Inventions in the Century

by William Henry Doolittle

The leading generic idea of all subsequent successful devices of this kind was clearly set forth in the patent of S. W. Francis of the United States in 1857. This feature is the arranging of a row of hammers in a circle so that when put in motion they will all strike the same place, which is the centre of that circle. The arrangement of a row of pivoted hammers or type levers, each operated by a separate key lever to strike an inked ribbon in front of a sheet of paper, means to automatically move the carriage carrying the paper roll from right to left as the letters are successfully printed, leaving a space between each letter and word, and sounding a signal when the end of a line is reached, so that the carriage may be returned to its former position—all these and some other minor but necessary operations may seem simple enough when stated, but their accomplishment required the careful study of many inventors for years.

One of the most modern of typewriters has a single electro-magnet to actuate all the type bars of a set, and to throw each type from its normal position to the printing centre. By an extremely light touch given to each key lever the circuit is closed and causes the lever to strike without the necessity of pressing the key down its whole extent and releasing it before the next key strikes. By this device, the operator is relieved of fatigue, as his fingers may glide quickly from one key to another, the printing is made uniform, and far greater speed attained by reason of the quick and delicate action. Mr. Thaddeus Cahill of Washington appears to be the first to have invented the most successful of this type of machines.

Book-binding Machinery is another new production of the century. It may be that the old hand methods would give to a book a stronger binding than is found on most books to-day, but the modern public demands and has obtained machinery that will take the loose sheets and bind them ready for delivery, at the rate of ten or fifteen thousand volumes a day.

The “quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore,” the Latin folios in oak or ivory boards with brass clasps, or bound in velvet, or in crimson satin, ornamented with finest needlework or precious stones, or the more humble beech boards, and calf and sheep skins with metal edges and iron clasps, in all of which the sheets were stoutly sewed together and glued, when glue was known, to the covers, are now but relics of the past. Machinery came to the front quite rapidly after 1825, at which time cloth had been introduced as cheaper than leather, and as cheap and a more enduring binder than paper. The processes in book-binding are enumerated as follows; and for each process a machine has been invented within the last sixty years to do the work:

Folding the sheets;
Gathering the consecutive sheets;
Rolling the backs of folded sheets;
Saw cutting the backs for the combs;
Sewing;
Rounding the back of the sewed sheets.
Edge cutting;
Binding, securing the books to the sides, covering with muslin, leather or paper. Tooling and lettering.
Edge gilting.

One of the best modern illustrations of human thought and complicated manual operations contained in automatic machinery is the Linotype.

It is a great step from the humble invention of Schoeffer five hundred and fifty years ago of cast movable type to that of another German, Mergenthaler, in 1890-92.

The Linotype (a line of type) was pronounced by the London Engineering “as the most remarkable machine of this century.” It was the outcome of twelve years of continuous experiment and invention, and the expenditure of more than a million dollars. A brief description of this invention is given in the report of the United States commissioner of patents for 1895 as follows: “In the present Mergenthaler construction there is a magazine containing a series of tubes for the letter or character moulds, each of which moulds is provided with a single character. There are a number of duplicates of each character, and the moulds containing the same character are all arranged in one tube. The machine is provided with a series of finger keys, which, when pressed like the keys of a typewriter, cause the letter moulds to assemble in a line in their proper order for print. A line mould and a melting pot are then brought into proper relation to the assembled line of letter moulds and a cast is taken, called the linotype, which represents the entire line, a column wide, of the matter to be printed. The letter moulds are then automatically returned to their proper magazine tube. The Mergenthaler machine is largely in use in the principal newspaper offices, with the result that a single operator does at least the work of four average compositors.”

Mr Rogers obtained a United States patent, September 23, 1890, for a machine for casting lines of type, the principal feature of which is that the letter moulds are strung on wires secured on a hinged frame. “When the frame is in one position, the letter moulds are released by the keys, slide down the wires by gravity and are assembled in line at the casting point. After the cast is taken, the lower ends of the guide wires are elevated, which causes the letter moulds to slide back on the wires to their original position, when the operation is repeated for the next line.” Operated by a single person, the Mergenthaler produces and assembles linotypes ready for the press or stereotyping table at the rate of from 3,600 to 7,000 ems (type characters) per hour. It permits the face or style of type to be changed at will and it permits the operator to read and correct his matter as he proceeds.

To the aid of the ordinary printing press came electrotyping, stenographic colour printing, engraving, and smaller job and card presses, all entirely new creations within the century, and of infinite variety, each in itself forming a new class in typographic art, and a valuable addition to the marvellous transformation.