THE TYPE-FOUNDER.
1. The types cast by the type-founder are oblong square pieces of metal, each having, on one end of it, a letter or character, in relief. The metal of which these important instruments are composed, is commonly an alloy consisting principally of lead and antimony, in the proportion of about five parts of the former to one of the latter. This alloy melts at a low temperature, and receives and retains with accuracy the shape of the mould. Several hundred pounds of type-metal are prepared at a time, and cast into bars filled with notches, that they may be easily broken into pieces, when about to be applied to use.
2. In making types, the letter or character is first formed, by means of gravers and other tools, on the end of a steel punch. With this instrument, a matrix is formed, by driving it into a piece of copper of suitable size. A punch and matrix are required for every character used in printing. A metallic mould for the body of the type is also made; and, that the workman may handle it without burning his hands, it is surrounded with a portion of wood. The mould is composed of two parts, which can be closed and separated with the greatest facility.
3. The type-metal is prepared for immediate use by melting it, as fast as it may be needed, in a small crucible, over a coal fire. The caster having placed the matrix in the bottom of the mould, commences the operation of casting by pouring the metal into the mould with a small ladle. This he performs with his right hand, while with the other he throws up the mould with a sudden jerk; then, with both hands he opens it, and throws out the type. All these movements are performed with such rapidity, that an expert hand can cast about fifty types of a common size in a minute. Some machines have been lately introduced, which operate with still greater rapidity.
4. Each type, when thrown from the mould, has attached to it a superfluous portion of metal, called a jet, which is afterwards broken off by hand. The jets are again cast into the pot, or crucible, and the types are carried to another room, where the two broad sides are rubbed on a grindstone. They are next arranged on flat sticks about three feet long, and delivered to the dresser, who scrapes the two sides not before made smooth on the grindstone, cuts a groove on the end opposite the letter, and rejects from the row the types which may be defective.
5. The whole process is completed by setting up the types in a printer's composing-stick, and tying them up with packthread. Much of the work in the type-foundry is performed by boys and females. In the preceding cut are represented a man casting types at a furnace, and a boy breaking off the jets; also two females rubbing types on a large grindstone. The fumes arising from melted lead in the casting-room are considered deleterious to health.
6. Various sizes of the same kind of letter are extensively used, of which the following are most employed in printing books—Pica, Small Pica, Long Primer, Bourgeois, Brevier, Minion, Nonpareil, Pearl, and Diamond. A full assortment of any particular size is called a fount, which may consist of any amount, from five pounds to five hundred, or more. The master type-founder usually supplies the printer with all the materials of his art, embracing not only types, leads, brass rules, and ordinary ornaments, but also cases, composing-sticks, galleys, printing-presses, and other articles too numerous to be mentioned.
7. The inventor of the art of casting types was Peter Shœffer, first servant or workman employed by Guttemburg and Faust. He privately cut a matrix for each letter of the alphabet, and cast a quantity of the types. Having shown the products of his ingenuity to Faust, the latter was so much delighted with the contrivance, that he made him a partner in the printing business, and gave him his only daughter, Christina, in marriage.
8. The character first employed was a rude old Gothic, mixed with secretary, designed on purpose to imitate the hand-writing of those times, and the first used in England were of this kind. To these succeeded what is termed old English, or black letter, which is still occasionally applied to some purposes; but Roman letter is now the national character not only of England, but of France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. In Germany, and in the states surrounding the Baltic, letters are used which owe their foundation to the Gothic, although works are occasionally printed for the learned in Roman.
9. The Roman letter owes its origin to the nation whence it derives its name, although the faces of the present and ancient Roman letters differ materially, on account of the improvements which they have undergone at various times. For the invention of the Italic character, we are indebted to Aldus Manutius, who set up a printing-office in Venice, in 1496, where he also introduced Roman types of a neater cut.
10. Before the American revolution, type-founding was carried on at Germantown, Pennsylvania, by Christopher Sower, at Boston by Mr. Michelson, and in Connecticut by Mr. Buel; but there was too little demand for types, to afford these enterprising individuals much patronage. Soon after the close of the revolution, John Baine established a foundery in Philadelphia. The printers, however, were not supplied with every necessary material and implement of the art from American founderies, until 1796, when Messrs. Binny & Ronaldson commenced the business in the same city. Baine and Ronaldson were both from Edinburgh, Scotland. The first type-foundery was established in New-York, in 1809, by Robert Lothian, a Scotch clergyman, and father of the ingenious type-founder, George B. Lothian.
11. In the year 1827, William M. Johnson, of New-York, invented the machine for casting types now used by John T. White, and in 1838, David Bruce, Junr., produced another, which was purchased by George Bruce. George B. Lothian has also lately invented a machine for the same purpose, and likewise one for reducing types to an equal thickness. Both of these machines act with great accuracy. There are now in the United States sixteen type-founderies; viz., two in Boston, six in New-York, three in Philadelphia, one in Baltimore, one in Pittsburg, one in Cincinnati, one in Louisville, and one in St. Louis.
