THE WHITTAKER COLLECTION of linecasters was put together by Mr H Peter Whittaker whose company sold and repaired linecasters.<\/p>\n
The collection is currently in storage room 2 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Peter Whittaker put together a personal museum of linecasters that he believed showed their historical and technical development.<\/p>\n The collection has one of the earliest British-made linecasters, which was built in 1892. The other linecasters in the collection are from the twentieth-century.<\/p>\n They date from 1911 until the 1970s, when hot-metal linecasting was overtaken by newer technology. The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester was given the Whittaker Linecaster Collection in 1990.<\/p>\n Peter Whittaker’s grandfather, Matthew Whittaker (1869-1955) was born in Manchester, and trained as an engineer.<\/p>\n While working for Linotype and Machinery Ltd he was taught by Ottmar Mergenthaler, inventor of the Linotype.<\/p>\n In 1919, he formed his own company in Leeds. M.H. Whittaker & Son Ltd specialised in repairing linecasters, especially Linotypes. They also acted as sales agents for Intertype linecasters.<\/p>\n Matthew Whittaker was always interested in linecaster developments. He held several patents that improved linecaster technology. These included a composing-stick attachment, a standardised space-band, and a device for casting and centering headline print.<\/p>\n Some of his inventions were adopted by Linotype and used on their machines. In 1925, he stripped-down and altered star-based Model 1 Linotypes to produce a different type of linecaster. It was called the “Mickey Mouse”, and used several of his inventions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\nTo see the various machines, use the Related Pages menu.<\/strong><\/p>\n