Many thanks to Tony Bassano for sending in this picture of himself seated at the Intertype that he operated for 23 years.
TONY BASSANO operating an Intertype C4-1 at Califorms Printing Company, San Jose, California, USA, c1976
Says Tony: “Here is a photograph of me circa 1976 setting type on the C4-1 Intertype machine I operated for Califorms Printing Company in San Jose, California for 23 years.
It had a gas pot, pig fed, and the Intertype mechanical quadder. It was an excellent typesetting machine, and was retired in 1992.
Intertype fan? Don’t miss the Intertype Chat section of the Metal Type Forum.
Vin Crosbie allowed these excellent photographs to be used on Metal Type.
Vin said: “These photographs detail the production of a 10,000-circulation daily newspaper in Connecticut on Friday, March 17, 1961. I found these slides among those of my father, the paper’s general manager. The Chronicle has been owned by my family since 1877. I’m the fifth generation and the sixth is already working there.
The newspaper was located in this building at 24-26 Church Street, Willimantic, Connecticut from 1877 until 1972. The building was demolished in 1976 after the newspaper had moved to the outskirts of town. The old location is now the Arthur W. Crosbie [memorial municipal] parking lot. My father, who died shortly before the parking lot was build, would have chuckled if he’d have known a parking lot was named after him.Rolls of newsprint roll off the freight train. The rolls would then be trucked to an alleyway behind the newspaper, where the press crew would push them into the the newspaper building.Editor Jim Malone and Reporter Walter Snow.One prints the national and international report; the other the state and regional report.A tele-typesetting keyboard.The wire service would provide about 100 stories daily, which would be printed out in English on the teletype machine and also in the form of paperpunch tape encoded in TTS format. Each tape would bear an punched number (in roman numerals) corresponding to the number of a story on the teletype.Intertypes at work.Intertype keyboard.Matrices being assembled in a self-centering Ludlow stick.A Ludlow headline being cast.An Elrod strip-caster.Work on the stone.More work on the stone.Proof reading.A plate coming off the caster.The plate being put on the press.The Goss press in action.Papers coming off the press.An Addressograph gets papers ready to post out to subscribers.Paperboys queue for their papers.The newsroom.
Alan Runfeldt runs a 1930s era print shop in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, USA. As well as traditional letterpress printing Alan rescues, restores and passes on old letterpress equipment such Kelsey Excelsior Platen Presses, Chandler & Price Platen Presses and Vandercook & Challenge Proof presses. He also collects, catalogs, uses and some times passes on fonts of hand-set foundry type and wood type as well as the cases and cabinets to keep them in.
Multilith Offset Press
I don’t think this press is in Alan’s collection, his website says the press is in Philadelphia. I had to include the picture, though, it’s got to be the oldest litho press I’ve seen.
Circa 1929 Ludlow Model L Typograph (part of Alan’s collection) before and after restoration.
Robert Griffith sent in some scans of this 1920s advertising brochure for the Model 14 Linotype. It appears to have been produced by the Chicago office of Mergenthaler.
Brochure cover
Striking features of the Model 14
This Linotype may be equipped with one, two, or three full-size magazines which are interchangeable with those of all single- and multiple-magazine Linotypes using quick-change Model 5 magazines.
The auxiliary magazine does not interfere with the shifting or removal of the main magazines. To shift from one face and size to another the operator merely turns a handle; he does not have to rise from his chair.
Auxiliary magazine of twenty-eight channels.
Matrixes from the auxiliary magazine can be mixed at will with those from the main magazines.
Water-cooled mold-disk; Universal ejector for all bodies and measures; Universal knife block; Automatic sorts stacker; Automatic font distinguisher; Thermostat gas governor; All bodies from 5-point to 36-point; All measures from 4 ems to 34 ems.
THE MODEL 14 LINOTYPE equipped with one, two or three magazines and an auxiliary magazine.
The Model 14 Linotype is equipped with three regular magazines and an auxiliary magazine, which adapts to an unusually wide range of work.
When equipped with the three standard magazines, each with a full font of two-letter matrices, there are 540 different characters in six different faces at the command of the operator.
Linotype Model 14 magazine arrangement.
In addition the auxiliary magazine can be used for large display faces, advertising figures, or special character of any kind.
Any one of the three main magazines can be brought quickly into operative connection with the keyboard without the operator’s leaving his seat.
The auxiliary magazine is operated from a supplementary keyboard at the right of the operator, and is always available for immediate use.
Matrices from the auxiliary magazine can be mixed with those of any one of the main magazines.
Distribution of matrices, which is automatic, is speedy and absolutely accurate.
The Model 14’s four-mold disk permits the composition of a wide range of type faces and body sizes without change of liners.
For example, the mold pockets may carry a display mold for 36-point, a display mold for 24-point, a recessed mold for skeleton slugs from 10- to 14-point, and another regular mold for 5- to 14-point.
The operator can bring any of the molds into operative position instantly without leaving his seat.
Three molds are included with the standard equipment of this machine, and the fourth mold can be ordered extra if desired.
Linotype fan? Don’t miss the Linotype Chat section of the Metal Type Forum.
Many thanks to Jim Daggs, of Ackley Publishing Company, Ackley, Iowa for sending in these photographs — including one of himself.
Ackley World Journal Compositor-Pressman, Don Fistler making up ads in 1955.Don Fistler feeding a 4-page Cottrell flatbed newspaper press at Ackley World Journal in 1955.Ackley World Journal Linotype Operator, LuRay Meyer, at Model 14 in 1955.Jim Daggs at C4 Intertype in Ackley, May 1983. G-4 Intertype in foreground.
Rich Holmes, who also provided the Linotype Model 8 Video has sent in these pictures of the Provost News, Provost, Alberta, Canada, including one of his father at the News Editor’s desk.
The old Miehle newspaper press that used to be used by the Provost News in Provost, Alberta Canada during weekly newspaper operations.
It would print 4 pages 10 X 16 inches approx at one time. Then we would take out the four letterpress pages, put in four different ones, re-load the newspaper stock upside down and then print on the other side.
Then that large sheet (4 and 4 = 8 numbered pages) went to a semi automatic hand-fed folder to produce the folded 8 pages.
News Editor at His Desk — Many of the older members of the Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association will remember George S. Holmes, who served as president of the association. He is shown here in a typical photograph of a rural country newspaper editor at his desk in Provost, Alberta, Canada. Note the ink stained hand, cigarette, old style telephone — and the desk full of papers. No Power Macs, scanners, spell checkers (other than in one’s brain) or instant photography. These were the days of long hours and hot metal. The picture looks like it could have been taken during the 1950s, according to wife Margaret Holmes, who helped in the front office and took turns operating the semi-automatic folder on paper day.
Rich says: “This is a picture of my father George S. Holmes — his father and my grandfather, Ed Holmes and purchaser of The Provost News began his publishing career at age 11 in the composing room of the Bradford Daily Argus in Yorkshire, England.
“In the year 1900 Ed Holmes homesteaded in the district of Assiniboia, for two years, now the province of Saskatchewan. He put up a sod shack and built a farm around it.
“During two years he had only the Holy Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare and could quote passages verbatim from both for the rest of his life.
“Since the winters on the homestead offered little in activity or income, Ed Holmes spent the winter months working for the Alemeda Dispatch and Arcola Star and later the Winnipeg Free Press where he met his wife.
“The young couple headed for Carlyle, to take possession of the Carlyle Herald and built it into a profitable and respected newspaper.
“In 1922 Holmes founded the Dauphin Progress in Manitoba. Then he took a position as city editor with the Winnipeg Free Press for four years.
“He then did a stint on the editorial desk in 1928 of the Regina Daily Star and later became the editor of the Regina Morning Star.
“He then went to the news desk of the Toronto Daily Star in 1929. About that time he felt an overwhelming desire to again run his own weekly newspaper and settled in Provost with his wife and sons.”
If you liked this story you may also like Printers’ Tales a compilation of similar stories, available in ebook and paperback formats.
These very evocative pictures of the Rhinebeck Gazette in Rhinebeck, New York State, USA were recently offered for sale on eBay after being purchased from an auction of the estate of a member of the Strong family who owned and edited the paper. They were taken by Harry Coutant circa 1930.
The outside of the Rhinebeck Gazette building, circa 1930. The building still stands, but is no longer a newspaper office.The front office of the Rhinebeck Gazette.Nice picture of a Linotype machine at the Rhinebeck Gazette, taken from an unusual angle, around 1930.A very luxurious-looking office — possibly the editor/owner’s at the Rhinebeck Gazette, circa 1930.
NICHOLAS KENNEDY of Trip Print Press, Toronto, Canada, sent in this short close-up film of his Little Giant #6 press in action.
Says Nicholas, “It is printing a monthly programme for a local venue.
“All the body type is set on the Ludlow, including the strange pixel-like, reversed, crochet type that says ‘thirty’, the mixed sort ’30’s are wood type.
“The Giant is running on double roll, this means the form rollers ink the form twice and a sheet is fed every other cycle. Very helpful.”
Many thanks to the Provost News, Provost, Alberta, Canada, for allowing Metal Type to make use of this video.
The machine has quite a history after having been saved from “The Great Fire of Provost” in 1946.
The machine was pulled out of the main street News office south of Larson’s Hardware by a tractor as flames threatened. The delicate typesetting machine tipped over and one of the arms broke. The press was also saved from the fire that destroyed three buildings after knocking out the back wall of the News office.
The machine was taken out of service in 1979 as new technology rolled in, but still remains fully functional to this day.
Linotype fan? Don’t miss the Linotype Chat section of the Metal Type Forum.
