1890 A New Terror

[Mechanic]

The author of this 1890 Time review takes a unusual approach in describing the operation of the Linotype.

I have recently encountered my terror in a new form, and as excess of any emotion begets the converse emotion, as intense pleasure becomes pain and there is a strange and subtle sense of delight in the extremity of agony, so I am in love with my terror of a machine.
It is a new printing machine, and they call it the Linotype. I know nothing, and want to know nothing, about companies or promoters, estimates of revenue and future dividends, possible incomes and royalties. These are, I take it, necessary evils in the evolution and development of any new discovery..

Read the review

http://www.marxists.org/history/international/social-democracy/time/aveling-april.htm

[Dave Hughes]

That was an interesting article. As a lay-person the writer has gone into some depth describing the machine's operation.

He uses some strange analogies - the entrances to the magazine channels being described as "tiny railway carriages"!

Not sure if I liked his analysis of the Linotype operator though!

The most ordinary person who can read and spell can learn in a few minutes how to work the Linotype. Although, of course, to work it rapidly and well needs intelligence and practice.