Several early sources show a style of caster at MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan and later ATF which so far has not been identified in the literature. I will argue that these are Ziegler-patent casters which were used for casting spaces and quads. The basic patent on them was filed in 1892. They are attested by name in 1893 and photographically in 1896 and 1902. They were promoted by ATF in its first few years and were used within ATF through at least the 1912 timeframe. They were either replaced by or supplanted by Barth casters casting spacing, probably in the 1930s. All space and quad machines were scrapped at the 1993 ATF auction. At least one of these was a Barth. Whether or not any of the Ziegler-patent casters survived to this point is presently unknown.
Although I've started to call these "Ziegler" machines, after their patentee (in the same way we call a Barth after Henry Barth or a Thompson after John Thompson), to the best of my knowledge they were never called by this name while they existed. In 1893 they were called the ``Philadelphia Complete Space and Quad Machine[s],'' but from that point to the end of ATF they languished in anonymous obscurity. All I've heard (in conversation with people who were at the 1993 ATF auction) are references to the ATF "space and quad" machines (which by that time might have been Ziegler-patent machines or might have been entirely Barths).
In 1892, George Henry Ziegler filed the basic patent for an automatic type casting machine. While he did specifically included the possibility of casting ordinary type with it, the patent notes that it was "arranged to cast what are termed quads and spaces" in a closed mold (without a matrix). The basic patent, filed during the chaotic period of the ATF amalgamation, was assigned to MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan. The followup patents, filed in 1893, were assigned to the American Type Founders Company.
(Ziegler also received several other patents, all assigned to MSJ or ATF. These included several for improvements on the Barth Type Caster. For more information on these, see the CircuitousRoot Notebook on George H. Ziegler.)
US Patent 523,255 (1894)
US patent 523,255, "Type-Casting Machine." Filed 1892-06-25 as application serial number 437,946. Issued 1894-07-17 to George H. Ziegler. Assigned to MacKellar, Smiths and Jordan.
A type casting machine designed primarily for the casting of spaces and quads.
US Patent 523,256 (1894)
US patent 523,256, "Type-Casting Machine." Filed 1893-01-09 as application serial number 457,856. Issued 1894-07-17 to George H. Ziegler. Assigned to American Type Founders Co. Note: The application serial no. 437,946 referenced in this patent was issued as patent 523,255.
Improvements in the space and quad casting machine of Ziegler's US patent 523,255.
US Patent 523,301 (1894)
US patent 523,301, "Type-Casting Machine." Filed 1893-05-29 as application serial number 475,937. Issued 1894-07-17 to George H. Ziegler. Assigned to American Type Founders Co.
Mold improvements in the space and quad casting machine of Ziegler's US patent 523,255.
Although it had only come together the year before and had still not sorted itself out into its ultimate set of manufacturing foundries, the American Type Founders Company had an exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. They were in space 39 of section 33 in Machinery Hall. There they exhibited not only traditional typecasting machines but also three recent machines intended to demonstrate the prowess of the foundry:
The Philadelphia machine must be the Ziegler-patent machine and the Cincinnati must be the Barth. See {ATF World's Fair 1893}.
ATF won five awards at the Exposition, three of which were for the machines noted above. See {ATF Award 1896}.
In 1896, the Philadelphia Branch of the American Type Founders Company, under the romantic illusion that it was still MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan, published a commemmorative volume, One Hundred Years, marking the centennial of the founding of its earliest predecessor. (See the bibliographic notes for {MSJ 1896} for information on online versions.) It contains many historically and technically important illustrations of typefounding, including a view of the Philadelphia Branch / MSJ "automatic" type casting room.
In the foreground and to the left, this view shows Barth type casters installed at some point between 1888 and 1896. But to the right and left it shows nine machines which are not Barths. At least eight (and probably all nine) of these are, I will argue, Ziegler space and quad casting machines.
Here's the overall view of the room:
(From {MSJ 1896}, p. 62. Scanned by DMM from the original. The image above links to a 2048 pixel wide version suitable for general viewing. Here is a JPEG version of the original 1200 dpi scan (66 Megabytes): 1200 dpi version)
Here's a cropped version showing just these machines:
(From 1200 dpi version)
It is difficult to make out detail in this image, but it is clear that these machines are not pivotal casters (they don't look like pivotals, and they're in the "Automatic" room). They are not Barths because:
The machine in the far back (on the far left in the cropped view) is missing the handwheel, but in frame and layout otherwise appears to be a Ziegler. It is not hooked up to power, so for the present I'll assume that it is a Ziegler machine undergoing service.
Equally [to the Barth] complete and finished in its results is the automatic space and quadrat machine, invented in this establishment, and acknowledged to be the best device for the purpose in existence. It has an average output of seventy-five pounds, as against forty pounds on the hand space and quadrat machine. The spaces and quadrats coming from this machine are made and finished with a mathematical nicety equal to the type, and have long since acquird an established reputation wherever used. (p. 65)
The last sentence of the quotation above implied either that these machines had been sold to non-ATF foundries or, more likely, that they were in use in other ATF manufacturing foundries. We know nothing more of this, though.
MSJ also say this about their construction:
The automatic perfecting machines [i.e., the Barhts] and the space and quad machines in their every part, as well as other machines used, are built in the large Machine-Constructing Department connected with the establishment. This branch of the business, which is located on the fourth floor, is equipped with the latest improved machinery necessary to meet the demands made upon it. It gives employment to a large force of skilled mechanics, who are kept busy adding to the already large number of machines and tools in use, and repairing such othrs as get out of order from continual wear. (p. 65)
In 1902, Donald Wylie wrote an an article, "A Study of Modern Typefounding," which appeared in The American Printer {Wylie 1902}. This article was reprinted as a part of the ATF business promotional booklet American Type Founders Company: Its Business and Resources Illustrated {ATF Illustrated 1902}.
This article shows the Ziegler machine(s) twice, once clearly and once obscurely.
The clear appearance is on p. 358 of the article as it appeared in The American Printer (or p. 20 as it was reprinted in the ATF booklet). (In terms of digital versions, the current scan of the ATF booklet which is online, done by Rich Hopkins, has better quality images than the current scan of the American Printer article, done by Google.) This image is as important for its caption as its illustration. The caption links the ATF "space and quad" machines conclusively with the MSJ Ziegler machines, and suggests quite strongly that the Ziegler machines were used to cast type generally (not just spaces and quads) at MSJ.
The Ziegler casters also are in the background in a photograph of the Philadelphia Branch of American Type Founders (that is, the old MSJ plant) in this article. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to make out any detail in this photograph. All I can really tell from it is that there are still casters in that part of the room, and that they aren't Barths. Should you wish to examine this photograph in more detail, the reproduction in, and reprint from, the 1902 ATF book is the better of the two. It's online in the Barth Type Caster Notebooks. Here's a copy, linked from that presentation:
A relatively clear, though regrettably incomplete, view of a Ziegler caster appears in the 1912 edition of the ATF Specimen Book of Type Styles.
(From {ATF Specimen Book 1912}, p. 10. Scanned by DMM from the original. The image above links to a 2048 pixel wide version suitable for general viewing. Here is a JPEG version of the original 1200 dpi scan (31 Megabytes): atf-1912-american-specimen-book-1200rgb-0000-10-crop-7184x11040.jpg)
The Ziegler space and quad caster is at the lower right hand corner of the bottom photograph. Here's a cropped version showing just it:
The clearest view of the Ziegler casters that has ever been published in Photographic Views of Central Plant: American Type Founders Company, Jersey City, New Jersey {ATF Views ca. 1912} Two Ziegler casters appear, shown from their front side, in the foreground of the "West Bay Automatic Casting Department" view.
(The extracts from {ATF Views ca. 1912} appear here through the kind permission of Dave Peat, who sold this booklet for many years.)
Here's a cropped view showing just the Ziegler machines:
To get down to the halftone dot level, here's a 2400 dpi version of the cropped image above: as a JPG image and as a PDF (possibly easier to scale).
Finally, here's a cropped view showing just the rightmost machine. This may be the best image we'll ever have of a Ziegler patent caster.
Here's the image above as a PDF (which may scale better).
In trying to identify Ziegler casters in old photographs, I've found the following external visual features to be of use:
The profile of the front and back members of the frame.
The large handwheel mounted on the front of the machine, and the floor-level drive on the right of the machine.
This handwheel is shown only from above in the patent drawings:
The distinctive "offset" Pump Lever (called the "Operating Lever" in patent 523,255, and shown below left) and the apparatus on the right of the machine for controlling the Reciprocating Bar (below right). (Note: Both are shown below from the back of the machine.)
Here they are from the front of the machine:
Here are the Pump Lever and Reciprocating Bar (control) as shown in Ziegler's patent 523,255.
So the Ziegler machines continued in service at the ATF Central Plant until at least 1912 (ond of course probably longer). But at some point (which could have been before 1912) ATF began using Barths to cast spacing material. We know this because of an undated document entitled "Automtaic Casting Mould Data" which was prepared during the restructuring of ATF in the 1930s and the transition from the Centra Plant in Jersey City to the Elizabeth plant. This document as it survives is missing pages, but it is perhaps the most important document now known for reconstructing the history of the Barth type caster. See {ATF Automatics 1930s}.
The problem here is that Ziegler-patent space and quad machines and Barth type casters are both ``automatics.'' This inevitably leads to confusion. However, in this 1930s list, eleven machines which have identifying numbers characteristic of Barths are called out with molds for spacing material:
For a complete explanation of how to read the identifying numbers of a Barth caster, see "A Census of Barth Type Casters. Very briefly, all Barths were made in particular sizes (1, 1 1/2, and 3 are represented here). Serial numbers were consecutive within sies, not across them. The machine numbers were added later (and the serial numbers physically defaced on the machines at some point). The ``type number'' on most Barths was a 3 to 5 digit number which encoded the size and mold characteristics of the machine (e.g., 6003, 807, 12002); here most of the type numbers are just body sizes. What suggests that these machines are Barths rather than Zieglers is the size-serial number pair given for each. Thee are all Barth size numbers.
The document also gives the location at the time of the machine (Jersey City vs. Elizabeth). All of these machines were still in Jersey City.
There are some unexplained aspects to this information. For example, machine 467 is identified as a No. 3 size machine, but it is equipped for casting 24 point spaces and quads. This is a smaller body size than that for which the No. 3 machines were intended.
Of these machines, three are listed as scrapped in a 1956 ATF document This document, however, is not reliable. Two of the machines listed in it still survive, via Theo Rehak and the Dale Guild, in the collection of Project Letter-kunde in Antwerp. (These machines have altered brass tag numbers; clearly ATF employees were trying to hide machines from management scrap drives). See {ATF Scrapping 1956}. In any case, the three machines from the 1930s space and quad set which are listed as having been scrapped by 1956 are:
| Machine No. | Size No. | Brass Tag No. | Date Scrapped |
| 462 | 1 1/4 | 02026 | 12-1-52 |
| 466 | 1 | 02027 | 12-1-52 |
| 467 | 3 | 02030 | 3-28-54 |
Of course, the presence of at least eleven Barths set up to cast spacing in the 1930s says nothing conclusive about whether the Ziegler machines remained in service at this time. Since there is at present no evidence of any Ziegler machine after 1912, it would be easy to conclude that perhaps they did not make the cut and were scrapped at Jersey City without ever reaching Elizabeth. However, we do not know this.
Of the eleven machines casting spacing in the 1930s, only one survived until the 1993 auction (where it sold for scrap for \$10). In the 1993 auction results it was listed as an ordinary automatic type casting machine, not a space and quad machine:
| Machine No. | Auction Lot No. | Body (Point) Size |
| 120 | 186 | 36PT TYPE |
All of the others were scrapped by ATF at some point prior to this and are not known to survive: 350, 417, 422, 451, 461, 462, 463, 466, 467, 482.
All of the casting machines in the list of lots at the 1993 auction which were not pivotal type casters were described as "ATF AUTOMATIC TYPE CASTING MACH" followed by a qualifier and a machine number. The qualifier typically indicated the body size and something about the product cast (e.g., simply "TYPE" vs. "T-BODY" for Multigraph type, "MONARCH" for Monarch ticket printing machine type, etc.) Several of the machines have the qualifier "SPACE-QD".
| Machine No. | Auction Lot No. | Body (Point) Size |
| 106 | 123 | 24 pt |
| 110 | 186 | 36 pt |
| 203 | 126 | 24 pt |
| 223 | 129 | 18 pt |
| 224 | 127 | 6 pt |
| 332 | 159 | 6 pt |
| 376 | 132 | 12 pt |
| 453 | 133 | 10 pt |
All eight were purchased by buyer no. 54, a scrap dealer.
The results of the 1993 auction of the ATF plant are online at: ../ The Barth Type Caster -> History -> A Census of Barth Type Casters -> Documents.
Of course, not a single machine number from 1993 matches those in the 1930s list. That would make things too easy.
However, seven of these eight machines are listed on the surviving pages of "Automatic Casting Mould Data," {ATF Automatics 1930s} with mold information for type (not spacing) molds. (Yes, you can cast spaces in a regular type mold, but this document distinguishes between molds for type and molds for spacing material.)
The one machine not listed on the surviving pages of the 1930s document is No. 203. It must have been listed on one of the lost pages.
We know from a separate source that one of these machines, No. 110, auction lot No. 186, was a Barth caster. The fine press printer Steve Heaver shot video of the auction and in 2016 privately published for sale an edited version of this. At times 2:36 to 2:55 auction Lot 186 is shown. It is a Barth, not a Ziegler. See {Heaver 2016}.
There aren't many photographs (and isn't much video) of ATF between 1912 and the 1993 auction. In what little there is, I have been unable to identify any MSJ/Ziegler style machine.
Only one 1993 space and quad machine (No. 203) is not accounted for.
This strongly suggests that all of the MSJ/Ziegler machines were scrapped at some point before 1993 (probably long before 1993) and that ATF was using (only) Barths for casting spacing material by the end of its operations. However, there is no actual evidence concerning the fate of the MSJ/Ziegler space and quad machines.
I would of course be interested in any more inforamtion about these space and quad machines, whether Ziegler or Barth.
{ATF Worlds Fair 1893} "Printing Exhibits at the World's Fair." Inland Printer. Vol. 11, No. 2 (May 1893): 146-148."
This volume of The Inland Printer has been digitized by Google from a Univ. of California copy (Google ID zEE\_AQAAMAAJ). Here is an extract of the article on the exhibits: inland-printer-v011-1893-google-zEE_AQAAMAAJ-uc-EXTRACT-words-columbian-exposition-inclding-atf-and-monotype.pdf
{ATF Award 1896} "World's Columbian Exposition Diplomas of Awards. The Typographical Journal. Vol. 9, No. 1 (July 1, 1896): 9.
This volume of The Typographical Journal has been digitized by Google from a Univ. of California copy (Google ID T6EuAQAAIAAJ). Here is an extract of the article on the awards: typographical-journal-v09-n1-1896-07-01-google-T6EuAQAAIAAJ-uc-EXTRACT-ATF-award.pdf
{ATF Illustrated 1902} American Type Founders Company. American Type Founders Company: Its Business and Resources Illustrated. [no location, but the ATF General Offices were in New York City at this point]: American Type Founders Company, 1902.
This has been scanned by Richard L. Hopkins from the Skyline Type Foundry copy and is online in the CircuitousRoot Notebook on American Type Founders
{ATF Specimen Book 1912} American Type Founders Company. Specimen Book of Type Styles. Jersey City, NJ: American Type Founders Company, 1912.
This specimen has been reprinted twice online (from the University of California copy and the Brigham Young University copy) and is available online via The Internet Archive. See the CircuitousRoot Notebook on American Type Founders.
{ATF Views ca. 1912} Rehak, Theo, Dave Peat, Rich Hopkins, eds. Photographic Views of Central Plant: American Type Founders Company, Jersey City, New Jersey . American Typecasting Fellowship, 2002.
This is a facsimile of a booklet published by ATF, the original of which Theo Rehak "discovered ... carelessly discarded". This edition was prepared with additional material by Rich Hopkins and Theo Rehak and published in 2002 as a joint keepsake for the 2002 American Typecasitng Fellowship conference (Provo, UT) and the September 2002 meeting of The Typophiles.
{ATF Automatics 1930s} "Automatic Casting Mould Data." Elizabeth, NJ: American Type Founders Company, [n.d., mid-1930s on internal evidence].
This document is preserved in the ex-Dale Guild collection within Project Letter-kunde in Antwerp, Belgium. My thanks to Patrick Goossens for permission to examine it.
{ATF Scrapping 1956}} "Automatic Casting Machines Scrapped." Elizabeth, NJ: American Type Founders Company, 1956-03-14.
This document is preserved in the ex-Dale Guild collection within Project Letter-kunde in Antwerp, Belgium. My thanks to Patrick Goossens for permission to examine it.
{Heaver 2016} Heaver, Stephen G. Auction & Dispersal of American Type Founders Co., Inc., August 24, 1993. Analog video recording transferred to DVD. [Baltimore, MD?]: Stephen G. Geaver, 2016.
{MSJ 1896} MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan. One Hundred Years. Philadelphia, PA: MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan, 1896.
The sections on typefounding have been reprinted by CircuitousRoot. A complete, but low-resolution, scan has been done by Google and is available via The Hathi Trust (Hathi ID: pst.000015538079). A local copy assembled from the Hathi images is online in the CircuitousRoot Notebook on ATF.
{Wylie 1902} Wylie, Donald. "A Study of Modern Typefounding." The American Printer. Vol. 32, No. 5 (January, 1902): 353-364.
Scanned by Google from the University of Michigan copy and available via The Hathi Trust (Hathi ID: mdp.39015086752956). A local copy is online in the CircuitousRoot Notebook of General Literature on Making Printing Matrices and Types.
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