Matrix holder for American matrices

[John Cornelisse]

Recently I found a matrix holder for American Supercaster matrices. I just post a few photo's of it here.

I have never seen a holder for the composition caster (or orphan-any) for these matrices, never seen any pricture of it anywhere...

Are there more copies of this piece anywhere in the world ?

This one is located in Lausanne, Switserland at this moment. The owner Nicolas Regamay has his printshop there and just started working with a Monotype composition caster.

For anybody interested, his website: www.ateliertypo.ch

[Jason]

Hi John,

This is interesting: I have a mat holder for the Super Caster that uses the same components as the holder you've shown for the Comp caster. I've shown photos of mine to other Super operators and no one seems to have seen it before, but now I've stumbled on this post and see that perhaps the holder I have is a modified version of what you have, or the other way around.

Jason

[Dan Jones]

Jason, a close inspection of the top picture reveals something interesting about this holder. The number "7972" is the correct manufacturing number for a Super Caster holder made for an American flat matrix. However, there is a visible patent date of 1908 on the other half of the holder. The Super Caster hit the market in 1929, so what you have appears to be an English Monotype part married to a Lanston (American) composition machine part. Why, who knows. Two thoughts, the original holder was damaged and parts were not available, so a fix was cobbled together. Alternatively, English Monotype kept an inventory of spares, so long after the actual machines were shipped, a customer could order spares. In this hypothetical case, they ordered the "7972" part however, other components were not available, so a fix was creatively made. Anyway, if it works, use it!