Yesterday’s Technology . . . Today!
The first of a series of stories sent in by Greg Fischer (aka Linofish).
Says Greg: “All the incidents happened at the Trenton NJ Trentonian, between 1958 and 1965. This was at the old Front Street building. In 1965, we moved to a brand new plant with a new Hoe Colormatic letterpress. Much improved from the old building which was said to be used at one time by the Mercer Automoble Company.
A 262 page, soft bound, book has recently been completed, Linotype set and letterpress printed on a Miehle Vertical, circa 1954, with the help of Leather Apron Docent Guild members at the International Printing Museum in Carson, California, USA.
Dr Leland Whitson said: “The Surgeon Factory, was written by my beloved Uncle Ken Rascoe, M.D.
George Finn’s amusing account of a Canadian Linotype training course, in Toronto, in 1958.
IN 1958 I was working for Canadian Linotype in Toronto as a service engineer. Although none of the larger newspapers, due mainly to union restraints, were installing, or converting linecaster to teletype operation the Thompson chain and some smaller independent newspapers welcomed the technology.
Dan Williams remembers the inauguration of the Elrod machine at his father’s commercial type shop.
ANY PRINT SHOP of the letterpress era needed loads of spacing material. My dad’s type shop was no exception.
This short piece from Merchant of Alphabets describes the brand new Pravda printing plant in 1934.
ON THE very first day of my arrival Gene Garin, with pride and enthusiasm, took me out to the new Pravda plant – the dream come true of their deliberations four years ago.
How a Linotype matrix is made from Merchant of Alphabets by Reginald Orcutt.
FAR MORE than the layman may find it easy to appreciate, every good type letter is fraught with human spirit. Whether its essence stems from the Humanists of the Renaissance, or comes from the artistic expression of to-morrow morning, its beauty and clarity – and thus its legibility and function – stem from the genius and personality of the artist who designed it and the craftsman who brought it into being.
Bob Turner’s second story for this site is the fascinating story of his print career to date.
HERE I sit in beautiful Dunedin, Pinellas County, Florida. 68 years old, semi-retired, working part-time for a direct mail operation where I make plates for the offset presses, run an MBO folder and bore the kids with my stories about the “good?” old days. How did I get here?
Bob Turner’s certainly kept up with the times. Still working part-time in the print industry at the age of 68.
We had to pay a scrap dealer to haul it away after I disassembled it. Sad!
Alan Young tells us of his days as possibly one of the last Linotype operators.
STARTED my career at Wolf Composition in Reading, Massachusetts, USA in 1964.
Another fascinating story from Dean Nayes takes us back to the Salt Lake City Tribune in the 1950s.
I RETURNED to the Salt Lake Tribune just a few months after going through the first time, on my way back to Denver, to get my family, and return to San Francisco.