The Foucher Type Caster

1. Introduction

[NOTE: At present this page is really just a very incomplete stub.]

While the Foucher firm dates to 1847, it is their type casting machine of 1878 which would be their most significant design. This machine cast type, broke the jet, dressed the type, and plowed the foot. (A machine with these capabilities would be termed an "automatic" caster in America and a "komplett" (complete) caster in Germany.) The 1878 Foucher machine appears to have been the first commercially successful type caster of this kind. (In general in these Notebooks when I refer to a "Foucher" caster without further qualifications it is to a machine of this design, or one of its successor models.)

In addition to its production from the 1870s into the 20th century by Foucher, derivatives of this machine were produced in Germany by Küstermann (I presume under license). Foucher machines were imported into America (and patented in America). The well known Barth Type Caster is clearly a derivative of the Foucher.

2. History

The history of this firm was outlined in the report of the jury for the 1900 Universal International Exposition in Paris. The salient points, extracted from this outline, are these:

• Founded in 1847 by Foucher père [Louis Leon Foucher].
• In 1857, Foucher père first constructed type casting machines in three sizes: 5-12 [presumably Didot points], 12-24, and 16-48.
• Foucher père died in 1865.
• A "universal" machine under development since 1874.
• In 1878 the first machine to cast type, break the jet, rub [dress] the type, and finish the foot was made.
• Auguste Foucher sole proprietor since 1892.
• By 1900, over 975 "universal" machines had been sold in France and internationally.
• Auguste Foucher died in 1900.
• After 1900 the firm became "La Société des Établissments A. Foucher" under the direction of G. Jomat.

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Paris Exhibition, 1900

Exposition Universelle Internationale de 1900 à Paris: Rapports du Jury International . Groupe III. - Instruments et procédés généraux des lettres, des sciences et des arts, Classes 11 à 18. (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, for the Ministère du Commerce, de l'Industrie, des Postes et des Télégraphes, 1902)

This volume has been digitized by Google from the Harvard University copy. The icon at left links to an extract of just the pages devoted to the Foucher firm.

3. Literature

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1872 Catalogue

Matériel Typographique: Catalogue Général de Veuve Foucher & Fils. (Paris: Imprimerie Nouvelle, 1872). My thanks to Victor Thibout for scanning this document and making it available.

Typefoundry machinery and appliances, composing room equipment, presses (and a copying press), stereotype and electrotype equipment, bookbinding presses, and a small steam engine for your plant.

This catalogue was scanned at 300dpi and saved losslessly as TIFFs. The image to the left links to a version reduced to an effective 150dpi and converted to JPG, wrapped into a PDF (85 Megabytes). Here is a link to a version at 300dpi (273 Megabytes): foucher-1872-catalogue-0300rgbjpg.pdf

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1905 Catalogue

Matériel d'Imprimerie / Catalogue Général. Paris: Société des Etablissments A. Foucher, 1906. My thanks, again, to Victor Thibout for scanning this document and making it available.

This catalogue was scanned at 300dpi and saved losslessly as TIFFs. The image to the left links to a version reduced to an effective 150dpi and converted to JPG, wrapped into a PDF (231 Megabytes). Here is a link to a version at 300dpi (730 Megabytes): foucher-1905-catalogue-0300rgbjpg.pdf

Here are two versions (again at 150 dpi (58 Meg) and 300 dpi (180 Meg)) of just the type foundry materials section:

• foucher-1905-catalogue-extract-foundry-0150rgbjpg.pdf
• foucher-1905-catalogue-extract-foundry-0300rgbjpg.pdf