When type is cast by a hand machine it is unfinished, as a piece of metal called the jet still adheres to the bottom of each type. This jet is broken off, and the types are set in long lines and fastened in a narrow channel, face down. A small plane smooths away the rough surface caused by breaking off the jet. This leaves a shallow groove on the bottom of each type and allows it to stand squarely on its feet. The types also have slight burs and sharp edges of metal which must be rubbed off before they are ready for inspection and for the font-room. Type cast on the older “steam” machines require the jet to be broken off after the casting, and the final finishing of the type is done afterward by other operations. These finishing touches are done mostly by hand, with the aid of a polishing stone or a small dressing wheel.
On the automatic machine, which is the modern method of casting type, breaking off the jet, rubbing, dressing, etc., are all accomplished automatically on the machine, the types coming out in a continuous line practically ready for the compositor’s case.
The foregoing describes in a general way the methods of making type by the regular founders. There is now a great deal of type made by automatic composing and casting machines installed directly in many composing rooms.
Two distinctive styles of these machines are now extensively used—the Linotype and the Monotype. Both of these have reached a high degree of efficiency because of their nice mechanisms, based on the principle of automatically operated molds, matrices, and delivery devices.
In the Linotype the matrices for a desired line of words are assembled side by side and the line is cast in one piece.
In the Monotype the mechanism automatically and rapidly adjusts the matrix of the desired letters one at a time over the mold, and each type is cast and moved along into lines and then into a column on a galley.
The Linotype
