From a very early period of hand typesetting and printing in England, an approximately square piece of horizontal spacing material was called a "quadrat." The term "quadrat" was shortened to "quad" (at least in the United States). An "Em quad," or simply a "quad," is square, with a set width equal to the body size of the type. This set width is often close to, but not necessarily exactly the same as, that of an 'M' sort. An En quad is half the set width of an Em quad. (Again, this may be close to an 'N', but it is defined in terms of the body height, not the width of an actual 'N' sort in the font.) 2-Em and 3-Em quads are two and three times the set width of an Em quad. Pieces of horizontal spacing material less than the set width of an En quad typically are just called "spaces" (of various kinds).
When you are setting material by hand which is centered, or left-justified, or right-justified, you fill in as much of the necessary blank space with the largest spacing material you can - typically quads of various widths. The Linotype as originally designed worked in the same way, but you had to supply the spacing material manually (by setting quad matrices). A "quadder" is an attachment for a Linotype or similar machine which performs this function automatically. (However, it does so not by using quad spacing matrices but instead by adjusting the vise jaws so as to move the text within the slug-line. The blank space "quadded out" is cast against the back of the jaw itself.)
The Mergenthaler Linotype Company made several completely different quadders over the years. Some of these quadders are still widely known in the linecasting world (e.g., the Hydraquadder) while others are less well remembered (such as the Self-Quadder). Some seem to have been forgotten almost entirely (the 1951 "M.L. Quadder," for example).
The investigation of the history of Linotype quadding devices is made difficult by several problems. Mergenthaler was not consistent in the naming of their devices. Sometimes these names were overly generic and often they were ponderously long. In the technical and advertising literature for one device they rarely referred to previous devices that it superceded. The devices were always considered to be attachments and as such usually (but not always) had their own literature. There is no mention of any quadding device in Mergenthaler's own standard manual for composition, Linotype Keyboard Operation (1930).
Automatic Quadding Device (1905)
A 1932 advertisement by the Mergenthaler Linotype Company 1 for the quadder they were introducing then 2 refers to this 1932 quadder as "a development from the Linotype automatic quadding device which has been in successful operation since 1905." I have not yet discovered any further information specifically about a 1905 automatic quadding device, however, it is not unlikely that it might be the same as the "Quadding-Out Attachment" attested by 1906.
Quadding-Out Attachment (by 1906)
This may be the same as the "automatic quadding device" of 1905 (see above).
The Quadding-Out Attachment is attested on p. 43 of the 1906 Mergenthaler publication The Mergenthaler Linotype. 3 This page is shown below, left.
No quadding attachment is mentioned in the 1903 or 1905 editions of Linotype Parts and Supplies. I do not have any Mergenthaler parts catalog from the period 1906 - 1922. However, Mergenthaler later produced a catalog of parts specifically for their early (and by then obsolete) machines: Linotype Parts and Supplies: For Models 1, 2, 3, K, L, High and Low Base 4 and 5; Illustrated Catalog No. 22. (The earliest version of this that I have is the May 1923 revised version.) This catalog does show four pages of parts for "Special Attachments[:] Quadding." The parts shown do seem to resemble those shown in the 1906 The Mergenthaler Linotype book. The image at right, above, shows an extract from one page of this catalog; clicking on it will bring up a PDF containing an extract of the four relevant catalog pages (plus the cover).
Some indication of the lack of general acceptance of this device may be seen in the way in which it was mentioned in the 1925 Mergenthaler publication Linotype Instruction Book 4 . In it, John Rogers writes briefly of the "quadding-out attachment," saying "By the use of this attachment, where work is very open, like some forms of legal work, considerable extra speed can be obtained ... This quadding-out attachment is in use in a few offices where this special work is done."
Double Quadding and Centering Device (1932)
In 1932, Mergenthaler introduced a device which was clearly a quadder in the modern sense of the term, the "Linotype Double Quadding and Centering Device." It was a fully mechanical device 5 . integrated into the vise frame below the vise. It provided for left-justification, right-justification, centering, and regular fully justified work.
It would appear that by at least May 1934 this device had been renamed the "Self-Quadder" (see below). While I have not studied the sources in detail, there seems to have been little engineering change between the two.
Here is an advertisement from the August 1932 Inland Printer (Vol. 89, No. 5, p. 73) introducing this new device and an extract from the 1935 Parts Catalog No. 31 ( The Linotype Double Quadding and Centering Device) showing its overall form.
In 1934, Mergenthaler began advertising the "Self-Quadder" as a new product. It would appear, though, that this was a rebranding of the Double Quadding and Centering Device. They both share the same parts catalog number, 31, although the name of this catalog changes. The parts listed and illustrated for each are essentially the same (and bear the same part numbers).
However, there is some confusion of dates, if one assumes that these were the same product under two names. Parts Catalog No. 31, The Linotype Double Quadding and Centering Device, bears a 1935 copyright date and a printing code of 741.31-B-N-1X. Jim Gard has decoded the Mergenthaler printing codes and determined that, indeed, the 'N' designates 1935. This is a year later than the earliest advertisement for the Self-Quadder of which I am aware (May 1934).
Editions of Parts Catalog No. 31 under a new title, The Linotype Self-Quadder are attested from January 1937 (741.311-A-P-15Z), July 1941 (731.31.2-G-T-3X), and under the title Parts Catalog for the Linotype Self-Quadder in March 1949 (741.31.3-C-NN-5X). Editions before 1941 (including the 1935 "Double Quadding and Centering Device" version) contained an unpaginated introductory section describing the device. From the 1941 edition on this section was omitted, leaving only the parts catalog.
Because of the great success of the later Hydraquadder, few Linotype Self-Quadders remain. At least one is known to survive, though, in operating order.
Below left is the earliest advertisement that I have been able to locate for the Self-Quadder. It is from The Inland Printer, Vol. 93, No. 2 (May 1934), p. 73. Below right is the general view of the device as it is shown in the 1937 edition of Parts Catalog No. 31, The Linotype Self-Quadder. It is clearly the same device as the 1932 "Double Quadding and Centering Device."
M. L. Quadder, Manual and Electric (1951)
In 1951, Mergenthaler introduced a completely new quadder which was called, in a style later adopted by Microsoft for its products, the Mergenthaler Linotype Quadder (aka "M. L. Quadder"). This was a mechanical device (also available in an electrically controlled version for Teletypesetter use) which was hung outboard on the left-hand side of the vise. (This is the same general position that the later Hydraquadder also occupied, but differed completely from the earlier Self-Quadder and Quadding-Out Attachment.) The M. L. Quadder didn't last very long on the market and was supplanted beginning in 1954 by the Hydraquadder.
That the M. L. Quadder was brought to market is attested by at least two advertisements run in The Inland Printer in July and August of 1951 (Vol. 127, Nos. 4 & 5, inside front cover). Images from each of these are shown below (clicking on them will give the full page, but the scan is out of focus near the gutter due to a tight binding.)
A few Service Instructions from the Sales-Service organization within the Mergenthaler Linotype Company exist. These describe themselves as "advance information on the operation, adjustment and maintenance of the M. L. Quadder [intended to] serve until complete instructions are released." (Service Instruction No. 8, December 10, 1951).
While it is certainly possible that an M.L.Quadder survives, I am unaware of any.
Sometime in 1954, only three years after the M. L. Quadder, Mergenthaler introduced an entirely new kind of quadder: the Hydraquadder. The earliest ad I have been able to find for this is from The Inland Printer in August 1954 (Vol. 133, No. 5, inside front cover). There may be earlier ads, but my run of the Inland Printer in this period is not complete.
To put this in context, this August 1954 advertisement for the new Hydraquadder - the latest thing in hot metal and an important product for another quarter century - appeared in the by then regular Mergenthaler ad on the inside front cover of The Inland Printer. Intertype's regular ad position was the back cover; this issue featured an ad for the Intertype Fotosetter. Technologies frequently overlap.
The Hydraquadder was available in two forms: the Manual Hydraquadder and the Electrically Controlled Hydraquadder. Both remained in production in parallel with each other.
Both forms of the Hydraquadder were intended to integrate the Mohr Measure Control, a third-party component.
The Hydraquadder was an extremely successful product, both from a technical and a commercial point of view.
As its name suggests, this is a hydraulically controlled and actuated quadder. (I'm switching verb tense from "was" to "is" here because I have Hydraquadders running on my Linotypes.) Its actuating mechanism is mounted outboard to the left of the vise, in the same position as the earlier (but technologically unrelated) M. L. Quadder. Additional hydraulic logic is housed in a unit on the lower left of the machine. A hydraulic pump is driven via a belt from the main motor.
Although the Manual Hydraquadder employs hydraulics for its logic and actuation, it does contain one electrical component. When it is installed, the actuating mechanism for the traditional mechanical Pump Stop is replaced by an electrical solenoid which acts under the control of a microswitch mounted in the left vise jaw. This is a 24V DC circuit.
Electrically Controlled Hydraquadder (by 1958)
The Electrically Controlled Hydraquadder, introduced by 1958, is built on top of the Manual Hydraquadder. It uses additional hydraulic and electrical control circuits, including simple relay logic, both to provide pushbutton manual control and to facilitate Teletypesetter tape control. All of its electrical circuits are 24V DC.
It is easy to distinguish the two styles of Hydraquadders at a glance. The Manual Hydraquadder has three hydraulic hoses going to the control unit at the left of the vise. The Electrically Controlled Hydraquadder has five hoses.
1. The Inland Printer. Vol. 89, No. 5 (August, 1932), p. 73.
2. The Linotype Double Quadding and Centering Device.
3. The bibliography of this book is confusing because Mergenthaler released two completely different books with the same title in 1906. Fortunately, they have different subtitles. The one of interest here is: The Mergenthaler Linotype: A Machine that Meets Every Requirement of the Job Printing or Newspaper Composing Room. (Brooklyn, NY: The Mergenthaler Linotype Company, 1906.)
The cover of this book bears the title " Mergenthaler Linotypes". It is a semi-technical overview of the Linotype, its principles and its features. This 1906 edition has been scanned by Google from the University of Michigan copy (Google Books ID: svjMelk8UaMC ). It was "reissued" by Mergenthaler in 1908 with significantly different page stylings. This also has been scanned by Google from a Univ. of Michigan copy (Google Books ID: 44LnAAAAMAAJ). Below are local copies of the Google scans of the 1906 and 1908 editions.
[click image to read]
4. Rogers, John D. Linotype Instruction Book. (Brooklyn, NY: Mergenthaler Linotype Company, 1925), p. 227.
5. By this I mean that it had neither electrical nor hydraulic components.
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