The Linotype machine industrialized the printed word. Before Ottmar Mergenthaler’s 1886 invention, every page was assembled by hand, one metal letter at a time. The Linotype let an operator type at a keyboard while brass matrices dropped into place, then cast the entire line as a single slug of molten metal — hence “line o’ type.” One operator could cast 5,000 to 7,000 characters an hour. A newspaper that once needed armies of hand compositors could now be set by a handful of operators, and the daily press exploded in size. Edison called it the eighth wonder of the world. Phototypesetting and then computers, cleaner and faster, retired the hot-metal machines through the 1970s and 80s.
Worth remembering
- Thomas Edison reportedly called it the 'eighth wonder of the world'.
- Its name comes from the 'line o' type' slug it cast in a single operation.
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Sources
- Ottmar Mergenthaler's Linotype debuted at the New York Tribune in 1886 Wikipedia
- Linotype cast lines of type from molten metal, revolutionizing newspapers Britannica
- Ottmar Mergenthaler's Linotype let one operator cast 5,000–7,000 characters an hour; Edison called it the eighth wonder of the world, and thousands were in use by 1901. ASME
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