The ‘794’ has been designed to meet the particular requirements of large newspaper offices. It will become the standard all-purpose ‘Linotype’ for three very good reasons.

Reliability

Ease of operation

Simplicity of maintenance

These are the factors that all composing room managers look for in their typesetting machines and these are the features that Linotype and Machinery Limited have built into this new model.

In newspaper offices where machines must double on tape and manual operation — where four magazines are a must to meet frequent body size changes, where seconds count and where ‘down-time’ must be kept to the bare minimum — the ‘794’ is specified to meet these requirements. But today they are not only the requirements of newspaper offices — general printing is a tough, competitive industry and it needs tough, competitive tools. This is why the ‘794’ has been introduced — and why it will answer the needs of newspaper, jobbing and book houses alike.

The machine, as the name implies, is the natural four magazine development from the very successful high speed model 79, which has become the standard, twelve-lines-a-minute tape-operated ‘Linotype’ in many printing offices all over the world. However, it should be understood that Linotype and Machinery Limited have not merely added two additional magazines to the 79, nor have they merely speeded up the model 78.

The ‘794’ is a new machine with many entirely new features. It incorporates a large number of facilities which are of significant production value. These are of importance in both manual as well as tape operation, and any operator will see immediately how and why.

In designing the machine, every effort has been made to bring all controls within easy reach of the operator seated at the keyboard and minimize the amount of effort and time necessary to make the normal changes which are required in ordinary newspaper or general Jobbing production. At the same time, the various essential ‘safeties’ on the standard machine have been considered and in a number of cases improved or redesigned. In particular, the power control box has been split so that all low voltage equipment is in one section of the box entirely separate from the high voltage equipment. There are also a number of special features which are well worth amplifying.

Hydraulic Magazine Change

Selection of each position and spreading is now fully automatic from push button control. Any change, whether from first to second or first to fourth, requires only one operation of the appropriate button. These are situated a few inches above the right-hand side of the keyboard. The new ‘safeties’, which are visually apparent to the operator in a series of lights next to the selection buttons, are completely effective in ensuring that no magazine change is possible while any matrix remains in circulation. This alone will save many pounds in matrix replacement over the year, as well as considerable operator time, as he will no longer have to satisfy himself that the distributor is clear before changing magazines.

Operator’s Control and the Indicator Console

These are at eye level and virtually at the operator’s fingertips and incorporate all the main machine functions. Machine on/off, Thermo-Blo, Magazine change and indicators, Fount indicators, Assembler spring adjustment and when fitted, the Shaffstall controls and indicators.

Other Control Points

A new control panel has been introduced immediately to the left, but out of the way, of the operator’s left knee. This includes the air cylinder control, which means that the operator can see the delivery slide and test the adjustment while at the keyboard. The operator is now able to control the full movement of the delivery slide by means of two knobs which operate a double-action air cylinder. In the same panel there is now positioned the mouthpiece temperature control which also indicates by lamp the on/off period of both crucible and mouthpiece. The crucible control box has been simplified and reduced in size, but remains in the normal position, with the same electrical arrangements.

Striker and Keyrods Assembly

This is now one unit and can be removed as such when cleaning.

The Hydraquadder

Incorporates the automatic end of paragraph device which again reduces operator action and is, of course, effective for tape control.

Chute Assembly

This has been stabilized by the addition of a spring loaded flap in place of the feather control, which eliminates periodic adjustment by the operator.

Assembler Brake

This is now fitted with a new return lever at the assembler itself, which enables the operator to release tension in the line when making a character change, with far less effort.

Ejector Lever

This has been redesigned and the lever itself has been strengthened.

Main Cam Guard

This can be applied as an optional extra designed to both protect the operator from the movement of the cams and also incorporate a rail on which to hang up to eight metal ingots.

General Accessibility

The box frame now carries the intermediate shaft drive motor which, apart from removing a general obstruction from the back of the machine, is easily accessible without having to swing the keyboard and assembler front. For reasons of both improved safety and accessibility to the top of the distributor, the whole of the guards at the back of the machine, which are also used as steps, have been redesigned.

Pie-chute and Stacker

This unit, which in the past has always been subject to criticism due to its relatively light construction, has been redesigned. The chute is now a flexible tube which cannot be distorted and cause matrices to jam — and the entrance from the disser is now much more rugged in design.

Special new T.T.S. Features

All ‘safeties’ which become effective during tape operation are now immediately visually defined by the lamp indicators next to the magazine change buttons. This means that immediately the machine stops due to any fault, the operator will be able to locate the cause and make the necessary adjustment with minimum delay.

Automatic Tape Rewinder

For the first time on the Seventy Series range, an automatic, effective and extremely simple tape rewinder is incorporated on the operating unit Cover.

The post Linotype Model 794 appeared first on Metal Type.

Many thanks to Eric Earnshaw for sending in this brochure which showcased Allied Newspaper’s Withy Grove, Manchester, UK “Allied House” newspaper plant.

Enjoyed the photos? Well, you’ve found the main page! But there’s another couple of pages on Metal Type you may have missed. More photos here: Withy Grove (no names for the people photographed though, maybe you could help out in the Comments) – and some pics sent in by Eric Saltmarsh here: Men and Machines. 

NEW: Withy Grove Forum

There has been such a large response to these posts that I have decided to set up a special sub-board on the Metal Type forum. I hope people will find it useful.

The post Allied Newspapers 1930s/1940s Pamphlet appeared first on Metal Type.

You can read more about how Doug came across these images on the Metal Type forum here: Linotype: The Book.

More factory photographs: Don’t miss some great photographs from the Intertype factory in Brooklyn, USA in 1966. Intertype Factory, 1966

The post Linotype Factories appeared first on Metal Type.

David supplied this information on the company: “Jas. Broadley Ltd. were established in 1841 at Clayton-le-Moors, Accrington in North East Lancashire UK.

They were fine process art catalogue printers and engravers, show card designers, chromo lithographers and publishers.

Broadleys were a major employer and the plant utilised an extensive range of letterpress and lithographic machinery and a large in-house finishing department and bindery.

In later years following its acquisition by BPCC the company discarded its letterpress division and specialised in litho label production.

The business closed in the late 1980s.”

The Metal Type Library has an 18-page illustrated advertising brochure for the Chas. Broadley company available as a PDF download: Metal Type Library – Miscellaneous.

The post Jas. Broadley Ltd., 1930s appeared first on Metal Type.

His grandfather Joseph Henry Davis was born in 1884 and entered the print industry at the age of 14. You can read more about his career in London and view his indenture document here: 1898 Indentures.

Some of the later cards in this collection have been used to fill the gaps in Dave Bowles’ collection here: British Print Trade Union Cards 1946-1993.

The post British Print Trade Union Cards 1924-1945 appeared first on Metal Type.

Chris says: “I gleaned the following from my grandfather’s last surviving daughter, my aunt.

“Joseph Henry Davis (b1884) began a 6 year apprenticeship as a compositor with John White of Sugar Loaf Court, Garlick Hill, London in 1898, aged 14 years. He later worked for Eyre and Spottiswoode, a high-end printing company in London known for printing bibles amongst other things.

It’s not known when Joseph started working for the Tottenham and Edmonton Weekly Herald but it may have coincided with him joining the union in June 1918, following his time serving in the army during WW1.

He became Father of the Chapel and stayed with the paper until the outbreak of  WW11 when he was put on war work. After the war he worked at a printers in Stratford, London until retirement around 1949.

However, he soon returned to work, finally retiring in 1954, aged 70 years. Even during retirement he maintained membership of the union and seems to have paid his 1966 subs before sadly dying at the end of 1965.”

The post 1898 Indentures appeared first on Metal Type.

There are even pictures of some of these machines “in the wild.”

Take a look here: Linotype Europa

Older Machines

There are also pictures and descriptions of some much older German Linotypes on Metal Type here: German Linotypes

The post Further Reading appeared first on Metal Type.

“The latest development in the field of modern setting machine technology” is the heading on the cover of the leaflet promoting the Universa linecaster, one of the very few such machines to be built incorporating a bank of six magazines and which was the impressive leader in the range of “New Line” machines produced during the 1960s by Mergenthaler Linotype GmbH of Frankfurt.

As this 3000kg giant was intended only for manual operation, its casting speed was 8 to 12 lines per minute, and it could be fitted with a mixture of split 72- and 90-channel magazines in various combinations (three of each; two 90s/four 72s; one 90/five 72s, etc) as circumstances demanded. The keyboard automatically adjusted itself according to which type of magazine was in use. Elevation and fanning of the magazines was an electrohydraulic operation to facilitate the mixing operation from four adjacent magazines.

Imagine what a variety of setting could be undertaken when being given the chance to mix from four magazines and a range of type sizes from 6pt to 42pt or even 48pt (cast overhanging on a 42pt slug): the mind boggles! German Linotype even offered several 16pt and 20pt faces such as Times and Helvetica, and to cast on both alignments it was necessary for the machine to be fitted with a special 16–20pt mould so that these useful “in between” sizes could be brought into play. (In America, Linotype had a few 16pt faces available but these were made as single-letter mats due to the difficulties in casting from the auxiliary alignment. Intertype did a bit better: they offered a few double-letter 16pt faces and a mould to suit.) Distribution was dealt with through five sets of distributor screws (though the top set was only long enough to clear the first distributor box and pie shute).

The mould wheel contained six pockets and could cast from 6pt to 42pt up to a measure of 28 Cicero (30ems), which was the longest length that could be accommodated on a six-pocket mould wheel. Hydraquadder and Mohr saw came as standard fitments and would be essential in view of the extremely varied range of work that this Lino could undertake. Push-button control for the quadder, mould wheel and magazines was provided above the keyboard.

For the first time since we looked at the Delta machine the operator has a normal hand-lifting mechanism for the assembling elevator, rather than the push-button control on all the other machines, and it’s useful also to point out how the side-case matrices were accommodated in six neat drawer compartments located to the right of the keyboard, just below the array of operating buttons, warning lights and temperature gauge which one imagines would be an ever-changing wonder when the beast was operating!

I am bound to wonder if the operator’s attention would sometimes be distracted by the sight of mats as they emerged from the magazine and were then very visible as they dropped on to the assembler belt. English Linotype developed what it called its “optic-aid” front plate which hid all this activity from the operator’s peripheral field of vision. I think the cascade of mats would have distracted me!

What a machine, and it is pleasing to know that one is preserved in working order at the Haus für Industriekultur in Darmstadt in Germany alongside other “New Line” machines, plus a vast range of other Linotypes, Intertypes and Neotypes in addition to single-letter casting machines and much else of interest to students of typecasting in its many different forms.

This monster was surely an impressive end to linecaster development not only in Germany but in the entire world. It would be interesting to learn how many were actually sold, as the price must have been high, and the fact that the Universa arrived very late in the day for hot metal setting would also act against its widespread use. Did the Russians copy it? Not that I am aware—but should anyone know otherwise, Metal Type would be very interested to hear from them!

The post Universa appeared first on Metal Type.

The Continenta could be had as a manually-operated machine offering 28/34/42 Cicero line widths (30/36/42em equivalents) or as a tape-operated version able to cast at speeds of 10 to 15 lines per minute. Weight: 1850kg.

It was a two-magazine mixer utilising standard 90-channel magazines and had a mould wheel with four water-cooled moulds. Hydraquadder and Mohr saw could be added as extras to the basic specification and the machine shown in the colour illustration is thus equipped.

Obviously intended as a high-speed basic text setter when running on tape, the addition of mixing capability offered the useful additional capability of setting classified advertising in small text sizes with semi-display lines being able to be introduced—say 5½pt/12pt. German Linotype had introduced many imaginative computer programs allowing such operations to be carried out using such a machine.

The post Continenta appeared first on Metal Type.

As regards the first-mentioned, it was a four-magazine mixer weighing-in at 2000kg equipped with four water-cooled 28 Cicero (30em) moulds, with provision for extension to 34 Cicero (36em) operation. Magazines were 90-channel configuration. Hydraquadder and Mohr saw could be had as extras and  the remarks previously given regarding provision of these features applies again.

German Linotype described it as “the star machine for difficult composition tasks”, and who is to argue with that? Speed range was from 8 to 14 lines per minute, and it must be fascinating to watch such a machine in operation mixing from all four magazines on a continuous basis, for which there were five sets of distributor screws—although the top one, having performed its work fairly quickly, did not run the full width, as can be seen in the illustration showing the back of the machine, where it will be seen that the pie shute starts its descent only about a third of the way across the width of the magazines. Also of note in this picture are the free-standing lower steps which don’t look very secure (one hopes they were attached to the main frame by some means). The TTS operating unit is on the extreme left.

Europa G

Similar in many respects to its predecessor with one important difference—it could use a combination of 70-channel and 90-channel magazines in various combinations so that a comprehensive range of straight text and heading work could be produced at high-speed.

Normally linecasters setting 18pt and 24pt faces were equipped with 72-channel magazines, so the 70-channel configuration on this machine was unusual and may have been designed to widen some of the channels to accommodate full-width capitals such as M and W which may have been too wide for a 72-channel magazine: thus it was possible to accommodate such faces, as well as condensed faces up to 36pt. The keyboard automatically adjusted itself to react to which type of magazine was being used.

Also when running on tape the G was described as being fully automatic and able to alter which magazine was in use, change the mould wheel and the knifeblock settings—all features which would of course have been necessary when changing between, say, 6, 8 or 10pt text setting coupled with headings ranging from 16pt to 36pt. When running on tape it must have been a very exciting machine to see in action as it was doing all this stuff with no human intervention. No doubt the human monitor looking after several such machines all rattling away at 14 lines per minute would have been fully occupied in keeping them all in motion!

The post Europa appeared first on Metal Type.