaler solved was in justifying the type, or ensuring that in a column of print, there were flush margins on the left and right. Hand compositors had previously done this by inserting spaces of different widths between words in a line, to ensure that the lines all aligned. Mergenthaler adapted the “spaceband” (patent awarded to J. W. Schuckers), a device consisting of two opposing wedges of connected metal which expand when pushed in opposite directions. When a line of type was being justified, all the spaceband wedges would be pushed up by the justification-slide block to spread the line out to the full measure (all the way to the left and right width) being cast. The spacebands were stored for reuse in the spaceband box; a different location from the matrices (which were stored in the magazin).
The invention of the first working Linotype was a long, arduous and intricate process that involved many players and the creation of a long succession of companies.