The tale of Rogers v Linotype

[Dave Hughes]

Interesting video, this guy at the International Printing Museum, Carson, is a good story teller.

Mark Barbour

International Printing Museum
TypeCon2010

This video features the strange and rare Rogers Typograph machine (circa 1890) and its fascinating story as told by Mark Barbour, curator of the museum. I'm sorry I missed the first couple minutes of his presentation which included the Unitype machine. Get down to the museum and Mark will be happy to retell it!

Invented by John R. Rogers, this is one of the typesetting machines introduced to compete with the Linotype. Its simple method required far fewer parts and much less operator training. Rogers was involved in a patent infringement battle with Linotype and the manufactory was first moved to Toronto, and then to Berlin.

The bizarre, antiquated appearance of this machine belies the fact that, in a slightly streamlined version, it is still being manufactured in Germany and can be had equipped with such up-to-date type faces as Helvetica.

Read more about the Unitype, Typograph, and Linotype here: printmuseum.org/​museum/​collection/​

The Tale of Rogers vs Linotype from Stephen Coles on Vimeo.