{"id":754,"date":"2017-06-14T10:19:05","date_gmt":"2017-06-14T10:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metaltype.co.uk\/wpress\/?page_id=754"},"modified":"2023-01-24T10:33:29","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T09:33:29","slug":"just-a-utility-boy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/metaltype.co.uk\/wpress\/just-a-utility-boy\/","title":{"rendered":"Just A Utility Boy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second in a series of stories sent in by Greg Fischer (aka Linofish).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Greg has previously supplied Metal Type with a large selection of Letterpress Limericks.<\/a><\/p>\n

A RUN IN with the “Old guy.” Seems he didn’t get the word that I was hired as an apprentice. He thought I was the new utility helper, the previous one finally getting a comp apprenticeship.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So about the third day of my tenure, I was tending the Monotype material maker, hanging pigs, removing material, and something started to go wrong.<\/p>\n

The pusher blade screw had loosened and disconnected from its actuating arm. So I threw the pump out and shut off the motor. I corrected it quickly and started the machine up again.<\/p>\n

Just at that time, around the corner comes the old machinist. “I heard the caster stop! What happened?” I proudly related my accomplishment and he blew his top.<\/p>\n

“You aint supposed to TOUCH the machines ‘ceptin’ plungers and bands! You keep yer hands off! Yer just a utility boy! You got no RIGHT to do things to the machines. You come git me when sumthin’ happens!” A little vein jiggled on his forehead.<\/p>\n

I just turned on my heel and went up to the foreman and explained that there was a misunderstanding, I was hired as an apprentice and if that meant being a utility helper for a year which would have been an extra year of “time” and lower pay, I didn’t want the job.<\/p>\n

The foreman says “Let’s go upstairs” to see the general manager who happened to be talking to the publisher by the stairway at the time. I was on good terms with him as I worked in dispatch for five years and he straightened things out fast.<\/p>\n

He says “Why shore, Slim here’s th’ machine (sic) apprentice. Day-um it, Jules, cain’t anybody git nothin’ straight ’round this day-um place! There’s a day-um note downstairs but there’s so day-um much junk nailed up on it you cain’t hardly see th’ board! DAY-UM! (He was a Texan.) \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Man, the old machinist was protective, I don’t know if it was a union thing or an ego thing. He apologized. I rewired the death trap of a test panel he had built and we were buddies again.<\/p>\n

If you liked this story you may also like Printers’ Tales<\/strong><\/a> a compilation of similar stories, available in ebook and paperback formats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second in 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 … Continue reading “Just A Utility Boy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-754","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-storiesanecdotes","category-usacanada"],"yoast_head":"\nJust A Utility Boy - Metal Type<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Greg Fischer tells a story about a malfunctioning Monotype Material Maker at the "Trentonian" Trenton, New Jersey, USA\" \/>\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\/just-a-utility-boy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Just A Utility Boy - Metal Type\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Greg Fischer tells a story about a malfunctioning Monotype Material Maker at the "Trentonian" Trenton, New Jersey, USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/metaltype.co.uk\/wpress\/just-a-utility-boy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Metal Type\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-24T09:33:29+00:00\" \/>\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\\\/just-a-utility-boy\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/just-a-utility-boy\\\/\",\"name\":\"Just A Utility Boy - Metal Type\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-14T10:19:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-24T09:33:29+00:00\",\"description\":\"Greg Fischer tells a story about a malfunctioning Monotype Material Maker at the \\\"Trentonian\\\" Trenton, New Jersey, USA\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/just-a-utility-boy\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/just-a-utility-boy\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/just-a-utility-boy\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Just A Utility Boy\"}]},{\"@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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