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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:06,463 --> 00:00:11,463 [sliding door opens] 2 00:00:17,056 --> 00:00:22,056 [chugging] 3 00:00:24,063 --> 00:00:26,565 What is a Linotype? 4 00:00:26,566 --> 00:00:31,403 Well, we just called it a typesetting machine to start with... 5 00:00:31,404 --> 00:00:33,113 ...because that's what it does. 6 00:00:33,114 --> 00:00:37,326 It's called a Linotype because it makes one line of type at a time. 7 00:00:37,327 --> 00:00:42,327 [clinking] 8 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:53,880 I try to harken it back to those Rube Goldberg contraptions... 9 00:00:56,471 --> 00:00:59,515 It is a two-ton contrivance that stands seven-foot tall. 10 00:00:59,516 --> 00:01:03,519 The absolute pinnacle of Late-Victorian engineering. 11 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,271 ...where the canary pops the balloon... 12 00:01:06,272 --> 00:01:07,356 And they're insane! 13 00:01:07,357 --> 00:01:09,525 You couldn't explain to them what it is. 14 00:01:09,526 --> 00:01:11,443 They would just say “Well that's just a big typewriter.” 15 00:01:11,444 --> 00:01:14,655 ...and the bowling ball rolls down and scares the cat... 16 00:01:14,656 --> 00:01:18,200 A cross between a typewriter and a backhoe and a pop machine. 17 00:01:18,201 --> 00:01:23,201 ...the canary pops the balloon, the balloon cracks the egg, and then I have my breakfast. 18 00:01:29,671 --> 00:01:33,131 It's terribly complicated. It was invented by a German watchmaker. 19 00:01:33,132 --> 00:01:34,675 It has cams and levers. 20 00:01:34,676 --> 00:01:36,134 There's just a lot going on. 21 00:01:36,135 --> 00:01:39,846 There's belts and pulleys, and everything's flying around in circles. 22 00:01:39,847 --> 00:01:42,683 Things that would totally baffle most modern-day mechanics, 23 00:01:42,684 --> 00:01:47,229 and yet, strangely enough, it works. 24 00:01:47,230 --> 00:01:51,149 It requires you know the machine and you understand its limitations 25 00:01:51,150 --> 00:01:52,651 and understand that it can kill you. 26 00:01:52,652 --> 00:01:54,152 It burned me pretty good, yeah. 27 00:01:54,153 --> 00:01:55,404 It is very intimidating. 28 00:01:55,405 --> 00:01:57,030 I do sort of live in fear of it 29 00:01:57,031 --> 00:01:58,865 because it can be kind of rattletrap at times. 30 00:01:58,866 --> 00:02:03,866 It gets to be your friend or your enemy, depending upon how it's working. 31 00:02:07,166 --> 00:02:09,251 It's a fascinating machine, A, 32 00:02:09,252 --> 00:02:12,671 and B, it's a complete career dead-end. 33 00:02:12,672 --> 00:02:17,426 I tell people that once you get ink and type metal in your blood, it never comes out. 34 00:02:17,427 --> 00:02:19,177 It's like a love affair. 35 00:02:19,178 --> 00:02:21,680 It's one of the most complicated machines I have ever seen, 36 00:02:21,681 --> 00:02:26,681 and it's one of the most fun things I have ever been around. 37 00:02:32,775 --> 00:02:36,945 The great inventor, Thomas Edison saw that machine and he says, 38 00:02:36,946 --> 00:02:41,946 “Hey, this is the Eighth Wonder of the World.” 39 00:02:57,967 --> 00:03:02,346 A Linotype is a great means of speeding up the production of typesetting. 40 00:03:02,347 --> 00:03:05,557 Instead of the old cumbersome method of setting type by hand 41 00:03:05,558 --> 00:03:08,935 where you're using one hand to pick out a piece of type at a time, 42 00:03:08,936 --> 00:03:10,937 to put it into a composing stick, 43 00:03:10,938 --> 00:03:12,981 you're instead able to sit at a keyboard, 44 00:03:12,982 --> 00:03:16,568 type as fast as you can and as fast as the machine will let you go 45 00:03:16,569 --> 00:03:21,569 and compose type that can then be printed from. 46 00:03:30,041 --> 00:03:32,834 You hear about people picking things up by osmosis. 47 00:03:32,835 --> 00:03:34,461 I kind of think that's true 48 00:03:34,462 --> 00:03:36,838 because this is a case where I watched and observed, 49 00:03:36,839 --> 00:03:39,966 and a lot of what I learned about the Linotype, I learned from my dad. 50 00:03:39,967 --> 00:03:42,260 Oh, yes, I taught him. 51 00:03:42,261 --> 00:03:44,554 I taught him some of the basics 52 00:03:44,555 --> 00:03:47,391 of the printing operation, 53 00:03:47,392 --> 00:03:52,392 and you can see he has expanded since then. 54 00:03:58,820 --> 00:04:02,864 I tend to set maybe a few more mistakes than my dad would, 55 00:04:02,865 --> 00:04:07,452 but he has always been willing to proofread for me and correct those mistakes. 56 00:04:07,453 --> 00:04:11,164 I can spot a mistake a mile away. 57 00:04:11,165 --> 00:04:16,165 I can spot a misspelled word a mile away. 58 00:04:20,967 --> 00:04:23,677 It takes a special breed of person to run it. 59 00:04:23,678 --> 00:04:25,303 I think I'm that person, 60 00:04:25,304 --> 00:04:30,304 just crazy enough to think it is fun and just smart enough to keep it operating. 61 00:04:37,024 --> 00:04:40,861 Once the operator is done casting his slugs, casting the page, 62 00:04:40,862 --> 00:04:43,321 he will take the slugs over to the proofing area. 63 00:04:43,322 --> 00:04:47,033 Here we've got some of the type that we set over on the Linotype today. 64 00:04:47,034 --> 00:04:49,244 I'm going to put it in the bed of the proof press. 65 00:04:49,245 --> 00:04:51,872 And the slugs will be locked into the bed of the press here 66 00:04:51,873 --> 00:04:55,792 and inked and printed to determine if there are any flaws. 67 00:04:55,793 --> 00:05:00,793 Lock it into place with some miscellaneous furniture. 68 00:05:03,968 --> 00:05:05,427 Hopefully, it's a clean proof 69 00:05:05,428 --> 00:05:07,429 so I don't have to go back and re-set anything. 70 00:05:07,430 --> 00:05:10,432 Any mistakes, any errors would go back to the composer, 71 00:05:10,433 --> 00:05:12,100 he would re-cast that slug, 72 00:05:12,101 --> 00:05:14,436 come back to the proof er, and so on 73 00:05:14,437 --> 00:05:16,813 until it was signed off on and ready to go on the press. 74 00:05:16,814 --> 00:05:19,900 When it went to press, it went on a press something like over here. 75 00:05:19,901 --> 00:05:24,112 Later on they learned that if you have multiple editions or multiple presses 76 00:05:24,113 --> 00:05:28,533 in major urban centers like New York City or Boston or Chicago, 77 00:05:28,534 --> 00:05:32,204 it's kind of a pain to proof multiple lock-ups of type 78 00:05:32,205 --> 00:05:35,207 when you're running four presses, six presses, eight presses at a time, 79 00:05:35,208 --> 00:05:37,042 so they would make a cast of an entire form 80 00:05:37,043 --> 00:05:40,128 and put the identical cast on all of their presses, 81 00:05:40,129 --> 00:05:43,381 so that way they could meet the circulation demand. 82 00:05:43,382 --> 00:05:47,928 And that is how they printed newspapers, in volume, in the day. 83 00:05:47,929 --> 00:05:50,138 Ever since I have been very young, 84 00:05:50,139 --> 00:05:53,391 there has been some tendency for my family, 85 00:05:53,392 --> 00:05:56,019 at least on my mother's side, 86 00:05:56,020 --> 00:05:58,522 she wanted to show off her kids. 87 00:05:58,523 --> 00:06:03,523 - ♪♪ [piano] -[Schlesinger]♪ left my heart ♪ 88 00:06:03,653 --> 00:06:08,532 ♪ In San Francisco ♪ 89 00:06:08,533 --> 00:06:10,534 My brother and myself, 90 00:06:10,535 --> 00:06:13,954 we liked to sing and dance around the house, 91 00:06:13,955 --> 00:06:17,165 so we wound up being singers and dancers. 92 00:06:17,166 --> 00:06:22,166 - ♪♪ [piano] - [people applauding] 93 00:06:23,589 --> 00:06:25,090 When I was nine years old, 94 00:06:25,091 --> 00:06:29,719 I was running a little printing press in my own house. 95 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:34,432 I think the circulation of my newspaper was 20-- 20 people, 96 00:06:34,433 --> 00:06:37,561 all tenants in the building. 97 00:06:37,562 --> 00:06:41,690 I spent 35 years working for The New York Times, 98 00:06:41,691 --> 00:06:46,691 and that was my life. 99 00:06:48,239 --> 00:06:50,949 And I guess I was just built for that kind of work. 100 00:06:50,950 --> 00:06:52,659 I see other people were as well. 101 00:06:52,660 --> 00:06:55,287 They didn't think much about it maybe. 102 00:06:55,288 --> 00:06:57,080 It was just some nice work to them, 103 00:06:57,081 --> 00:07:00,083 but I was maybe more sensitive, and I could see, 104 00:07:00,084 --> 00:07:02,294 this was the story every night, 105 00:07:02,295 --> 00:07:05,463 the story of our lives, the story of the world's life. 106 00:07:05,464 --> 00:07:07,591 The world is being made new for tomorrow. 107 00:07:07,592 --> 00:07:09,885 What happened today, you'll find out tomorrow, 108 00:07:09,886 --> 00:07:14,886 but we are doing it to get you to that stage. 109 00:07:22,773 --> 00:07:24,274 [Filmstrip Narrator] By means of printing, 110 00:07:24,275 --> 00:07:26,568 the fount of knowledge accumulated through the ages 111 00:07:26,569 --> 00:07:30,614 is available to everyone, rich and poor alike. 112 00:07:30,615 --> 00:07:33,783 Printing is essential to all education. 113 00:07:33,784 --> 00:07:36,369 All the other arts rely on it. 114 00:07:36,370 --> 00:07:39,122 Religious movements depend on it. 115 00:07:39,123 --> 00:07:41,625 Business could not function without it. 116 00:07:41,626 --> 00:07:43,627 Nor could government. 117 00:07:43,628 --> 00:07:48,628 The only thing available to people in the 1400s, anywhere, 118 00:07:48,925 --> 00:07:51,551 was hand-written manuscripts. 119 00:07:51,552 --> 00:07:53,511 Books were falling apart as fast as people were reading them, 120 00:07:53,512 --> 00:07:55,805 so the scribe was just sort of re-creating the book 121 00:07:55,806 --> 00:07:58,016 because they were disintegrating. 122 00:07:58,017 --> 00:08:00,518 Monks, in an abbey, writing a Bible 123 00:08:00,519 --> 00:08:03,939 for months and months and months, for one Bible. 124 00:08:03,940 --> 00:08:06,066 Once you wrote a hand written Bible, 125 00:08:06,067 --> 00:08:10,028 which took you one or two years to produce one or two Bibles. 126 00:08:10,029 --> 00:08:11,446 That's all. 127 00:08:11,447 --> 00:08:14,616 You had produced a work of art, 128 00:08:14,617 --> 00:08:18,703 but you hadn't produced anything for mass culture or for mass education. 129 00:08:18,704 --> 00:08:22,999 A lot of people think that Johannes Gutenberg invented printing, 130 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:25,293 and technically that is not true. 131 00:08:25,294 --> 00:08:28,630 People printed for centuries before Gutenberg came along, 132 00:08:28,631 --> 00:08:30,465 but they were never really good at it. 133 00:08:30,466 --> 00:08:33,134 What Gutenberg did was to invent the way to do it, 134 00:08:33,135 --> 00:08:34,803 which was the most efficient way, 135 00:08:34,804 --> 00:08:36,763 that involved making a press, 136 00:08:36,764 --> 00:08:39,557 one not unlike this press here. 137 00:08:39,558 --> 00:08:42,352 So all of a sudden came the printing press, 138 00:08:42,353 --> 00:08:44,479 and shortly thereafter there were hundreds of printing presses, 139 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:46,564 thousands of printing presses in Europe, 140 00:08:46,565 --> 00:08:51,069 and thousands upon thousands of people were reading, were getting information, 141 00:08:51,070 --> 00:08:52,696 so it was this huge explosion, 142 00:08:52,697 --> 00:08:57,033 and people thought, probably, “My God, how can we possibly absorb more?” 143 00:08:57,034 --> 00:08:59,244 The next big one was the Linotype. 144 00:08:59,245 --> 00:09:00,954 The Linotype is the embodiment 145 00:09:00,955 --> 00:09:04,332 of a different age, the age when letterpress flowered, 146 00:09:04,333 --> 00:09:07,293 when it was in its grandeur, 147 00:09:07,294 --> 00:09:10,296 and the problem is very few people know about it, 148 00:09:10,297 --> 00:09:13,091 and I still believe that one of my roles in life 149 00:09:13,092 --> 00:09:18,092 is to help the memory of the industry. 150 00:09:22,268 --> 00:09:24,394 You had to have the Linotype machine 151 00:09:24,395 --> 00:09:28,523 because you had an army of people setting type by hand. 152 00:09:28,524 --> 00:09:31,151 Typesetting used to be done this way by everybody, 153 00:09:31,152 --> 00:09:34,779 one line of type at a time, one letter at a time. 154 00:09:34,780 --> 00:09:36,614 It was slow. It was cumbersome. 155 00:09:36,615 --> 00:09:38,158 You have a case in front of you. 156 00:09:38,159 --> 00:09:39,617 You take one letter out at a time. 157 00:09:39,618 --> 00:09:42,620 So the first thing is you have to find the letter and select it. 158 00:09:42,621 --> 00:09:45,290 Then you have to assemble it into a line. 159 00:09:45,291 --> 00:09:48,293 Then you have to return all of that type back into the case. 160 00:09:48,294 --> 00:09:50,795 And that was tedious, slow, hard work. 161 00:09:50,796 --> 00:09:53,214 If you have a drawer of type and you're making a book 162 00:09:53,215 --> 00:09:56,384 and you run out of lower-case “e," 163 00:09:56,385 --> 00:09:57,969 you've got to make more type 164 00:09:57,970 --> 00:09:59,846 or you have to break down pages you've already made, 165 00:09:59,847 --> 00:10:02,265 so that's what they call being “out of sorts.” 166 00:10:02,266 --> 00:10:04,100 A piece of type is called a sort. 167 00:10:04,101 --> 00:10:09,101 “Out of sorts”- you're screwed. 168 00:10:09,231 --> 00:10:12,400 [Romano] There was money to be made in mechanized typesetting 169 00:10:12,401 --> 00:10:14,778 because newspapers had a phenomenal investment 170 00:10:14,779 --> 00:10:17,697 in the number of people required to set type by hand, 171 00:10:17,698 --> 00:10:20,116 so there had to be some method of mechanization, 172 00:10:20,117 --> 00:10:21,326 and that's what they were looking for. 173 00:10:21,327 --> 00:10:22,786 And so they began to look 174 00:10:22,787 --> 00:10:24,204 at the various processes 175 00:10:24,205 --> 00:10:26,956 and try to think of ways of speeding them up. 176 00:10:26,957 --> 00:10:28,500 They tried all kinds of schemes. 177 00:10:28,501 --> 00:10:31,503 They tried having a funnel and dropping the letters in, 178 00:10:31,504 --> 00:10:35,423 trying to line them up- all kinds of ideas, anything they could think of. 179 00:10:35,424 --> 00:10:38,718 From the 1860s to the 1880s, 180 00:10:38,719 --> 00:10:42,889 there must have been 50 or 60 different attempts to mechanize typesetting. 181 00:10:42,890 --> 00:10:47,060 I'm standing in front of the Paige Compositor, 182 00:10:47,061 --> 00:10:50,688 a machine that had a very big role in Mark Twain's life. 183 00:10:50,689 --> 00:10:54,150 [Romano] The most famous investor was the American novelist Mark Twain, 184 00:10:54,151 --> 00:10:57,278 who invested most of his fortune in the Paige Compositor, 185 00:10:57,279 --> 00:10:59,864 which did not work and forced him to go bankrupt. 186 00:10:59,865 --> 00:11:02,367 But generally speaking, all through the 19th century, 187 00:11:02,368 --> 00:11:04,702 hand composition was the norm, 188 00:11:04,703 --> 00:11:09,703 and it wasn't until the final years, about the 1880s, 1890s 189 00:11:09,959 --> 00:11:12,168 that serious attempts were made. 190 00:11:12,169 --> 00:11:13,461 But none of the people 191 00:11:13,462 --> 00:11:17,257 who started down the road to invent a mechanized typesetting machine succeeded. 192 00:11:17,258 --> 00:11:22,258 The one success came by accident. 193 00:11:23,472 --> 00:11:28,017 It all starts because a stenographer wants to transcribe his notes faster. 194 00:11:28,018 --> 00:11:31,396 James Ogilvie Clephane was a stenographer. 195 00:11:31,397 --> 00:11:32,897 He had worked in Lincoln's cabinet, 196 00:11:32,898 --> 00:11:37,402 was the fastest and most accurate stenographer of his day. 197 00:11:37,403 --> 00:11:38,736 He's so famous 198 00:11:38,737 --> 00:11:41,072 because of the fact that he can get his notes done fast 199 00:11:41,073 --> 00:11:42,866 and get them to all the lawyers and to the judge. 200 00:11:42,867 --> 00:11:44,325 The way he did that 201 00:11:44,326 --> 00:11:45,994 was he used something called a “Litho Stone," 202 00:11:45,995 --> 00:11:48,997 a polished stone using lithography, 203 00:11:48,998 --> 00:11:50,832 where the image is backwards, 204 00:11:50,833 --> 00:11:54,210 and then you could reproduce as many copies as you wanted. 205 00:11:54,211 --> 00:11:57,172 And he saw one brilliant way of using the typewriter. 206 00:11:57,173 --> 00:12:00,758 “Why don't I take the paper, after I type on it, the ink is still wet, 207 00:12:00,759 --> 00:12:04,137 I'll turn it over and I'll rub the ink onto the litho stone, 208 00:12:04,138 --> 00:12:05,305 so now it's backwards." 209 00:12:05,306 --> 00:12:07,307 What a phenomenal idea! 210 00:12:07,308 --> 00:12:12,308 The problem is the ink dries at different levels on the paper. 211 00:12:14,064 --> 00:12:15,773 So he has the idea, 212 00:12:15,774 --> 00:12:17,650 but the typewriter is not going to do it for him. 213 00:12:17,651 --> 00:12:20,778 So he finds an engineer named Charles T. Moore. 214 00:12:20,779 --> 00:12:22,780 Moore comes up with an idea for a device 215 00:12:22,781 --> 00:12:25,491 with a cylinder, a typewriter keyboard, with a ribbon, 216 00:12:25,492 --> 00:12:28,703 and instead of doing a page, it does a line. 217 00:12:28,704 --> 00:12:32,498 You cut it apart, and then you rub the ink down onto the litho stone. 218 00:12:32,499 --> 00:12:34,584 This machine is not quite doing what Clephane wants, 219 00:12:34,585 --> 00:12:37,378 so they go to a machine shop called Hahl & Company, 220 00:12:37,379 --> 00:12:39,422 and there they meet a German immigrant, 221 00:12:39,423 --> 00:12:43,885 a new American, named Ottmar Mergenthaler. 222 00:12:43,886 --> 00:12:48,681 [fireworks exploding] 223 00:12:48,682 --> 00:12:51,309 Mergenthaler helps them develop some of the ideas for this machine, 224 00:12:51,310 --> 00:12:52,894 but says, “lt's really not going to work. 225 00:12:52,895 --> 00:12:54,646 It's not going to do what you want it to do.” 226 00:12:54,647 --> 00:12:56,481 He helps them develop another version of it, 227 00:12:56,482 --> 00:12:58,149 but it doesn't do it either. 228 00:12:58,150 --> 00:12:59,692 He says, “No. The only way 229 00:12:59,693 --> 00:13:04,693 is that you are going to have to find a way of using actual type.” 230 00:13:06,408 --> 00:13:08,034 Well, Clephane has another brainstorm. 231 00:13:08,035 --> 00:13:10,828 He says, “When you use the typewriter, it impacts the paper. 232 00:13:10,829 --> 00:13:11,996 There is pressure there.” 233 00:13:11,997 --> 00:13:14,958 “Why can't we use this new material called papier-maché?” 234 00:13:14,959 --> 00:13:16,042 They raise money, 235 00:13:16,043 --> 00:13:19,045 and they develop a machine which we call the “First Band Machine," 236 00:13:19,046 --> 00:13:21,339 and all the letters are on a metal band, 237 00:13:21,340 --> 00:13:22,548 and they are all sticking out. 238 00:13:22,549 --> 00:13:23,841 They're all in relief. 239 00:13:23,842 --> 00:13:25,134 You hit the keys, and they line up, 240 00:13:25,135 --> 00:13:27,053 all the characters in the line. 241 00:13:27,054 --> 00:13:28,846 You force the papier-maché into it, 242 00:13:28,847 --> 00:13:30,682 and then you get an impression. 243 00:13:30,683 --> 00:13:33,726 You then put it down, put molten metal into it, 244 00:13:33,727 --> 00:13:35,853 and you get a line of type. 245 00:13:35,854 --> 00:13:40,854 Great idea, doesn't really work. 246 00:13:42,278 --> 00:13:43,528 They raise more money, 247 00:13:43,529 --> 00:13:45,113 and they develop the Second Band Machine, 248 00:13:45,114 --> 00:13:49,033 and this time all the letters are recessed into the bands. 249 00:13:49,034 --> 00:13:50,243 So you line up all the bands. 250 00:13:50,244 --> 00:13:52,495 You have have one line. You force molten metal in- 251 00:13:52,496 --> 00:13:53,621 no more papier-maché- 252 00:13:53,622 --> 00:13:55,039 you get a line of type out. 253 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:58,126 Okay, it worked, but every letter is the same width, 254 00:13:58,127 --> 00:14:00,878 so the capital “M” is as wide as the lower-case 255 00:14:00,879 --> 00:14:05,879 so typographically, it's not very good. 256 00:14:06,051 --> 00:14:08,052 So Mergenthaler realizes at that point 257 00:14:08,053 --> 00:14:10,388 that every letter has to be an individual unit 258 00:14:10,389 --> 00:14:13,266 so it can be whatever width is appropriate for the design of the character. 259 00:14:13,267 --> 00:14:15,143 He has to take the band 260 00:14:15,144 --> 00:14:16,394 and cut it into pieces 261 00:14:16,395 --> 00:14:20,481 so that every letter is an individual unit. 262 00:14:20,482 --> 00:14:23,276 He can move those units around the machine 263 00:14:23,277 --> 00:14:24,694 and then assemble them into a line. 264 00:14:24,695 --> 00:14:26,237 So they now raise more money. 265 00:14:26,238 --> 00:14:29,365 At that point, Mergenthaler creates the Blower Machine, 266 00:14:29,366 --> 00:14:31,576 which uses the individual matrix 267 00:14:31,577 --> 00:14:36,577 that moves the matrix around the machine and actually can work. 268 00:14:41,337 --> 00:14:43,963 The Linotype machine changed the world, 269 00:14:43,964 --> 00:14:48,426 and it all started because a stenographer wanted to transcribe his notes. 270 00:14:48,427 --> 00:14:51,929 [Filmstrip Narrator] It was in fact a modern feat of engineering. 271 00:14:51,930 --> 00:14:56,267 Hard metal molds for letters of the alphabet, called matrices, 272 00:14:56,268 --> 00:15:00,855 could now be brought into contact with molten type metal. 273 00:15:00,856 --> 00:15:04,400 The result? A metal bar of type, 274 00:15:04,401 --> 00:15:06,486 a linotype. 275 00:15:06,487 --> 00:15:08,780 The inventor's name was Ottmar Mergen-taller. 276 00:15:08,781 --> 00:15:10,990 Otto Mergenthaler. 277 00:15:10,991 --> 00:15:12,325 Ottmar Mergen-Thaler. 278 00:15:12,326 --> 00:15:14,744 Ottmar Ludwig Mergentailer. 279 00:15:14,745 --> 00:15:17,080 The “th” is not pronounced. 280 00:15:17,081 --> 00:15:22,081 It's just “Mergen-Taler.” 281 00:15:24,505 --> 00:15:27,882 He was a watch maker, I think, by profession, a watch and clock maker, 282 00:15:27,883 --> 00:15:32,720 so he was used to dealing with precision engineering work. 283 00:15:32,721 --> 00:15:34,972 If he built pieces and parts for a wrist-watch, 284 00:15:34,973 --> 00:15:36,432 they had to be exactly right. 285 00:15:36,433 --> 00:15:39,268 You couldn't have them a little too big, a little too small. 286 00:15:39,269 --> 00:15:40,978 You're not going to keep time that way. 287 00:15:40,979 --> 00:15:44,565 He takes night courses in electricity and mechanics 288 00:15:44,566 --> 00:15:48,236 and starts to realize that he is going to be drafted into the Prussian Army. 289 00:15:48,237 --> 00:15:49,987 He did not want that to happen, 290 00:15:49,988 --> 00:15:51,656 his parents didn't want that to happen, 291 00:15:51,657 --> 00:15:53,908 and they finally made some arrangement 292 00:15:53,909 --> 00:15:56,327 where he was sent out of the country. 293 00:15:56,328 --> 00:15:59,288 He comes to the United States in 1872. 294 00:15:59,289 --> 00:16:03,292 In fact, he comes off the ship called the SS Berlin, 295 00:16:03,293 --> 00:16:04,919 where he came over in steerage, 296 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:06,337 with a wooden suitcase, 297 00:16:06,338 --> 00:16:09,841 and it was at a place called Locust Point in Baltimore, 298 00:16:09,842 --> 00:16:13,344 where, some years later, he would have his own factory. 299 00:16:13,345 --> 00:16:15,096 He made something that was right, 300 00:16:15,097 --> 00:16:17,765 and you could repeat it exactly the same, 301 00:16:17,766 --> 00:16:22,395 and there are a lot of watch making qualities in that Linotype machine. 302 00:16:22,396 --> 00:16:24,188 He was the creative genius behind this. 303 00:16:24,189 --> 00:16:27,358 Somebody else gave him the germ of the idea, 304 00:16:27,359 --> 00:16:32,359 but it was his genius that made the Linotype and made it successful. 305 00:16:35,909 --> 00:16:37,493 [Filmstrip Narrator] Son of humble parents, 306 00:16:37,494 --> 00:16:39,036 apprentice clock maker, 307 00:16:39,037 --> 00:16:41,330 immigrant, skilled craftsman, 308 00:16:41,331 --> 00:16:43,416 inventor in 1886 309 00:16:43,417 --> 00:16:46,252 of a machine that revolutionized an industry, 310 00:16:46,253 --> 00:16:50,465 a machine that pulled the mind of humanity forward a thousand years 311 00:16:50,466 --> 00:16:52,967 in the space of a generation. 312 00:16:52,968 --> 00:16:55,178 The Linotype gave you the mechanization 313 00:16:55,179 --> 00:17:00,179 so that one person could do the work of six. 314 00:17:08,942 --> 00:17:12,111 It could set type six times faster than a man could, 315 00:17:12,112 --> 00:17:15,615 and you didn't have to throw the type back in the type case when you were finished. 316 00:17:15,616 --> 00:17:18,326 The hand compositors, the typesetters, 317 00:17:18,327 --> 00:17:22,079 when they heard, “Oh there's a machine that's going to come and replace you,” 318 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:23,581 they started to worry, I'm sure, 319 00:17:23,582 --> 00:17:25,958 because they thought, “Oh, we're going to be out of a job,” 320 00:17:25,959 --> 00:17:27,084 but no such thing. 321 00:17:27,085 --> 00:17:29,587 Because the Linotype was such an effective device 322 00:17:29,588 --> 00:17:30,963 and it replaced all these people, 323 00:17:30,964 --> 00:17:33,841 within a decade after the Linotype, 324 00:17:33,842 --> 00:17:36,594 they were up to the same number of people they had with handset type 325 00:17:36,595 --> 00:17:39,931 because the Linotype generated so much need for typesetting 326 00:17:39,932 --> 00:17:41,641 for books and magazines and newspapers. 327 00:17:41,642 --> 00:17:45,102 The way that this machine transformed information 328 00:17:45,103 --> 00:17:46,979 is probably its most significant achievement. 329 00:17:46,980 --> 00:17:50,233 If you look at literacy in the United States, 330 00:17:50,234 --> 00:17:52,485 before the Linotype and after the Linotype, 331 00:17:52,486 --> 00:17:53,945 there's a gigantic jump 332 00:17:53,946 --> 00:17:56,113 because now you can set type faster, 333 00:17:56,114 --> 00:17:59,200 and because you can set type faster, you can print faster. 334 00:17:59,201 --> 00:18:01,118 So you look then at the number of books published 335 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:03,204 in the United States after the Linotype, 336 00:18:03,205 --> 00:18:04,413 look at the number of magazines, 337 00:18:04,414 --> 00:18:06,374 look at the number of new newspapers that started. 338 00:18:06,375 --> 00:18:10,127 It was important because it made printing that much more affordable to the masses, 339 00:18:10,128 --> 00:18:12,046 not just in America but around the world. 340 00:18:12,047 --> 00:18:13,965 Without the Linotype machine 341 00:18:13,966 --> 00:18:15,758 and the speed that it came up with, 342 00:18:15,759 --> 00:18:18,803 you would not have the communications system that you have now. 343 00:18:18,804 --> 00:18:20,513 It's really something, 344 00:18:20,514 --> 00:18:24,141 to think that just a machine that makes letters, 345 00:18:24,142 --> 00:18:26,769 from a German immigrant from Baltimore, 346 00:18:26,770 --> 00:18:31,770 could have such a deep effect on people and society. 347 00:18:41,827 --> 00:18:43,160 I'm Davin Kuntze. 348 00:18:43,161 --> 00:18:44,579 I'm 34 years old. 349 00:18:44,580 --> 00:18:45,788 I'm a Linotype operator. 350 00:18:45,789 --> 00:18:48,291 I have people come in to see the shop. 351 00:18:48,292 --> 00:18:50,376 We have students come in from schools all the time, 352 00:18:50,377 --> 00:18:53,170 and they just are in awe. 353 00:18:53,171 --> 00:18:55,506 They have no idea what this thing is or how it works, 354 00:18:55,507 --> 00:18:57,341 and I show them how the type is distributed 355 00:18:57,342 --> 00:19:00,386 back into the magazines, and it's magic. 356 00:19:00,387 --> 00:19:03,681 I like the fact that it is old. I like the fact of the way it works. 357 00:19:03,682 --> 00:19:05,182 It's not like a computer that I look at 358 00:19:05,183 --> 00:19:10,183 and I don't understand how the circuit boards are making stuff do what it does. 359 00:19:10,188 --> 00:19:13,858 I'm incredibly happy that I know how it works. 360 00:19:13,859 --> 00:19:18,859 It's very impressive to the women. 361 00:19:19,197 --> 00:19:22,908 [Filmstrip Narrator] The operations necessary to produce a slug or line of type 362 00:19:22,909 --> 00:19:25,077 are divided into three groups- 363 00:19:25,078 --> 00:19:27,288 composition of the matrix line, 364 00:19:27,289 --> 00:19:28,956 casting of the slug, 365 00:19:28,957 --> 00:19:31,208 distribution of the matrices. 366 00:19:31,209 --> 00:19:33,711 The operator, depressing the keys, 367 00:19:33,712 --> 00:19:37,214 releases matrices from the magazine channel. 368 00:19:37,215 --> 00:19:40,593 The matrices are delivered to the assembly elevator 369 00:19:40,594 --> 00:19:42,386 in the correct sequence. 370 00:19:42,387 --> 00:19:45,014 Here's a close-up of some mats. 371 00:19:45,015 --> 00:19:47,975 You can see the letter that has been punched, or engraved, 372 00:19:47,976 --> 00:19:51,854 into which the molten type metal is going to be injected. 373 00:19:51,855 --> 00:19:54,815 The line of matrices is sent to the casting unit. 374 00:19:54,816 --> 00:19:57,026 Against the opening of this mold, 375 00:19:57,027 --> 00:20:00,112 the mats will fit perfectly. 376 00:20:00,113 --> 00:20:03,783 The plunger injects the molten type metal into the mold. 377 00:20:03,784 --> 00:20:07,912 The slug is ejected into the galley. 378 00:20:07,913 --> 00:20:09,455 At the same time, 379 00:20:09,456 --> 00:20:12,625 the matrices are transferred to the second elevator 380 00:20:12,626 --> 00:20:14,251 and raised to the distributor. 381 00:20:14,252 --> 00:20:19,252 Here, they are returned to their respective channels in the magazine. 382 00:20:35,065 --> 00:20:37,983 It's incredible, the thought power 383 00:20:37,984 --> 00:20:40,403 that went into figuring out how this machine works. 384 00:20:40,404 --> 00:20:41,904 I can't even wrap my head around it 385 00:20:41,905 --> 00:20:44,573 reading the manuals, let alone try to figure it out. 386 00:20:44,574 --> 00:20:47,702 We would call this a “type matrix," 387 00:20:47,703 --> 00:20:52,703 and this is of course a size to explain to people 388 00:20:52,999 --> 00:20:54,166 because it has to be seen. 389 00:20:54,167 --> 00:20:57,128 The mats, these are little things like this, 390 00:20:57,129 --> 00:20:59,046 and they come in all different sizes. 391 00:20:59,047 --> 00:21:02,007 The heart and soul of the Linotype machine is the matrix. 392 00:21:02,008 --> 00:21:04,301 [Filmstrip Narrator] This small piece of brass 393 00:21:04,302 --> 00:21:06,595 performs a vitally important job. 394 00:21:06,596 --> 00:21:09,473 It's a matrix, a mold for a letter. 395 00:21:09,474 --> 00:21:14,474 It forms, together with other matrices, a word in type... 396 00:21:17,315 --> 00:21:19,900 and then a line of words in type, 397 00:21:19,901 --> 00:21:24,697 a Linotype. 398 00:21:24,698 --> 00:21:27,199 This is what sets the type. This is why it's a typesetting machine. 399 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:29,368 Everything else is to make this work. 400 00:21:29,369 --> 00:21:34,369 This is a mat that actually went through 60 different processes to be manufactured. 401 00:21:35,167 --> 00:21:37,251 [Romano] The tooth combination in every matrix 402 00:21:37,252 --> 00:21:40,713 matched up to the channel in the magazine, 403 00:21:40,714 --> 00:21:44,884 so as the matrices went to the top, they went along the distributor bar 404 00:21:44,885 --> 00:21:46,844 and then fell back into the proper channels. 405 00:21:46,845 --> 00:21:48,763 I'll sometimes be setting line after line of type, 406 00:21:48,764 --> 00:21:50,014 and then I just stop 407 00:21:50,015 --> 00:21:51,766 and kind of stare at the return 408 00:21:51,767 --> 00:21:56,767 and watch them drop down... 409 00:21:58,356 --> 00:22:00,441 and then realize I'm supposed to be doing work. 410 00:22:00,442 --> 00:22:03,194 [Filmstrip Narrator] A steel wedge known as a space band 411 00:22:03,195 --> 00:22:06,572 is assembled between one word and the next. 412 00:22:06,573 --> 00:22:08,407 At one point, when the line goes over to be cast, 413 00:22:08,408 --> 00:22:11,118 it forces the wedge up, 414 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:14,497 and as it goes up, it expands the space between the words, 415 00:22:14,498 --> 00:22:16,916 justifying everything to the left and right hand margins. 416 00:22:16,917 --> 00:22:19,460 Strange keyboard- if you don't know anything about the keyboard- 417 00:22:19,461 --> 00:22:21,045 has 90 keys on it. 418 00:22:21,046 --> 00:22:22,880 It starts out with the most used letter, 419 00:22:22,881 --> 00:22:24,632 which is the lowercase 'e', 420 00:22:24,633 --> 00:22:29,303 and it goes “e, t, a, o, I, n, s, h, r, d, I, u, 421 00:22:29,304 --> 00:22:33,766 c, m, f, w, y, p, v, b, g, k. q, I. X. 1-” 422 00:22:33,767 --> 00:22:38,103 So Ottmar put all the lowercase letters on one side, based on frequency of letter use, 423 00:22:38,104 --> 00:22:39,730 all the caps on the other side, 424 00:22:39,731 --> 00:22:41,148 and everything else in the middle. 425 00:22:41,149 --> 00:22:42,525 So you look at the keyboard. 426 00:22:42,526 --> 00:22:45,736 It's “e, t, a, o, I, n, s, h, r, d, I, u" - 427 00:22:45,737 --> 00:22:47,279 “etaoin shrdlu.” 428 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:49,114 Now, the reason that became famous 429 00:22:49,115 --> 00:22:52,409 was there's no backspace key or delete key on a Linotype. 430 00:22:52,410 --> 00:22:53,577 If you've made a mistake- 431 00:22:53,578 --> 00:22:55,120 when you started typing, you made a mistake- 432 00:22:55,121 --> 00:22:57,248 you started in the wrong line or whatever- 433 00:22:57,249 --> 00:22:59,208 you couldn't abort easily, 434 00:22:59,209 --> 00:23:02,169 so what you would do is run your finger down the first two rows of keys. 435 00:23:02,170 --> 00:23:04,505 And then when the slug came out and it said “etaoin shrdlu," 436 00:23:04,506 --> 00:23:05,965 you'd throw it back into the pot, 437 00:23:05,966 --> 00:23:07,633 and no one would know what was going on, 438 00:23:07,634 --> 00:23:09,969 but what would happen, as fate would have it, 439 00:23:09,970 --> 00:23:11,804 is that that would wind up in print, 440 00:23:11,805 --> 00:23:14,431 and so all through the '20s and '30s and '40s 441 00:23:14,432 --> 00:23:16,475 that was a big joke in the printing industry. 442 00:23:16,476 --> 00:23:21,476 Who is “etaoin shrdlu”? 443 00:23:26,444 --> 00:23:30,489 The Linotype machine was important on several aspects. 444 00:23:30,490 --> 00:23:35,490 The most important of all of them is its contribution to journalism 445 00:23:35,662 --> 00:23:38,205 because, whether things are looking nice or not, 446 00:23:38,206 --> 00:23:43,206 the ability to have a newspaper coming out every day is non-negotiable. 447 00:23:47,924 --> 00:23:52,303 This is a shrine to the First Amendment. Part of that is the history of news. 448 00:23:52,304 --> 00:23:57,304 That's where we are right now. We're in the news gallery at the Newseum. 449 00:24:00,020 --> 00:24:05,020 Right behind me you'll see front pages from 1940 to 1945. 450 00:24:05,358 --> 00:24:07,610 We're seeing all of World War ll right here, 451 00:24:07,611 --> 00:24:09,820 and every one of these papers 452 00:24:09,821 --> 00:24:11,947 was set with a Linotype machine 453 00:24:11,948 --> 00:24:15,117 by a guy probably in a very hot room, 454 00:24:15,118 --> 00:24:18,787 really squinting to get every single word right. 455 00:24:18,788 --> 00:24:23,167 So Linotype was able to take the words of a few people 456 00:24:23,168 --> 00:24:25,502 and make them available for a larger audience 457 00:24:25,503 --> 00:24:27,546 because it made newspaper production possible. 458 00:24:27,547 --> 00:24:29,965 It's this machine that made it possible 459 00:24:29,966 --> 00:24:33,636 for newspapers to print two, sometimes even three editions a day. 460 00:24:33,637 --> 00:24:38,515 The newspapers went from eight pages to 48 pages almost overnight. 461 00:24:38,516 --> 00:24:40,559 The cost of newspapers was driven down. 462 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:42,311 It used to be a dime and a nickel a piece. 463 00:24:42,312 --> 00:24:45,230 Pretty soon you saw the New York papers selling for a penny a piece. 464 00:24:45,231 --> 00:24:47,358 You can take longer stories. 465 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:49,234 You can take more stories. 466 00:24:49,235 --> 00:24:50,903 You can print more often. 467 00:24:50,904 --> 00:24:52,529 You can print faster. 468 00:24:52,530 --> 00:24:54,615 They had to have content that would attract readers. 469 00:24:54,616 --> 00:24:57,952 Therefore the stories became more salacious. 470 00:24:57,953 --> 00:24:59,536 The headlines became larger. 471 00:24:59,537 --> 00:25:02,456 If it involved a murder or sex or gambling, 472 00:25:02,457 --> 00:25:04,458 it was sure to draw readers in. 473 00:25:04,459 --> 00:25:09,254 Even today with the gossip channel, TMZ.com, Twitter, 474 00:25:09,255 --> 00:25:11,340 they got to know now, the latest joke, 475 00:25:11,341 --> 00:25:12,925 the latest have-you-seen-it, 476 00:25:12,926 --> 00:25:15,803 the latest Web video, viral or what have you. 477 00:25:15,804 --> 00:25:20,804 It's the instantaneousness of the fact that drives the business. 478 00:25:23,603 --> 00:25:26,855 [Filmstrip Narrator] The need to read, which serves the very souls of men, 479 00:25:26,856 --> 00:25:30,985 is more evident in the present era of progress than ever before. 480 00:25:30,986 --> 00:25:32,778 Publishers, bookstores, and newsstands 481 00:25:32,779 --> 00:25:37,199 pour out thousands of books, magazines, and newspapers every day 482 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:41,078 to inform, instruct, and amuse. 483 00:25:41,079 --> 00:25:43,455 The greater part of these printed materials 484 00:25:43,456 --> 00:25:48,456 are made possible by various types of mechanical typesetting. 485 00:25:48,503 --> 00:25:53,173 Machines which set type up in lines, cast from molten metal, 486 00:25:53,174 --> 00:25:55,801 first introduced at the close of the last century, 487 00:25:55,802 --> 00:25:58,721 are now the most widely used. 488 00:25:58,722 --> 00:26:02,391 Linotype was one of the most profitable companies you can possibly imagine. 489 00:26:02,392 --> 00:26:04,101 Newspapers had to buy machines. 490 00:26:04,102 --> 00:26:06,895 They had to buy new fonts. They had to buy mats that wore out. 491 00:26:06,896 --> 00:26:08,522 They had to buy parts for the machine. 492 00:26:08,523 --> 00:26:11,108 They had to buy service for the machine where it was necessary. 493 00:26:11,109 --> 00:26:16,109 The Linotype company was a “cash cow.” 494 00:26:20,618 --> 00:26:21,952 Beginning in 1886 495 00:26:21,953 --> 00:26:23,912 the Linotype spread rapidly 496 00:26:23,913 --> 00:26:25,622 through the United States and Canada, 497 00:26:25,623 --> 00:26:28,083 but almost simultaneously in Western Europe 498 00:26:28,084 --> 00:26:29,376 and the English-speaking world 499 00:26:29,377 --> 00:26:30,627 because of the British Empire. 500 00:26:30,628 --> 00:26:32,171 And by 1928, 501 00:26:32,172 --> 00:26:33,714 the Linotype reigned supreme 502 00:26:33,715 --> 00:26:38,715 as the primary typesetting device throughout the world. 503 00:26:46,644 --> 00:26:49,772 But Mergenthaler's biggest problem is he can't stop inventing. 504 00:26:49,773 --> 00:26:52,191 He keeps improving the machine. 505 00:26:52,192 --> 00:26:53,901 He keeps coming up with new ideas, 506 00:26:53,902 --> 00:26:56,445 and the problem is the investors want to be able to ship machines 507 00:26:56,446 --> 00:26:59,698 and make money from them. 508 00:26:59,699 --> 00:27:01,450 He ruled with an iron hand. 509 00:27:01,451 --> 00:27:03,452 Just the way he ruled his workers at the newspaper, 510 00:27:03,453 --> 00:27:08,332 he ruled everybody at the company. 511 00:27:08,333 --> 00:27:10,793 Whitelaw Reid wanted to make money very fast. 512 00:27:10,794 --> 00:27:12,878 Ottmar didn't want to build the machines that fast. 513 00:27:12,879 --> 00:27:16,757 There's a picture of Whitelaw Reid standing next to Mergenthaler. 514 00:27:16,758 --> 00:27:18,926 He was listening to what Mergenthaler said, 515 00:27:18,927 --> 00:27:21,345 but Mergenthaler was not an equal to him. 516 00:27:21,346 --> 00:27:23,680 [Romano] So they start to become at loggerheads. 517 00:27:23,681 --> 00:27:28,681 It gets to a point where Reid starts really hinting that the machine is bad. 518 00:27:29,354 --> 00:27:31,313 “The machine's not doing what it's supposed to do." 519 00:27:31,314 --> 00:27:32,731 What he was doing that for 520 00:27:32,732 --> 00:27:36,068 was basically he thought the stock price would go lower. 521 00:27:36,069 --> 00:27:37,277 He would buy more of it. 522 00:27:37,278 --> 00:27:39,696 He wanted to control the whole thing himself, 523 00:27:39,697 --> 00:27:42,825 and from all the records that are still out there, 524 00:27:42,826 --> 00:27:47,037 he should be ashamed of what he was doing. 525 00:27:47,038 --> 00:27:49,081 Ottmar was a perfectionist, 526 00:27:49,082 --> 00:27:51,208 and, again, he couldn't stop inventing. 527 00:27:51,209 --> 00:27:53,544 This is another thing that drove Reid crazy. 528 00:27:53,545 --> 00:27:55,254 Reid had his own set of problems. 529 00:27:55,255 --> 00:27:57,631 He was a taskmaster. He was demanding. 530 00:27:57,632 --> 00:27:58,924 He wanted everything immediately. 531 00:27:58,925 --> 00:28:00,843 He put a lot of pressure on Mergenthaler, 532 00:28:00,844 --> 00:28:03,137 but Mergenthaler put a lot of pressure on himself. 533 00:28:03,138 --> 00:28:08,138 But he also had the problem of working very late at night. 534 00:28:08,393 --> 00:28:11,145 He had a family to take care of and afford, 535 00:28:11,146 --> 00:28:14,857 and with all those things, his health began to go. 536 00:28:14,858 --> 00:28:19,069 Ottmar Mergenthaler unfortunately died of tuberculosis when he was about 44. 537 00:28:19,070 --> 00:28:22,990 He didn't live to see the great success that the Linotype eventually became. 538 00:28:22,991 --> 00:28:24,366 If he deserves anything, 539 00:28:24,367 --> 00:28:29,163 he deserves the respect of being the person that we should be thanking. 540 00:28:29,164 --> 00:28:30,789 Thank you for what you've done. 541 00:28:30,790 --> 00:28:34,334 You've put the world 300 years ahead 542 00:28:34,335 --> 00:28:36,587 by inventing the Linotype machine. 543 00:28:36,588 --> 00:28:39,506 It's almost the story of the American dream. 544 00:28:39,507 --> 00:28:41,758 He comes to America with nothing. 545 00:28:41,759 --> 00:28:43,760 He goes on to invent the machine 546 00:28:43,761 --> 00:28:45,012 that will change the world, 547 00:28:45,013 --> 00:28:50,013 and yet almost no one knows who he was. 548 00:29:17,212 --> 00:29:20,505 That is the first question people ask me when they find out I'm the Public Printer. 549 00:29:20,506 --> 00:29:23,842 They want to know if I print money, and I say “No,” 550 00:29:23,843 --> 00:29:25,969 and then they say, “Well, can you get me my passport?” 551 00:29:25,970 --> 00:29:28,180 And I say “No," and then they just move on. 552 00:29:28,181 --> 00:29:32,267 We print the Congressional Record, the Federal Register. 553 00:29:32,268 --> 00:29:34,895 We print the Code of Federal Regulations 554 00:29:34,896 --> 00:29:38,565 We've printed every significant historical document 555 00:29:38,566 --> 00:29:41,860 in the life of the nation since 1861. 556 00:29:41,861 --> 00:29:45,113 So our first big historic job was probably 557 00:29:45,114 --> 00:29:47,950 the printing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. 558 00:29:47,951 --> 00:29:51,286 The stumbling block, in terms of efficiency and speed, 559 00:29:51,287 --> 00:29:54,248 was that we set everything by hand, 560 00:29:54,249 --> 00:29:56,708 and when we really turned the equation around 561 00:29:56,709 --> 00:30:01,709 from minutes-per-line to lines-per-minute, 562 00:30:01,923 --> 00:30:03,840 our work here just exploded. 563 00:30:03,841 --> 00:30:06,426 Well, the Linotype battery at GPO, as far as I know, 564 00:30:06,427 --> 00:30:09,388 was probably the largest in the world. 565 00:30:09,389 --> 00:30:12,975 I think there was about 150 in total, throughout the building, 566 00:30:12,976 --> 00:30:15,227 and it was just something to see, 567 00:30:15,228 --> 00:30:18,772 all those machines lined up the full length of the building, 568 00:30:18,773 --> 00:30:20,857 and the noise was pretty loud, 569 00:30:20,858 --> 00:30:24,152 all of those machines running at the same time, pinging away, 570 00:30:24,153 --> 00:30:26,863 and men shouting and moving around. 571 00:30:26,864 --> 00:30:30,117 It was almost like a ballet of machinery and men 572 00:30:30,118 --> 00:30:32,869 moving around, trying to get this thing done 573 00:30:32,870 --> 00:30:37,870 because every night The Record had to get out. 574 00:30:41,796 --> 00:30:46,300 It's just fascinating how every piece is an integral part, 575 00:30:46,301 --> 00:30:49,803 of one action leads to another action. 576 00:30:49,804 --> 00:30:54,804 I've just found that to be as interesting as hell. 577 00:30:56,477 --> 00:30:59,354 I was a Linotype machinist. I repaired them. 578 00:30:59,355 --> 00:31:02,441 Worked with a head machinist 579 00:31:02,442 --> 00:31:07,195 who was a little reluctant on teaching me at first 580 00:31:07,196 --> 00:31:11,908 because he noticed I had two fingers gone, so he didn't figure I'd be able to do it. 581 00:31:11,909 --> 00:31:13,368 He used to go out for lunch everyday, 582 00:31:13,369 --> 00:31:14,619 and while he was gone for lunch, 583 00:31:14,620 --> 00:31:16,705 of course I had to cover the 11 machines, 584 00:31:16,706 --> 00:31:19,708 I'd make sure I took one of them apart, 585 00:31:19,709 --> 00:31:22,919 and when he came back, he'd see that I had taken it apart. 586 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:24,546 He'd hit the roof, but that was okay. 587 00:31:24,547 --> 00:31:26,298 He had to put it back together again. 588 00:31:26,299 --> 00:31:28,717 In the meantime I was looking over his shoulder, 589 00:31:28,718 --> 00:31:33,718 garnishing all of his knowledge. 590 00:31:36,642 --> 00:31:39,394 What's really nice is when you come across 591 00:31:39,395 --> 00:31:43,690 some of the old-timers that used to run these machines. 592 00:31:43,691 --> 00:31:48,570 They just love it when they see a running machine. 593 00:31:48,571 --> 00:31:53,075 They'll be out in the hallway, 594 00:31:53,076 --> 00:31:55,410 and you hear the click-click-click, 595 00:31:55,411 --> 00:32:00,411 and all of a sudden they're attracted like mice to cheese, coming in the door 596 00:32:00,583 --> 00:32:02,084 because they hear that sound. 597 00:32:02,085 --> 00:32:06,296 You've got the clink of the matrices as they fall down into the assembling tray. 598 00:32:06,297 --> 00:32:09,424 You've got the sounds of the mold disc being pushed up against it. 599 00:32:09,425 --> 00:32:12,386 You've got all 13 cams spinning at the same time. 600 00:32:12,387 --> 00:32:14,721 You're adding all of these different sounds 601 00:32:14,722 --> 00:32:17,140 to the whirring sound that's been going, 602 00:32:17,141 --> 00:32:19,768 reassuring you that the machine is on and that it's working right. 603 00:32:19,769 --> 00:32:22,020 The whirr- [imitates sound] 604 00:32:22,021 --> 00:32:24,064 Then you hear- [whooshes] 605 00:32:24,065 --> 00:32:25,524 Just a little tap noise. 606 00:32:25,525 --> 00:32:28,819 Click-click. There's a clink, which is the spaceband. 607 00:32:28,820 --> 00:32:30,070 Vroom, click. 608 00:32:30,071 --> 00:32:31,613 The elevator moves down. 609 00:32:31,614 --> 00:32:33,198 You hear it go- [imitates sound] 610 00:32:33,199 --> 00:32:36,701 Clink, and then you hear the sound of a- [whooshes] 611 00:32:36,702 --> 00:32:39,830 And then that last line comes out and goes clunk 612 00:32:39,831 --> 00:32:40,914 and drops in place. 613 00:32:40,915 --> 00:32:43,291 And then that's followed by the cascade of mats 614 00:32:43,292 --> 00:32:46,711 as they fall back down into the distributor, down into the magazine, 615 00:32:46,712 --> 00:32:50,090 and you hear that brass-against-brass sound as the mats hit each other. 616 00:32:50,091 --> 00:32:53,009 You'd hear clink-clink-clink, clink-clink-clink, clink-clink-clink 617 00:32:53,010 --> 00:32:55,011 wherever that mat was going to drop. 618 00:32:55,012 --> 00:32:57,722 It's just a cacophony of sound, 619 00:32:57,723 --> 00:33:00,934 but it is in its own, a Linotype symphony. 620 00:33:00,935 --> 00:33:03,770 And that's the sound that they grew up with, 621 00:33:03,771 --> 00:33:05,605 something that they did for years. 622 00:33:05,606 --> 00:33:07,315 [clinking, whirring] 623 00:33:07,316 --> 00:33:09,317 [clacks, zips] 624 00:33:09,318 --> 00:33:12,696 [clicking, chugging] 625 00:33:12,697 --> 00:33:17,697 [pinging, clanking] 626 00:33:22,623 --> 00:33:27,623 “If your mouth keeps your hands from working, keep it shut.” 627 00:33:29,630 --> 00:33:31,673 So that's a pretty good motto. 628 00:33:31,674 --> 00:33:34,634 These people that ran them were really irreplaceable. 629 00:33:34,635 --> 00:33:38,305 You just couldn't put anybody down at a machine and say, “You do this." 630 00:33:38,306 --> 00:33:41,933 It took several years to really become 631 00:33:41,934 --> 00:33:44,978 a decent printer at a Linotype machine, 632 00:33:44,979 --> 00:33:49,608 and really many, many more years to become a good operator. 633 00:33:49,609 --> 00:33:54,609 Linotype compositors were the preeminent laborers of their day. 634 00:33:57,074 --> 00:33:58,283 This wasn't just a job. 635 00:33:58,284 --> 00:34:02,329 This whole thing in this newspaper age, it was a calling. 636 00:34:02,330 --> 00:34:03,914 It was something bigger. 637 00:34:03,915 --> 00:34:05,540 They were the artists. 638 00:34:05,541 --> 00:34:09,544 They were the people that created this wonderful, beautiful typography 639 00:34:09,545 --> 00:34:13,298 that we try and emulate today digitally. 640 00:34:13,299 --> 00:34:15,091 The people who operated them 641 00:34:15,092 --> 00:34:19,012 were talented, artistic people 642 00:34:19,013 --> 00:34:23,725 posing as industrial types in dirty coveralls. 643 00:34:23,726 --> 00:34:28,188 They saved you from making stupid errors- especially the compositors- 644 00:34:28,189 --> 00:34:31,107 really saved you from making stupid errors, from upstairs. 645 00:34:31,108 --> 00:34:33,235 And sometimes the guys in composing 646 00:34:33,236 --> 00:34:34,819 would find an error in the story 647 00:34:34,820 --> 00:34:36,488 while they were putting it in and say, 648 00:34:36,489 --> 00:34:38,406 “Did you mean to say he was guilty?" 649 00:34:38,407 --> 00:34:41,785 “Because everything in this seems to say he's not guilty?" 650 00:34:41,786 --> 00:34:43,370 “What did the jury say? Was he guilty?” 651 00:34:43,371 --> 00:34:45,121 “Oh, I forgot to put 'not' in it," 652 00:34:45,122 --> 00:34:47,165 and it went through everybody, and they never caught it, 653 00:34:47,166 --> 00:34:48,250 but you know who caught it? 654 00:34:48,251 --> 00:34:51,002 The guy down there, with the cigar, that's putting it in. 655 00:34:51,003 --> 00:34:55,423 The goal was to pick up your paper 656 00:34:55,424 --> 00:34:58,802 at the door of your house at 7:00 in the morning. 657 00:34:58,803 --> 00:35:00,011 That's the goal. 658 00:35:00,012 --> 00:35:03,306 You wouldn't care how you did it at night 659 00:35:03,307 --> 00:35:05,559 or when you went to press. 660 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:06,685 That's your problem. 661 00:35:06,686 --> 00:35:10,146 Our problem is we want a paper there in the morning, first thing. 662 00:35:10,147 --> 00:35:11,731 You had a deadline on Thursday, 663 00:35:11,732 --> 00:35:13,275 and you didn't dare miss that deadline 664 00:35:13,276 --> 00:35:14,609 because if you missed that deadline, 665 00:35:14,610 --> 00:35:16,528 they couldn't print the paper, 666 00:35:16,529 --> 00:35:18,196 and if the paper didn't get printed, 667 00:35:18,197 --> 00:35:20,198 it couldn't get in the mail. 668 00:35:20,199 --> 00:35:21,449 If it couldn't get in the mail, 669 00:35:21,450 --> 00:35:23,285 the subscribers wouldn't get their paper until late, 670 00:35:23,286 --> 00:35:25,579 and they wouldn't like that. 671 00:35:25,580 --> 00:35:29,374 It was a vicious cycle. 672 00:35:29,375 --> 00:35:31,501 It was not easy... 673 00:35:31,502 --> 00:35:36,502 But it was fun. 674 00:35:42,805 --> 00:35:44,806 I was sitting there at my machine, 675 00:35:44,807 --> 00:35:47,309 doing some classified advertising, I guess, 676 00:35:47,310 --> 00:35:49,352 and along came some people. 677 00:35:49,353 --> 00:35:50,437 I could see them from a distance. 678 00:35:50,438 --> 00:35:53,857 The foreman of the composing room came over to me, 679 00:35:53,858 --> 00:35:56,359 and he said, “Carl, we have some visitors.” 680 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:57,819 He brought all the people over, 681 00:35:57,820 --> 00:35:59,487 and there was this woman, and he says, 682 00:35:59,488 --> 00:36:03,617 “Oh, yes, and this is Marilyn Monroe." 683 00:36:03,618 --> 00:36:06,453 You could have knocked me out of my chair if you wanted to, 684 00:36:06,454 --> 00:36:09,581 but I took the shock. 685 00:36:09,582 --> 00:36:12,417 I said, “Okay, Marilyn Monroe and anybody else, 686 00:36:12,418 --> 00:36:15,795 you still all have to learn something about the machine at once." 687 00:36:15,796 --> 00:36:18,465 I set up a line of type in her name. 688 00:36:18,466 --> 00:36:20,342 I set it in bold face 689 00:36:20,343 --> 00:36:22,218 because I knew she would like that. 690 00:36:22,219 --> 00:36:25,263 And I gave it to her and I said, “This is your name on the piece.” 691 00:36:25,264 --> 00:36:27,015 And she looked at it, 692 00:36:27,016 --> 00:36:30,769 and everybody else was looking at it and looking at me, I guess. 693 00:36:30,770 --> 00:36:32,937 And she said, “Thank you very much,” 694 00:36:32,938 --> 00:36:34,481 and she kissed me on top of my head 695 00:36:34,482 --> 00:36:37,275 because I'm sitting down here, and she's standing over me. 696 00:36:37,276 --> 00:36:41,363 And I said to myself, “There goes the day. 697 00:36:41,364 --> 00:36:46,364 That's all they're going to talk about now today is my head.” 698 00:36:53,376 --> 00:36:58,376 In memoriam, City of Boston Printing Department, 1897 to 2010. 699 00:37:07,556 --> 00:37:10,475 Good morning ladies and gentlemen. 700 00:37:10,476 --> 00:37:13,436 Welcome to the City of Boston Graphic Arts Printing Equipment Auction. 701 00:37:13,437 --> 00:37:17,524 Today we are auctioning off the assets of the printing department. 702 00:37:17,525 --> 00:37:20,985 Here we go, lot 101: the Heidelberg 4-color perfector. 703 00:37:20,986 --> 00:37:24,406 And how much- we'll start it off at $20,000, 704 00:37:24,407 --> 00:37:25,615 20,000 to get it going. 705 00:37:25,616 --> 00:37:27,826 20,000 a bidder, now 22,500. 706 00:37:27,827 --> 00:37:29,828 Any interest in the Linotype machine? 707 00:37:29,829 --> 00:37:33,540 $500 on the Linotype? $500 quickly? 708 00:37:33,541 --> 00:37:35,750 Couple hundred dollars? Any interest at all? 709 00:37:35,751 --> 00:37:38,878 Any interest in the Linotype? Hundred dollars- 710 00:37:38,879 --> 00:37:42,006 - [Woman] 1-6-4. - 164, a hundred dollars? 711 00:37:42,007 --> 00:37:43,508 - Ten dollars. - Ten dollars. 712 00:37:43,509 --> 00:37:45,176 Ten, now 20? Ten, now 20? 713 00:37:45,177 --> 00:37:46,970 Now $20. Ten and now 20. 714 00:37:46,971 --> 00:37:48,471 Ten, now 20, now 20. 715 00:37:48,472 --> 00:37:49,806 This auction is killing me! 716 00:37:49,807 --> 00:37:54,807 I'm here to attempting to and successfully acquiring a Linotype machine 717 00:37:55,062 --> 00:37:56,438 for the museum in Waltham. 718 00:37:56,439 --> 00:37:59,232 $10, now 20? Any- for ten, 20? 719 00:37:59,233 --> 00:38:00,942 You want them both? You're going to take both of them, all right? 720 00:38:00,943 --> 00:38:02,152 - I'll take both. - Take them both. 721 00:38:02,153 --> 00:38:04,946 I think I spent $10 for a machine. 722 00:38:04,947 --> 00:38:08,950 Whether I bought one machine or two machines is a matter of conjecture. 723 00:38:08,951 --> 00:38:11,619 [person applauding] 724 00:38:11,620 --> 00:38:15,457 This gentleman is from one of the museums. I want you to go visit the equipment. 725 00:38:15,458 --> 00:38:17,041 They were sold for ten bucks 726 00:38:17,042 --> 00:38:22,042 to the Museum of Industry and Innovation out in Waltham, Mass. 727 00:38:23,048 --> 00:38:28,048 They are going to be setting up some sort of demonstration 728 00:38:29,013 --> 00:38:31,931 to show people how Linotypes work. 729 00:38:31,932 --> 00:38:33,349 - Thank you very much, I appreciate it. - Thank you very much. 730 00:38:33,350 --> 00:38:35,143 - Good luck. You'll enjoy these. - I'm going to need it. 731 00:38:35,144 --> 00:38:37,937 All right, now 166. 732 00:38:37,938 --> 00:38:40,523 I know what the machine does, and I know why it does it. 733 00:38:40,524 --> 00:38:43,777 As far as the operation and maintenance, 734 00:38:43,778 --> 00:38:46,863 I'm very much in the dark on that, 735 00:38:46,864 --> 00:38:50,658 but I guess I'm going to have to learn. 736 00:38:50,659 --> 00:38:54,370 Can you get that? 737 00:38:54,371 --> 00:38:56,372 Of course it's got my name and address on it. 738 00:38:56,373 --> 00:38:58,124 Maybe you shouldn't be photographing that. 739 00:38:58,125 --> 00:39:00,460 Do you know anybody who wants to take a second machine? 740 00:39:00,461 --> 00:39:01,795 Offhand, I don't, 741 00:39:01,796 --> 00:39:04,798 but Dave Seat, because he travels the country- 742 00:39:04,799 --> 00:39:06,508 Why don't you get the word to him? 743 00:39:06,509 --> 00:39:10,011 Because I definitely do not want a second machine. 744 00:39:10,012 --> 00:39:11,596 They're going to skin me for the first one. 745 00:39:11,597 --> 00:39:16,226 You really, really should touch base with Dave. 746 00:39:16,227 --> 00:39:18,394 Let me give you my name, 747 00:39:18,395 --> 00:39:21,564 and I'll give you my phone number and my email address- 748 00:39:21,565 --> 00:39:23,233 - Well- - He can get to me any way he cares to. 749 00:39:23,234 --> 00:39:25,068 Well, I'll be very blunt. 750 00:39:25,069 --> 00:39:30,069 You're going to have to get to him. 751 00:39:39,917 --> 00:39:41,709 I'd say since '95, 752 00:39:41,710 --> 00:39:45,129 I've probably worn out four vehicles 753 00:39:45,130 --> 00:39:48,842 and over a million miles, I would say. 754 00:39:48,843 --> 00:39:50,802 Beth and I will get in our vehicle, 755 00:39:50,803 --> 00:39:53,096 and we'll start in Tennessee, 756 00:39:53,097 --> 00:39:57,642 and we'll make a whole circuit of the West Coast or the East Coast 757 00:39:57,643 --> 00:40:02,105 and might work on anywhere from 20 to 100 jobs. 758 00:40:02,106 --> 00:40:04,983 We want to teach everybody in their own print shop 759 00:40:04,984 --> 00:40:07,235 how to take care of their own equipment 760 00:40:07,236 --> 00:40:11,197 because there is nobody else that's going to travel like we do. 761 00:40:11,198 --> 00:40:14,868 It's good that we both get along with each other fairly well. 762 00:40:14,869 --> 00:40:19,869 Otherwise I'd be hanging outside the window sometime. 763 00:40:24,461 --> 00:40:29,461 Basically we're going up to see a customer at White Star, named Tim Trower. 764 00:40:31,510 --> 00:40:36,510 And he wants a mouthpiece put on his Linotype. 765 00:40:37,474 --> 00:40:40,310 I went ahead and dug out screws. 766 00:40:40,311 --> 00:40:42,061 Your choice of mouthpieces. 767 00:40:42,062 --> 00:40:43,813 - Okay. - Probably- 768 00:40:43,814 --> 00:40:46,357 How big of type do you set? 769 00:40:46,358 --> 00:40:49,319 These are not mouthpiece screws. 770 00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:52,030 - Huh. - Nope. This is F-65. 771 00:40:52,031 --> 00:40:53,406 That's mold screws. 772 00:40:53,407 --> 00:40:56,784 - I don't see any mouthpiece screws in there. - Okay. 773 00:40:56,785 --> 00:41:01,623 Let's go to the second location. 774 00:41:01,624 --> 00:41:06,336 Looking for F-2791, is the part number. 775 00:41:06,337 --> 00:41:09,505 Okay, 308 is the gas equivalent. 776 00:41:09,506 --> 00:41:11,507 When I look for a part, sometimes I know the part number. 777 00:41:11,508 --> 00:41:13,259 Sometimes I don't. 778 00:41:13,260 --> 00:41:15,136 There is a spring down there on the left 779 00:41:15,137 --> 00:41:16,888 that is a BB-479. 780 00:41:16,889 --> 00:41:20,850 The rubber rollers are part number H-2601 for the smooth one. 781 00:41:20,851 --> 00:41:24,145 The keys are 874. Sometimes they go bad. 782 00:41:24,146 --> 00:41:26,064 Plunger is an F-898. 783 00:41:26,065 --> 00:41:28,399 What we're going to replace is this piece right here. 784 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:30,276 It is called the mouthpiece. 785 00:41:30,277 --> 00:41:31,945 That's the old used one. 786 00:41:31,946 --> 00:41:35,698 This is the brand new one we are going to be putting on. 787 00:41:35,699 --> 00:41:37,450 To run the machine, 788 00:41:37,451 --> 00:41:39,452 the puppy-dog tail needs to be up. 789 00:41:39,453 --> 00:41:42,038 Now we are going to partially cycle the machine. 790 00:41:42,039 --> 00:41:45,458 - [Linotype whirring] - Stop it right there. 791 00:41:45,459 --> 00:41:50,254 The mold slide will come all the way out of the machine. 792 00:41:50,255 --> 00:41:53,091 One of the things is if the throat is dirty, 793 00:41:53,092 --> 00:41:55,301 you will get bad slugs. 794 00:41:55,302 --> 00:41:57,220 They won't look good, they won't fill up. 795 00:41:57,221 --> 00:42:00,473 I've seen him work on a machine, 796 00:42:00,474 --> 00:42:05,353 on a project that would have me literally cursing and tearing my hair out, 797 00:42:05,354 --> 00:42:08,648 and he breaks a sweat, and that's about it. 798 00:42:08,649 --> 00:42:12,443 This is a throat saw for a Linotype. 799 00:42:12,444 --> 00:42:15,822 You want to saw on the way out so you are pulling the dirt out with you. 800 00:42:15,823 --> 00:42:20,823 You don't want to push the dirt back in. 801 00:42:21,578 --> 00:42:26,578 Yep, good flow. 802 00:42:27,918 --> 00:42:30,753 What I just did was I pushed the plunger down again 803 00:42:30,754 --> 00:42:33,506 so that the metal would squirt out all the holes 804 00:42:33,507 --> 00:42:37,969 and you can see if you have a good flow to every hole and a good stream, 805 00:42:37,970 --> 00:42:39,804 and it looks like we had plenty of stream, 806 00:42:39,805 --> 00:42:41,347 plenty of pressure on all holes, 807 00:42:41,348 --> 00:42:43,433 so it looks like we are good right here. 808 00:42:43,434 --> 00:42:46,769 Squirt number two. 809 00:42:46,770 --> 00:42:49,981 What I like about Dave is that he shows you all of his secrets. 810 00:42:49,982 --> 00:42:52,025 He is a great teacher. 811 00:42:52,026 --> 00:42:54,736 He wants you to learn what he is doing 812 00:42:54,737 --> 00:42:56,612 so that the next time you have a problem 813 00:42:56,613 --> 00:42:59,532 and he is in England on a service trip or in New England, 814 00:42:59,533 --> 00:43:04,533 you can take care of it yourself. 815 00:43:10,461 --> 00:43:13,296 It's a big, industrial machine, 816 00:43:13,297 --> 00:43:17,633 and the uses today are not in that industrial setting anymore. 817 00:43:17,634 --> 00:43:22,555 They're in studio settings, in small-shop settings. 818 00:43:22,556 --> 00:43:23,973 - My name is John Kristensen, 819 00:43:23,974 --> 00:43:27,060 and I am the first among equals 820 00:43:27,061 --> 00:43:30,438 at Firefly Press in Boston, Massachusetts. 821 00:43:30,439 --> 00:43:35,401 We are a commercial letterpress printing shop. 822 00:43:35,402 --> 00:43:38,696 Letterpress has of course long-since disappeared 823 00:43:38,697 --> 00:43:42,116 as mainstream, commercial commerce, 824 00:43:42,117 --> 00:43:45,203 but it has come back in recent years as a craft. 825 00:43:45,204 --> 00:43:46,871 At one point it was just how things were done. 826 00:43:46,872 --> 00:43:48,831 People weren't too precious about it, 827 00:43:48,832 --> 00:43:51,876 but I think that, given the way that technology has evolved, 828 00:43:51,877 --> 00:43:55,922 I think there is a certain amount of integrity in the process 829 00:43:55,923 --> 00:43:57,298 that I respond to. 830 00:43:57,299 --> 00:44:00,802 Letterpress is increasingly being seen as something quite special, 831 00:44:00,803 --> 00:44:02,470 not because it has changed, 832 00:44:02,471 --> 00:44:04,514 but because the rest of the world has changed, 833 00:44:04,515 --> 00:44:07,517 and now the bite and the use of the nice papers 834 00:44:07,518 --> 00:44:09,435 and the brilliance of the colors 835 00:44:09,436 --> 00:44:11,687 and the physical presence of the printing 836 00:44:11,688 --> 00:44:16,025 is something that people now know to appreciate and to desire. 837 00:44:16,026 --> 00:44:18,569 I love the fact that sitting down at a keyboard, 838 00:44:18,570 --> 00:44:20,696 I have only so many typefaces, 839 00:44:20,697 --> 00:44:25,034 and so it's my responsibility to use them with intelligence. 840 00:44:25,035 --> 00:44:28,287 And here then is an element 841 00:44:28,288 --> 00:44:29,705 that enters into letterpress 842 00:44:29,706 --> 00:44:33,042 that simply does not play so large a part 843 00:44:33,043 --> 00:44:36,838 in any of the more modern printing technologies, 844 00:44:36,839 --> 00:44:38,714 and that is craft. 845 00:44:38,715 --> 00:44:40,925 The simple knowing of a technique. 846 00:44:40,926 --> 00:44:42,844 Craft means you care 847 00:44:42,845 --> 00:44:45,221 and you know about what you are doing. 848 00:44:45,222 --> 00:44:48,099 I think that anybody that is going to study typography 849 00:44:48,100 --> 00:44:51,477 needs to get rooted first in the letterpress method 850 00:44:51,478 --> 00:44:53,813 whether they set type by hand 851 00:44:53,814 --> 00:44:55,189 or use a Linotype or a Ludlow. 852 00:44:55,190 --> 00:45:00,190 They need to know how to use type before they use it. 853 00:45:04,408 --> 00:45:06,742 I had a romantic notion of letterpress 854 00:45:06,743 --> 00:45:09,453 when I was a young fellow, 855 00:45:09,454 --> 00:45:11,372 and I began collecting the stuff 856 00:45:11,373 --> 00:45:13,875 because I never had much of a budget to work with, 857 00:45:13,876 --> 00:45:18,876 and the stuff was all free. 858 00:45:32,811 --> 00:45:35,396 I studied journalism in college, 859 00:45:35,397 --> 00:45:40,397 and I always wanted to publish my own journal or magazine. 860 00:45:44,615 --> 00:45:47,241 The Almanac tackles a lot of land issues, 861 00:45:47,242 --> 00:45:49,535 environmental things, 862 00:45:49,536 --> 00:45:51,370 sort of the cultural health of the state. 863 00:45:51,371 --> 00:45:55,791 I don't think there is another publication in America on this scale 864 00:45:55,792 --> 00:46:00,792 that is done hot metal. 865 00:46:01,215 --> 00:46:03,007 Eldon is one of those angels 866 00:46:03,008 --> 00:46:07,637 who happened to be around when I was starting out, 867 00:46:07,638 --> 00:46:11,432 and his career- because of the technology- 868 00:46:11,433 --> 00:46:14,518 his career as a Linotype operator was winding down 869 00:46:14,519 --> 00:46:16,520 because there just weren't any left, 870 00:46:16,521 --> 00:46:21,359 and he started to working for me, and he has always worked for me part-time. 871 00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:26,360 He comes out when I need him. 872 00:46:36,458 --> 00:46:38,292 There would have been no Wapsipinicon Almanac, 873 00:46:38,293 --> 00:46:43,293 at least in its current incarnation, without Eldon. 874 00:46:43,465 --> 00:46:46,717 [Tim Trower] One of the reasons that newspapers liked to employ deaf people 875 00:46:46,718 --> 00:46:50,346 is because they weren't bothered by the noisy work conditions 876 00:46:50,347 --> 00:46:51,847 and yet, strangely enough, 877 00:46:51,848 --> 00:46:53,266 even though they couldn't hear the machine, 878 00:46:53,267 --> 00:46:56,477 they could sense what was going wrong with the machine 879 00:46:56,478 --> 00:47:01,478 and were able to respond just about as quickly as a hearing person. 880 00:47:18,875 --> 00:47:23,875 ♪ [music playing] ♪ 881 00:47:54,995 --> 00:47:59,995 [Woman interpreter] He says, “I'm not a show-off." 882 00:48:09,593 --> 00:48:14,593 It's very easy to go into a lot of print shops and see hand printers working, 883 00:48:14,806 --> 00:48:16,849 but very few of them have the experience 884 00:48:16,850 --> 00:48:21,270 of seeing a full, working Linotype machine that we have here 885 00:48:21,271 --> 00:48:23,939 with our Linotype operator Mr. Ray Loomis, 886 00:48:23,940 --> 00:48:28,940 who comes here every Saturday as a volunteer. 887 00:48:32,407 --> 00:48:34,658 My name is Raymond Loomis, 888 00:48:34,659 --> 00:48:38,412 born in Baltimore, Maryland 82 years ago. 889 00:48:38,413 --> 00:48:39,872 So I have been around a while. 890 00:48:39,873 --> 00:48:41,957 Our machine is 75 years old, 891 00:48:41,958 --> 00:48:43,834 and it still runs, and it runs well. 892 00:48:43,835 --> 00:48:46,962 It was well-maintained over its lifetime, 893 00:48:46,963 --> 00:48:51,509 and we try to keep it running, too. 894 00:48:51,510 --> 00:48:53,844 When I was working by myself, 895 00:48:53,845 --> 00:48:55,638 which is a bad thing on a machine like this, 896 00:48:55,639 --> 00:48:56,972 to be by yourself, 897 00:48:56,973 --> 00:49:01,102 and I was checking to see if the cooling blower was on, 898 00:49:01,103 --> 00:49:02,478 and I put my hand down, 899 00:49:02,479 --> 00:49:07,479 and the machine came back on my hand and held it. 900 00:49:07,901 --> 00:49:11,112 I turned it off quick enough as soon as I felt it, but I was stuck. 901 00:49:11,113 --> 00:49:13,531 I couldn't move, I couldn't reach anything, 902 00:49:13,532 --> 00:49:16,450 I didn't know what to do. 903 00:49:16,451 --> 00:49:18,869 And then I thought the only thing I could really do 904 00:49:18,870 --> 00:49:22,873 is to pull that advance lever and let it go do its thing, 905 00:49:22,874 --> 00:49:25,668 and I pulled it and squinted, 906 00:49:25,669 --> 00:49:29,588 and it backed right off. 907 00:49:29,589 --> 00:49:33,008 It didn't come any further than my fingers were already caught. 908 00:49:33,009 --> 00:49:35,052 They were black-and-blue for a while, 909 00:49:35,053 --> 00:49:40,053 two or three of those fingers there. 910 00:49:40,684 --> 00:49:42,768 Operating a Linotype can be a little frightening. 911 00:49:42,769 --> 00:49:46,021 You don't hurry on the Linotype. 912 00:49:46,022 --> 00:49:49,233 You clear your head before you start, 913 00:49:49,234 --> 00:49:52,236 and you can't be thinking about a lot other things. 914 00:49:52,237 --> 00:49:54,905 There is a lot going on, a lot you have to watch for. 915 00:49:54,906 --> 00:49:56,907 [John Kristensen] This is all pre idiot-proof, 916 00:49:56,908 --> 00:49:59,285 all pre-OSHA equipment. 917 00:49:59,286 --> 00:50:01,537 The assumption was you knew what you were doing. 918 00:50:01,538 --> 00:50:02,955 There are so many moving parts, 919 00:50:02,956 --> 00:50:05,916 and there is metal that is 550 degrees 920 00:50:05,917 --> 00:50:07,585 that could explode on me at any minute. 921 00:50:07,586 --> 00:50:09,795 There is something we call a squirt. 922 00:50:09,796 --> 00:50:11,172 Lead will squirt out, 923 00:50:11,173 --> 00:50:14,967 and you're used to- you hear a certain sound, you shove back. 924 00:50:14,968 --> 00:50:18,929 That meant there was something wrong in the setting line 925 00:50:18,930 --> 00:50:20,973 where there was a gap or a space. 926 00:50:20,974 --> 00:50:23,184 That space was going to be filled with hot metal, 927 00:50:23,185 --> 00:50:24,602 and it was going to come at you. 928 00:50:24,603 --> 00:50:26,729 [Harry Saracena] And when lead comes out of that thing, 929 00:50:26,730 --> 00:50:29,815 it's got to be right on the button. 930 00:50:29,816 --> 00:50:31,609 You get so attuned to the machine 931 00:50:31,610 --> 00:50:33,861 that you can hear it getting ready to squirt. 932 00:50:33,862 --> 00:50:35,112 And if you're good, 933 00:50:35,113 --> 00:50:36,280 you can get out of the way. 934 00:50:36,281 --> 00:50:38,073 Otherwise you get a pant leg full of metal. 935 00:50:38,074 --> 00:50:42,077 But a lot of the times I would jump out of the chair while I was casting, 936 00:50:42,078 --> 00:50:43,787 just in case I didn't do it right. 937 00:50:43,788 --> 00:50:46,540 I saved my first squirt. 938 00:50:46,541 --> 00:50:51,541 I have it somewhere. I'm not sure where it is. 939 00:51:05,185 --> 00:51:07,353 Good morning. 940 00:51:07,354 --> 00:51:08,896 Morning. 941 00:51:08,897 --> 00:51:11,148 I asked a guy one time, 942 00:51:11,149 --> 00:51:13,025 “ls there anybody teaching this?" 943 00:51:13,026 --> 00:51:16,612 And he says, “No, not anymore. 944 00:51:16,613 --> 00:51:20,324 They used to do it all the way around the world.” 945 00:51:20,325 --> 00:51:24,620 I said, “Well I'd like to start Linotype University 1." 946 00:51:24,621 --> 00:51:28,415 And... pretty good idea. 947 00:51:28,416 --> 00:51:32,127 If you read the word that says “Linotype University," 948 00:51:32,128 --> 00:51:36,715 you're thinking of a campus with big brick buildings or something. 949 00:51:36,716 --> 00:51:39,468 Well, that's not the printing business. 950 00:51:39,469 --> 00:51:42,638 This is Linotype University VIII class- 951 00:51:42,639 --> 00:51:47,434 this is where people come to the United States, to Denmark, Iowa 952 00:51:47,435 --> 00:51:49,937 to learn how to operate a Linotype. 953 00:51:49,938 --> 00:51:52,022 [Ruth Skelton] I probably learned more about the machine this week 954 00:51:52,023 --> 00:51:57,023 than I ever had in the 15 years or so that I operated the machine. 955 00:51:57,237 --> 00:52:01,073 [Buddy Lang] People all over the country and world that are interested in it, 956 00:52:01,074 --> 00:52:06,074 like this week we've got one fellow from Australia and one from England. 957 00:52:07,247 --> 00:52:12,247 [Nicholas Smith] We have a very good range of professional or ex-professional Linotype engineers 958 00:52:12,294 --> 00:52:16,297 who are very, very generous with their advice and help. 959 00:52:16,298 --> 00:52:21,298 Linotype University is a unique corner of America, 960 00:52:21,845 --> 00:52:23,554 run by a guy named Larry Raid. 961 00:52:23,555 --> 00:52:25,806 This gentleman that runs this museum here 962 00:52:25,807 --> 00:52:27,057 and welcomed me here, 963 00:52:27,058 --> 00:52:29,560 is Mr. Larry J. Raid, 964 00:52:29,561 --> 00:52:33,564 and I've got to say, as we say in Australia, “Good on ya, mate!” 965 00:52:33,565 --> 00:52:35,941 And he, from what I could gather, 966 00:52:35,942 --> 00:52:38,777 is just a fanatic for the machine 967 00:52:38,778 --> 00:52:40,696 and taught himself how to use it. 968 00:52:40,697 --> 00:52:44,783 His two passions are vastly different: 969 00:52:44,784 --> 00:52:46,994 Linotype machines and locomotives. 970 00:52:46,995 --> 00:52:48,621 The train? 971 00:52:48,622 --> 00:52:51,206 It's a Davenport Locomotive, 972 00:52:51,207 --> 00:52:53,459 an 060 diesel mechanical 973 00:52:53,460 --> 00:52:55,127 with a CAT-V8 engine in it. 974 00:52:55,128 --> 00:53:00,128 I rebuilt six miles of rail road track with that Ford 8N, 975 00:53:01,343 --> 00:53:02,551 had a little boom on the back. 976 00:53:02,552 --> 00:53:07,097 He bought a train and laid track for it?! 977 00:53:07,098 --> 00:53:08,766 Who does that kind of thing? 978 00:53:08,767 --> 00:53:10,059 Larry's a collector. 979 00:53:10,060 --> 00:53:13,896 It's very hard for him to part with anything, as you can see. 980 00:53:13,897 --> 00:53:17,691 Most of the places that have them are museums, 981 00:53:17,692 --> 00:53:19,568 and if they have one Linotype, 982 00:53:19,569 --> 00:53:21,111 they don't need two of them. 983 00:53:21,112 --> 00:53:22,571 If they have one printing press, 984 00:53:22,572 --> 00:53:25,115 they don't need a third or fourth or fifth one, 985 00:53:25,116 --> 00:53:26,700 and I'm not that way. 986 00:53:26,701 --> 00:53:31,455 These are a couple Linotypes and lntertypes that I'm using for parts, 987 00:53:31,456 --> 00:53:35,751 and as we go down, there's another Linotype over this way. 988 00:53:35,752 --> 00:53:39,129 I've just been a collector, 989 00:53:39,130 --> 00:53:43,258 and I just keep collecting and keep collecting, 990 00:53:43,259 --> 00:53:46,387 and now I've got something like over 90 of them all together. 991 00:53:46,388 --> 00:53:49,765 What some people don't understand about Larry 992 00:53:49,766 --> 00:53:52,935 is his dad owned a junkyard, 993 00:53:52,936 --> 00:53:55,979 so Larry grew up in a junkyard, 994 00:53:55,980 --> 00:54:00,980 so having machines sitting outside or rusting or whatever 995 00:54:01,277 --> 00:54:03,195 doesn't surprise Larry. 996 00:54:03,196 --> 00:54:05,656 Larry says, “Oh yeah we'll get that running. We'll fix that.” 997 00:54:05,657 --> 00:54:09,159 And so it's just setting there waiting to be restored again. 998 00:54:09,160 --> 00:54:12,621 Because to Larry nothing is ruined. 999 00:54:12,622 --> 00:54:14,873 It's all still good. It's metal. 1000 00:54:14,874 --> 00:54:15,999 It'll fix. 1001 00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:18,293 I've also encountered people 1002 00:54:18,294 --> 00:54:23,173 that sort of belittle the whole program, 1003 00:54:23,174 --> 00:54:24,508 and I can see why. 1004 00:54:24,509 --> 00:54:26,135 He's not classically trained. 1005 00:54:26,136 --> 00:54:29,847 He wasn't trained by Linotype to do this, 1006 00:54:29,848 --> 00:54:32,891 but in his own way he's a total genius. 1007 00:54:32,892 --> 00:54:36,311 There's so many people that have called and said, 1008 00:54:36,312 --> 00:54:37,688 “Well Larry Raid says call you,” 1009 00:54:37,689 --> 00:54:41,400 or “Larry Raid says this," or “Larry says that." 1010 00:54:41,401 --> 00:54:46,401 And it's because Larry's excited, other people get excited, too. 1011 00:54:46,948 --> 00:54:48,741 He's the kind of prophet 1012 00:54:48,742 --> 00:54:53,620 that I think this sort of thing needs, this gospel, if you will, needs, 1013 00:54:53,621 --> 00:54:55,873 is somebody who is passionate 1014 00:54:55,874 --> 00:54:58,792 and maybe a little bit crazy. 1015 00:54:58,793 --> 00:55:03,793 You need that, I think. 1016 00:55:14,350 --> 00:55:16,685 [Filmstrip Narrator] People change. 1017 00:55:16,686 --> 00:55:18,604 Products change. 1018 00:55:18,605 --> 00:55:20,689 Everything changes, 1019 00:55:20,690 --> 00:55:24,818 and every change adds to the problem of communications. 1020 00:55:24,819 --> 00:55:27,488 The rate of change is accelerating, 1021 00:55:27,489 --> 00:55:31,909 faster, faster, faster. 1022 00:55:31,910 --> 00:55:35,871 Stop! 1023 00:55:35,872 --> 00:55:37,539 But you can't stop. 1024 00:55:37,540 --> 00:55:40,501 You can't hold back the surge of change 1025 00:55:40,502 --> 00:55:42,711 or the growth of information. 1026 00:55:42,712 --> 00:55:44,880 It will continue in spite of you, 1027 00:55:44,881 --> 00:55:48,717 and you're going to have to cope with it. 1028 00:55:48,718 --> 00:55:51,220 - Otherwise... - [explosion] 1029 00:55:51,221 --> 00:55:53,931 The death knell for the Linotype 1030 00:55:53,932 --> 00:55:56,850 and all typesetting machines that use metal 1031 00:55:56,851 --> 00:55:59,144 started in 1945, 1032 00:55:59,145 --> 00:56:01,563 when the lntertype company 1033 00:56:01,564 --> 00:56:03,816 showed a machine called the Fotosetter. 1034 00:56:03,817 --> 00:56:07,402 A Fotosetter mat doesn't cast hot metal at all, 1035 00:56:07,403 --> 00:56:12,403 but it shoots a beam of light through a small photo negative in the mat, 1036 00:56:12,909 --> 00:56:15,244 onto a specially prepared piece of paper, 1037 00:56:15,245 --> 00:56:16,703 which is then photographed 1038 00:56:16,704 --> 00:56:18,455 and prepared for offset production. 1039 00:56:18,456 --> 00:56:20,874 So it looked like a Linotype, acted like a Linotype, 1040 00:56:20,875 --> 00:56:23,085 did everything a Linotype did 1041 00:56:23,086 --> 00:56:27,047 but photographically. 1042 00:56:27,048 --> 00:56:32,048 Okay, here we have- 1043 00:56:33,680 --> 00:56:35,848 and I don't know if you can get in on that. 1044 00:56:35,849 --> 00:56:37,224 It's from The New York Times. 1045 00:56:37,225 --> 00:56:40,435 It's the last standing type 1046 00:56:40,436 --> 00:56:45,436 as the Times went from hot-metal to cold-metal type, 1047 00:56:45,692 --> 00:56:48,902 but I believe this is a page of the obituaries, 1048 00:56:48,903 --> 00:56:50,445 which is kind of sad, isn't it? 1049 00:56:50,446 --> 00:56:53,198 In one way you felt sadness. 1050 00:56:53,199 --> 00:56:58,199 You had to because you knew it was coming eventually, 1051 00:56:58,204 --> 00:57:03,204 like a dying patient. 1052 00:57:18,558 --> 00:57:23,558 And they came to work one day, and it was all over. 1053 00:57:23,897 --> 00:57:26,356 I've been a printer now for 26 years, 1054 00:57:26,357 --> 00:57:29,985 been at this place for 2O years- six years apprenticeship, 1055 00:57:29,986 --> 00:57:31,570 20 years journeyman- 1056 00:57:31,571 --> 00:57:34,781 and these are words that aren't just tossed around. 1057 00:57:34,782 --> 00:57:38,410 All the knowledge I've acquired over these 26 years 1058 00:57:38,411 --> 00:57:43,411 is all locked up in a little box now called a computer. 1059 00:57:43,666 --> 00:57:45,918 [sigh] 1060 00:57:45,919 --> 00:57:50,172 I had some guys around me, and we poured a couple of glasses out, 1061 00:57:50,173 --> 00:57:55,173 and we said “To yesterday.” 1062 00:57:58,848 --> 00:58:03,848 So we said “goodbye" to the past and “hello" to the future. 1063 00:58:17,158 --> 00:58:22,037 We had these machines on the back of a dump truck, 1064 00:58:22,038 --> 00:58:24,122 and I stopped at a junkyard, 1065 00:58:24,123 --> 00:58:25,749 a salvage yard, 1066 00:58:25,750 --> 00:58:28,251 and I just turned my head and pulled this lever, 1067 00:58:28,252 --> 00:58:32,130 and those machines slid off. 1068 00:58:32,131 --> 00:58:33,924 I couldn't even look at it 1069 00:58:33,925 --> 00:58:36,176 because I knew they were good machines, 1070 00:58:36,177 --> 00:58:37,636 but nobody was running them anymore, 1071 00:58:37,637 --> 00:58:38,845 as far as I knew. 1072 00:58:38,846 --> 00:58:40,389 And the wreckers- 1073 00:58:40,390 --> 00:58:42,265 they just smashed it up 1074 00:58:42,266 --> 00:58:43,433 with a big 12-pound hammer, 1075 00:58:43,434 --> 00:58:47,479 and I thought, “Oh, that's the sad part of it all.” 1076 00:58:47,480 --> 00:58:51,400 At the end of the Linotype's usefulness here, 1077 00:58:51,401 --> 00:58:53,485 there was no market for the machines, 1078 00:58:53,486 --> 00:58:58,486 and the only way they could be gotten rid of was to scrap them. 1079 00:58:58,825 --> 00:59:01,868 As far as I know, they were all surplussed, and they were let go. 1080 00:59:01,869 --> 00:59:04,162 Unfortunately, they were probably junked. 1081 00:59:04,163 --> 00:59:08,583 They opened up a window at the back of the floor 1082 00:59:08,584 --> 00:59:11,586 where the largest of the Linotype batteries was, 1083 00:59:11,587 --> 00:59:15,716 and just pushed them out into the parking lot, 1084 00:59:15,717 --> 00:59:19,636 pushed them out to be piled up and hauled off for scrap. 1085 00:59:19,637 --> 00:59:21,388 They're scrapped in two ways. 1086 00:59:21,389 --> 00:59:25,726 The machines are hauled to the junkyard and melted, 1087 00:59:25,727 --> 00:59:29,312 and the skill sets and the expertise 1088 00:59:29,313 --> 00:59:31,898 and the knowledge of the people that ran them 1089 00:59:31,899 --> 00:59:34,818 is also hauled to the junkyard. 1090 00:59:34,819 --> 00:59:38,447 All the presses, the Linotypes, the proof presses, 1091 00:59:38,448 --> 00:59:39,614 all of that disappeared, 1092 00:59:39,615 --> 00:59:43,618 all that iron scrap went out in the back and rusted there, for this. 1093 00:59:43,619 --> 00:59:45,829 [Filmstrip Narrator] it's a cathode-ray tubed 1094 00:59:45,830 --> 00:59:47,497 photo typesetting system 1095 00:59:47,498 --> 00:59:51,626 called "Linotron 505. " 1096 00:59:51,627 --> 00:59:54,463 It produces high-quality typography. 1097 00:59:54,464 --> 00:59:56,423 Machines like the Photon, 1098 00:59:56,424 --> 00:59:59,885 the very first photo typesetting machine... 1099 00:59:59,886 --> 01:00:04,222 It looks like a combination of a Steelcase desk, a typewriter, 1100 01:00:04,223 --> 01:00:06,349 and something from Star Trek. 1101 01:00:06,350 --> 01:00:08,643 This was the future back in 1985, 1102 01:00:08,644 --> 01:00:11,646 and as you can see, the future has passed. 1103 01:00:11,647 --> 01:00:13,190 Well, this is the end of the tour. 1104 01:00:13,191 --> 01:00:15,942 This is the unresolved thread of our tour. 1105 01:00:15,943 --> 01:00:17,569 This is the computer room, 1106 01:00:17,570 --> 01:00:20,822 the “Digital Type Setting Room,” and it is very old. 1107 01:00:20,823 --> 01:00:25,823 This is from 1990. 1108 01:00:30,416 --> 01:00:35,416 ♪ Farewell, farewell, Etaoin Shrdlu ♪ 1109 01:00:38,966 --> 01:00:43,966 ♪ The best years of my life I've spent with you♪ 1110 01:00:47,725 --> 01:00:51,186 ♪ Now our printing days are at an end ♪ 1111 01:00:51,187 --> 01:00:55,732 ♪ You've set your final type, my friend ♪ 1112 01:00:55,733 --> 01:01:00,733 ♪ Computers are the thing that finished you♪ 1113 01:01:02,448 --> 01:01:06,368 This is what the Linotype company looked like in Brooklyn. 1114 01:01:06,369 --> 01:01:10,914 At one time two blocks, two square blocks, were the factory. 1115 01:01:10,915 --> 01:01:12,707 One square block was where they made the machines. 1116 01:01:12,708 --> 01:01:16,753 The other square block was the headquarters and the matrix manufacturing. 1117 01:01:16,754 --> 01:01:19,256 It's now a storage facility for some moving company. 1118 01:01:19,257 --> 01:01:20,507 It's very sad. 1119 01:01:20,508 --> 01:01:24,761 ♪ You've got to go ♪ 1120 01:01:24,762 --> 01:01:28,765 ♪ No more hot lead ♪ 1121 01:01:28,766 --> 01:01:33,186 ♪ The type we love to set ♪ 1122 01:01:33,187 --> 01:01:38,187 ♪ That way is dead ♪ 1123 01:01:38,901 --> 01:01:43,029 ♪ Computers and cathode tubes replaced us ♪ 1124 01:01:43,030 --> 01:01:47,492 ♪ But, by God, they'll not erase us ♪ 1125 01:01:47,493 --> 01:01:49,911 ♪ 'Cause we taught them ♪ 1126 01:01:49,912 --> 01:01:54,912 ♪ Everything they know ♪ 1127 01:01:55,251 --> 01:01:58,128 When Mergenthaler moved out of the old Ryerson Street building, 1128 01:01:58,129 --> 01:02:00,797 I walked through the building with the old building supervisory, 1129 01:02:00,798 --> 01:02:03,884 and I found a few things including this rather nice sign. 1130 01:02:03,885 --> 01:02:07,512 I don't know where it had been on the walls at Mergenthaler, 1131 01:02:07,513 --> 01:02:10,140 asking employees to keep the place clean, 1132 01:02:10,141 --> 01:02:11,766 but I thought it was kind of nice, 1133 01:02:11,767 --> 01:02:15,312 and I saved that and some reason have kept it ever since. 1134 01:02:15,313 --> 01:02:17,856 I'm Matthew Carter, Type Designer, 1135 01:02:17,857 --> 01:02:20,525 former Linotype employee. 1136 01:02:20,526 --> 01:02:22,527 There was a huge amount of work involved, 1137 01:02:22,528 --> 01:02:24,321 particularly for the letter drawing office, 1138 01:02:24,322 --> 01:02:27,782 in adapting the metal types for film. 1139 01:02:27,783 --> 01:02:32,783 My job was to explore certain advantages there might be 1140 01:02:34,081 --> 01:02:36,333 in this new technology, 1141 01:02:36,334 --> 01:02:41,129 a sort of liberation from the constraints of metal typecasting. 1142 01:02:41,130 --> 01:02:42,714 [Filmstrip Narrator] At Mergenthaler, 1143 01:02:42,715 --> 01:02:45,717 we make a tool for the graphic arts industry, 1144 01:02:45,718 --> 01:02:48,803 a sophisticated tool using modern electronics 1145 01:02:48,804 --> 01:02:53,058 to perform one of the most vital functions in printing and publishing- 1146 01:02:53,059 --> 01:02:55,727 high-speed photo typesetting. 1147 01:02:55,728 --> 01:02:59,231 I think there are some qualities that did get lost. 1148 01:02:59,232 --> 01:03:04,232 There's often something very beautiful about the impression of type on good paper, 1149 01:03:04,987 --> 01:03:09,987 as was done in the past if you look through the history, 1150 01:03:10,826 --> 01:03:13,828 so there may have been some loses along the way. 1151 01:03:13,829 --> 01:03:17,123 For me, the gains outweigh the losses. That's all I can say. 1152 01:03:17,124 --> 01:03:20,835 If I put them in the balance, the gains win, 1153 01:03:20,836 --> 01:03:23,713 but, again, other people sitting here 1154 01:03:23,714 --> 01:03:27,342 could disagree with me violently about that. 1155 01:03:27,343 --> 01:03:32,343 And then I suppose the other very significant development since then has been the Web, 1156 01:03:33,641 --> 01:03:38,641 screen fonts and so on. 1157 01:03:44,610 --> 01:03:48,321 Linotype GmbH has taken over as the responsibility 1158 01:03:48,322 --> 01:03:52,117 for the typefaces but not for the mechanical parts, 1159 01:03:52,118 --> 01:03:54,411 so we sometimes have customers asking here 1160 01:03:54,412 --> 01:03:57,080 for spare parts to the machine, 1161 01:03:57,081 --> 01:04:00,792 but we have no material, and we have no solution for that. 1162 01:04:00,793 --> 01:04:04,045 Linotype of today, the current company, 1163 01:04:04,046 --> 01:04:08,633 has no relationship at all with the Linotype machine. 1164 01:04:08,634 --> 01:04:11,803 The machine is no longer in use, 1165 01:04:11,804 --> 01:04:14,472 and the other Linotype machines which Linotype has developed 1166 01:04:14,473 --> 01:04:17,225 also disappeared from the market, 1167 01:04:17,226 --> 01:04:22,063 but what we see as the heritage is to continue our typefaces. 1168 01:04:22,064 --> 01:04:26,693 The Linotype machine had a really good contribution to type design. 1169 01:04:26,694 --> 01:04:30,280 This is secondary in terms of the overall population, 1170 01:04:30,281 --> 01:04:32,907 but for the type-design world, this is really important 1171 01:04:32,908 --> 01:04:37,908 because the fact that the Linotype machine became so popular around the globe 1172 01:04:39,081 --> 01:04:44,081 gave it enough capital to be able to invest in good typography. 1173 01:04:51,927 --> 01:04:56,473 Here you have one of the most amazing archives that anyone has ever known about. 1174 01:04:56,474 --> 01:05:00,518 It is every drawing, for every glyph, or character, or symbol, 1175 01:05:00,519 --> 01:05:03,355 that was ever made into a matrix for the Linotype machine. 1176 01:05:03,356 --> 01:05:06,608 This is a 9-point Caslon old-face italic, 1177 01:05:06,609 --> 01:05:10,320 and here you can see the drawings for italic “A" in Caslon. 1178 01:05:10,321 --> 01:05:12,364 They did alternate characters as well, 1179 01:05:12,365 --> 01:05:15,533 so here's a beautiful cap “A" with a swash on it. 1180 01:05:15,534 --> 01:05:18,953 This is an example of a drawing 1181 01:05:18,954 --> 01:05:23,954 of the kind that was made at Linotype for many decades for metal type. 1182 01:05:25,878 --> 01:05:30,878 It wasn't just this nuts-and-bolts, let's get black stuff down on white paper 1183 01:05:31,384 --> 01:05:34,552 and that's all that was necessary. 1184 01:05:34,553 --> 01:05:39,553 Linotype and Monotype were committed to fine typography. 1185 01:05:40,601 --> 01:05:43,978 As you go through here, you actually see the history of typography. 1186 01:05:43,979 --> 01:05:45,397 Here's Century Schoolbook. 1187 01:05:45,398 --> 01:05:48,650 Right now in front of me I've got Cloister. 1188 01:05:48,651 --> 01:05:49,984 I've got Garamond. 1189 01:05:49,985 --> 01:05:51,736 Memphis. Memphis is a square serif. 1190 01:05:51,737 --> 01:05:55,115 Here's Devanagari. That's the first font I ever worked on. 1191 01:05:55,116 --> 01:05:57,033 When we talk about typefaces, 1192 01:05:57,034 --> 01:06:00,703 everybody knows the canon of the Linotype typefaces, 1193 01:06:00,704 --> 01:06:03,915 but they never really think about where they came from or how they came to be. 1194 01:06:03,916 --> 01:06:07,001 Here's Primer, which was used for textbooks, 1195 01:06:07,002 --> 01:06:11,423 Metrolite, which was very popular for the newspapers for display advertising, 1196 01:06:11,424 --> 01:06:15,343 Opticon, which was one of the newspaper typefaces. 1197 01:06:15,344 --> 01:06:17,637 This is very interesting. Here's Bengali Bold, 1198 01:06:17,638 --> 01:06:20,306 so to sell machines in India, 1199 01:06:20,307 --> 01:06:23,601 they had to create a font for the Bengali dialect. 1200 01:06:23,602 --> 01:06:27,021 Even when the Linotype machine is not there, it's legacy continues 1201 01:06:27,022 --> 01:06:29,482 because it made possible for us to have these typefaces, 1202 01:06:29,483 --> 01:06:30,733 and we still use them today. 1203 01:06:30,734 --> 01:06:32,694 And that's amazing to me, 1204 01:06:32,695 --> 01:06:36,364 that the designs are so strong for this machine 1205 01:06:36,365 --> 01:06:41,365 that they've transcended the transition into a digital face. 1206 01:06:46,709 --> 01:06:50,753 If the 90-some machines are gone to the junk man, 1207 01:06:50,754 --> 01:06:55,754 all my endeavors are gone down the tube after I pass away. 1208 01:06:56,927 --> 01:06:58,303 Someday I will. 1209 01:06:58,304 --> 01:07:03,304 My wife is probably going to throw the machines in the hole right after me. 1210 01:07:03,809 --> 01:07:06,978 It's the only way you're going to keep me down. 1211 01:07:06,979 --> 01:07:09,772 Hopefully they'll go onto somebody else that will take them 1212 01:07:09,773 --> 01:07:11,858 and learn how to use them. 1213 01:07:11,859 --> 01:07:14,402 Hopefully I'll find somebody that wants to learn the machine, 1214 01:07:14,403 --> 01:07:16,779 and I'll be able to teach them. 1215 01:07:16,780 --> 01:07:19,699 Then the best case scenario, if that doesn't happen, 1216 01:07:19,700 --> 01:07:21,075 is that they go to a museum 1217 01:07:21,076 --> 01:07:23,578 where they're at least preserved as a static display 1218 01:07:23,579 --> 01:07:25,413 of what they used to be able to do. 1219 01:07:25,414 --> 01:07:26,581 Worst case scenario? 1220 01:07:26,582 --> 01:07:29,459 Somebody's going to come in here, look at them, and go, 1221 01:07:29,460 --> 01:07:31,794 “Man, that's worth nine cents a pound.” 1222 01:07:31,795 --> 01:07:36,795 A scrap metal man would want money to break one up and remove it for you, 1223 01:07:37,092 --> 01:07:42,092 but that is why those guys are usually measured by size-17 shirts, 1224 01:07:43,224 --> 01:07:45,099 size-17 shoes, 1225 01:07:45,100 --> 01:07:50,021 and size-17 IQ. 1226 01:07:50,022 --> 01:07:52,607 They weigh about 4,000 pounds. 1227 01:07:52,608 --> 01:07:56,819 I think scrap is going for $280 a ton in this area, someone told me today, 1228 01:07:56,820 --> 01:07:59,697 so, you know, $560, 1229 01:07:59,698 --> 01:08:01,824 total value, if you took it to the scrap yard. 1230 01:08:01,825 --> 01:08:03,201 It is a damn shame 1231 01:08:03,202 --> 01:08:08,164 that so much is being pushed out of the back of factories, 1232 01:08:08,165 --> 01:08:10,375 just crashing to the ground or being broken up. 1233 01:08:10,376 --> 01:08:12,126 Most Linotypes got thrown out. 1234 01:08:12,127 --> 01:08:16,339 My dad says he's probably thrown out a thousand Linotypes in the scrap 1235 01:08:16,340 --> 01:08:17,590 because they have no use for them. 1236 01:08:17,591 --> 01:08:20,969 That should give a sense of urgency 1237 01:08:20,970 --> 01:08:25,970 to the maintenance and the salvaging of the stuff that is already out there. 1238 01:08:26,976 --> 01:08:28,142 There are just too many. 1239 01:08:28,143 --> 01:08:31,896 You would like to save some, but there are too many. 1240 01:08:31,897 --> 01:08:36,897 You have to do something with it. 1241 01:08:37,403 --> 01:08:42,403 It would cost me maybe $4,000 or $5,000 to get it operating again. 1242 01:08:44,868 --> 01:08:48,329 We've offered the machine to a number of museums. 1243 01:08:48,330 --> 01:08:50,540 Most museums already have a Linotype, 1244 01:08:50,541 --> 01:08:51,916 but they too are just sitting there. 1245 01:08:51,917 --> 01:08:56,337 They aren't doing anything. 1246 01:08:56,338 --> 01:09:01,009 Most of these machines are headed for salvage yards, 1247 01:09:01,010 --> 01:09:06,010 and I wish it were otherwise. 1248 01:09:15,316 --> 01:09:17,734 So we have made the decision 1249 01:09:17,735 --> 01:09:21,404 to take this to the salvage yard, with a few tears. 1250 01:09:21,405 --> 01:09:26,405 It's not what I really prefer to do. 1251 01:09:38,255 --> 01:09:41,299 But I want to be here carefully to document the fact 1252 01:09:41,300 --> 01:09:43,259 that, that is the right decision, 1253 01:09:43,260 --> 01:09:45,762 and it is not an easy one 1254 01:09:45,763 --> 01:09:47,639 as we say goodbye to this today. 1255 01:09:47,640 --> 01:09:50,767 I guess I'm glad not to have to watch it 1256 01:09:50,768 --> 01:09:55,104 because I know how finely machined this thing is, 1257 01:09:55,105 --> 01:09:57,482 what a fine tool it is, 1258 01:09:57,483 --> 01:09:59,984 and to see it just destroyed, 1259 01:09:59,985 --> 01:10:03,696 my mind keeps going back to the inventor, 1260 01:10:03,697 --> 01:10:05,657 Ottmar Mergenthaler, 1261 01:10:05,658 --> 01:10:08,493 and that hurts. 1262 01:10:08,494 --> 01:10:12,080 [bangs] 1263 01:10:12,081 --> 01:10:17,081 [bangs] 1264 01:10:17,795 --> 01:10:20,171 Well, that's pretty devastating, 1265 01:10:20,172 --> 01:10:25,172 but it also shows you the durability of the machine. 1266 01:10:33,644 --> 01:10:36,938 It was emotionally tougher than I expected it to be. 1267 01:10:36,939 --> 01:10:40,817 A little twinge of regret, but not really 1268 01:10:40,818 --> 01:10:43,861 because, hey, everything has to make way, 1269 01:10:43,862 --> 01:10:48,574 and even Ottmar Mergenthaler's Linotype has to make way. 1270 01:10:48,575 --> 01:10:50,827 Over the next few decades, 1271 01:10:50,828 --> 01:10:52,495 without Dave Seat and people like him, 1272 01:10:52,496 --> 01:10:54,455 these machines will just stand here idly. 1273 01:10:54,456 --> 01:10:56,499 After a while, because they are doing nothing, 1274 01:10:56,500 --> 01:10:58,084 they will sell them for scrap metal. 1275 01:10:58,085 --> 01:10:59,711 Being a young operator 1276 01:10:59,712 --> 01:11:02,046 and learning this stuff from people who are 80 years old 1277 01:11:02,047 --> 01:11:05,049 also feels like a bit of a responsibility, 1278 01:11:05,050 --> 01:11:08,636 that I should learn as much as I can, while I can. 1279 01:11:08,637 --> 01:11:11,222 If it's to survive, if it's to be appreciated, 1280 01:11:11,223 --> 01:11:12,390 and if it's to endure, 1281 01:11:12,391 --> 01:11:17,391 I think someone is going to have to pass it on. 1282 01:11:25,195 --> 01:11:28,448 The machines themselves were put up for auction in Boston. 1283 01:11:28,449 --> 01:11:30,074 They were purchased by one of our founders and trustees, 1284 01:11:30,075 --> 01:11:31,492 a man named Howard Gorin, 1285 01:11:31,493 --> 01:11:35,037 who in turn asked if he could donate them to the museum. 1286 01:11:35,038 --> 01:11:37,123 We expected to only receive one. 1287 01:11:37,124 --> 01:11:42,124 However, when the riggers left this afternoon, there were two here. 1288 01:11:44,882 --> 01:11:48,176 We had two Linotype machines delivered. 1289 01:11:48,177 --> 01:11:51,721 They still need to be connected electrically. 1290 01:11:51,722 --> 01:11:54,640 A lot of electric wiring has to be replaced. 1291 01:11:54,641 --> 01:11:56,976 They are going to need some mechanical attention. 1292 01:11:56,977 --> 01:11:59,771 A lot of the drive belts have to be replaced, 1293 01:11:59,772 --> 01:12:01,898 and from there on we will just see. 1294 01:12:01,899 --> 01:12:06,899 The accomplishment is seeing them not going to China as scrap metal. 1295 01:12:07,988 --> 01:12:10,364 I was looking for a home for the second one, 1296 01:12:10,365 --> 01:12:12,742 and we couldn't find a home for the second one. 1297 01:12:12,743 --> 01:12:16,829 I would not feel sorry about finding a good home for it, 1298 01:12:16,830 --> 01:12:19,832 but I'll be goddamned if I'm going to see this thing cut up for scrap, 1299 01:12:19,833 --> 01:12:23,211 and that's what it boils down to. 1300 01:12:23,212 --> 01:12:25,379 I think, for most commercial purposes, 1301 01:12:25,380 --> 01:12:27,757 you have to say, “Yes, it is a dead machine." 1302 01:12:27,758 --> 01:12:31,803 You can do it all much more quickly in other ways. 1303 01:12:31,804 --> 01:12:34,722 On the other hand, I think it's not a dead machine 1304 01:12:34,723 --> 01:12:36,557 in that there are enthusiasts around, 1305 01:12:36,558 --> 01:12:39,185 and I hope there will continue to be enthusiasts 1306 01:12:39,186 --> 01:12:41,521 who find them sufficiently interesting. 1307 01:12:41,522 --> 01:12:45,691 Anything that I get into that's new is going to be obsolete soon, 1308 01:12:45,692 --> 01:12:47,568 so why not get something that is already obsolete 1309 01:12:47,569 --> 01:12:48,861 and make the best of it? 1310 01:12:48,862 --> 01:12:50,404 It's a closed system. 1311 01:12:50,405 --> 01:12:54,700 It has become what it will now always be, 1312 01:12:54,701 --> 01:12:57,995 so though there is a lot to learn- 1313 01:12:57,996 --> 01:13:00,206 a lotto learn, one lifetime isn't enough- 1314 01:13:00,207 --> 01:13:02,333 at least the technology stands still for you. 1315 01:13:02,334 --> 01:13:05,336 Somebody had to say something about what the future was like 1316 01:13:05,337 --> 01:13:07,588 and who was being affected by it, 1317 01:13:07,589 --> 01:13:11,884 so I said, “I'll take the voice of the Linotype machine, 1318 01:13:11,885 --> 01:13:13,094 and I'll be the poet.” 1319 01:13:13,095 --> 01:13:16,055 - "This Ottmar Mergenthaler chap, ” 1320 01:13:16,056 --> 01:13:18,850 "The Linotype he did unwrap. ” 1321 01:13:18,851 --> 01:13:21,644 "Created quite an awful flap, " 1322 01:13:21,645 --> 01:13:24,021 "Within the marketplace." 1323 01:13:24,022 --> 01:13:26,440 "Type foundries trembled,” 1324 01:13:26,441 --> 01:13:28,442 “then they went under. ” 1325 01:13:28,443 --> 01:13:31,487 "Printer's jobs were rent asunder. ” 1326 01:13:31,488 --> 01:13:34,991 "Investors' bellies grew rotunder. " 1327 01:13:34,992 --> 01:13:39,078 "And Linotype replaced a case.” 1328 01:13:39,079 --> 01:13:41,289 "Books and papers multiplied" 1329 01:13:41,290 --> 01:13:43,791 "In an ever-growing tide, ” 1330 01:13:43,792 --> 01:13:46,377 "Making wings for thoughts to ride” 1331 01:13:46,378 --> 01:13:49,547 “Up to outer space. ” 1332 01:13:49,548 --> 01:13:54,548 "Now Linotype has said farewell... " 1333 01:13:55,512 --> 01:13:58,973 Right there. 1334 01:13:58,974 --> 01:14:02,476 “Computer type it did foretell. ” 1335 01:14:02,477 --> 01:14:05,229 "But it let out one final yell: ” 1336 01:14:05,230 --> 01:14:10,230 '”I've served the human race. 1337 01:14:10,986 --> 01:14:15,986 That's it. 1338 01:16:22,034 --> 01:16:24,577 - You want to do this one for me? - Oh, yeah. 1339 01:16:24,578 --> 01:16:29,578 - Take four! - [laughter] 106195

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