{"id":619,"date":"2017-06-12T18:57:41","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T18:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metaltype.co.uk\/wpress\/?page_id=619"},"modified":"2025-04-15T14:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T13:29:08","slug":"619-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/metaltype.co.uk\/wpress\/the-whittaker-collection\/619-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Compugraphic Universal 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"ANOTHER<\/a>
ANOTHER machine not listed in the museum’s catalogue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It would appear to be one of the Whittaker company’s early photosetters.<\/p>\n

\"Compugraphic\"<\/a>
\nSteve Robertshaw, Ex Whittaker & Compugraphic UK Engineer, updated this page with the following:<\/p>\n

The Machine refered to in the Whittaker collection is in fact a Universal 2.<\/p>\n

You will note on the nameplate next the name Universal II TG (Total Graphics) this makes it one of the last Universal 2 manufactured.<\/p>\n

The Universal 4 Had in fact 8 founts on two film strips each could be used in any of 12 sizes.<\/p>\n

Metal Type regular Steve Young supplied the following information on the Compugraphic Universal:<\/p>\n

The Universal 4 was a single user input and output machine. The bromide was contained in a section on the side of the machine and the user keyed text directly on to the paper.<\/p>\n

There was a single line display on the front above the keyboard and one could edit one line at a time, as soon as the “Execute” (return) key was depressed the line was written to bromide and the display emptied for the next line.<\/p>\n

There were removable “width cards” for the various different fonts. Four fonts could be loaded at the same time (hence Universal 4) — the wrong width card with the wrong font produced interesting results!!!<\/p>\n

The fonts were contained on individual film strips which were wrapped around a drum at the other side of the machine \u2014 when the relevant key was depressed the drum revolved until the corresponding letter was positioned over the top of the place on the bromide indicated by the width card and the light source flashed it onto the bromide via a lens and the lens moved to the next position and so on.<\/p>\n

When an ad was completed, the user hit return a couple of times and then commenced another ad. When the cassette was full, or whenever required, the user removed it and placed it directly into the developer. On output the comp then cut and pasted the text.<\/p>\n

Interested in early photosetting technology? Check out the\u00a0Early Photosetting Chat<\/a> <\/strong>section of the Forum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It would appear to be one of the Whittaker company’s early photosetters. Steve Robertshaw, Ex Whittaker & Compugraphic UK Engineer, updated this page with the following: The Machine refered to in the Whittaker collection is in fact a Universal 2. You will note on the nameplate next the name Universal II TG (Total Graphics) this … Continue reading “Compugraphic Universal 2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":590,"menu_order":14,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,59,7,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-619","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-composition","category-early-photosetting","category-historic","category-ukeurope"],"yoast_head":"\nCompugraphic Universal 2 - Metal Type<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Photos and description of the Compugraphic Universal 2, part of the Whittaker Collection at the Manchester Science Museum\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metaltype.co.uk\/wpress\/the-whittaker-collection\/619-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Compugraphic Universal 2 - Metal Type\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Photos and description of the Compugraphic Universal 2, part of the Whittaker Collection at the Manchester Science Museum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/metaltype.co.uk\/wpress\/the-whittaker-collection\/619-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Metal Type\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-15T13:29:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.metaltype.co.uk\/photos\/images\/173.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MTPrinting\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/the-whittaker-collection\\\/619-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/the-whittaker-collection\\\/619-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Compugraphic Universal 2 - Metal Type\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/the-whittaker-collection\\\/619-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/the-whittaker-collection\\\/619-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.metaltype.co.uk\\\/photos\\\/images\\\/173.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-12T18:57:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-15T13:29:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"Photos and description of the Compugraphic Universal 2, part of the Whittaker Collection at the Manchester Science Museum\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/the-whittaker-collection\\\/619-2\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/the-whittaker-collection\\\/619-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/the-whittaker-collection\\\/619-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.metaltype.co.uk\\\/photos\\\/images\\\/173.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.metaltype.co.uk\\\/photos\\\/images\\\/173.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/the-whittaker-collection\\\/619-2\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Whittaker Collection\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/the-whittaker-collection\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Compugraphic Universal 2\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/\",\"name\":\"Metal Type\",\"description\":\"Yesterday\u2019s Technology . . . 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