Category: Composition
Blue Streak Linotypes
Many thanks to Jim Daggs, of Ackley Publishing Company Inc., Ackley, Iowa for sending in these illustrations.
Linotype fan? Don’t miss the Linotype Chat section of the Metal Type Forum.
Early Typesetting Machines
Many thanks to Jim Daggs, of Ackley Publishing Company Inc., Ackley, Iowa for sending in these illustrations.
The Story of the Linotype Blower (1889) – This article on the Metal Type forum takes an in-depth look at this remarkable but short-lived machine.
1891 Typesetting Competition
These illustrations and article come from a copy of “The Graphic” Illustrated Weekly Newspaper (Chicago) dated October 31, 1891.
There is a full report of this competition on the Metal Type Forum here: 1891 Typesetting Competition.
Nodis Rapid Caster
Jessie Horton, c1910
Linotype Model 8 Video
Many thanks to the Provost News, Provost, Alberta, Canada, for allowing Metal Type to make use of this video.
https://youtu.be/s8-aYQFmCT0
Linotype Model 31 Video
Robert Griffith sent in this video of a Linotype Model 31.
The footage was shot in October 2005 at the Museum of Printing History, Houston, Texas, USA.
Model K Elrod Restoration
Thanks largely to John Nicholson of Hamilton, NZ, the Model K Elrod which had been in storage at the Taranaki Aviation Transport And Technology Museum (TATATM), New Plymouth, is now operational.
To the writer’s knowledge, the Model K had been in the lean-to store of the museum, on a heavy wooden plank base since its arrival at the museum and never used since de-commissioning at the donor’s premises (Taranaki Newspapers Ltd., New Plymouth) around 1985.
The Modern Typograph

The fascinating story of how a new version of this old machine came to be manufactured in 1960.
Article taken from The History of the Printer by Dr. James Eckman, published in 1965 by North American Publishing Company, Philadelphia, USA.