This is a collection of digital reprints of original source material for the Thompson Typecaster, together with (mostly) annotated bibliographic citations of other material.
All of the original items reprinted here are in the public domain. These digital reprints of them are also in the public domain. You do not have to ask permission to copy them. Indeed, please copy and redistribute them widely so as to help ensure the preservation of this material.
(Many (most) of the documents reprinted here are actually stored at The Internet Archive (www.archive.org). Clicking on a link to a document stored there will take you to the Internet Archive page for the document.)
Instructions (1916)
[NOT REPRINTED HERE] Instructions to Operators of the Thompson Typecaster. (Chicago: Thompson Type Machine Company, 1916). This has been reprinted by Dave Churchman. (As reprinted: Saddle-stitched (stapled) softcover, 100x152mm, 46pp.) The remaining stock of this reprint is now available from Sky Shipley at Skyline Type Foundry: www.skylinetype.com
Instructions for Operating ... (1925)
Instructions for Operating the Thompson Type Caster. (Chicago: Thompson Type Machine Company, 1925)
Thanks are due to Sky Shipley of Skyline Type Foundry for making this material available.
The icon at left links to a presentation of this manual at The Internet Archive, where it may be read online conveniently. Here is a local copy of the PDF (358 Megabytes): thompson-typecaster-1925-skyline-25pct-of-1200dpi.pdf
[ Instructions...?] [Transcription]
[Title missing, but same content as:] Instructions for Operating the Thompson Type Caster. (Chicago: Thompson Type Machine Company, [no date]) This is a curious item. It is a typescript transcription (reproduced using, I think, spirit duplicator ("Ditto" machine) technology) of a Thompson manual. The content is generally that of the 1925 published version (and the part numbers are Thompson vs. Monotype part numbers). A few of the sections have been moved (e.g., p. 37 "Quad Trimming Knife" / "Type Trimming Knives," p. 58, "Improved Equipment for Casting Spaces and Quads" and p. 60, "Quotation Quads.") It is incomplete, without page 1 or any front matter. As it exists now, it is accompanied by actual printed plates identical to those in the 1925 version (but Plate 28 is missing; these plates are included in this digitization) and also by a blueprint of the Stop Motion (see below). I know nothing of the history of this document.
Thanks are due to Patrick Goossens for making this material available.
The icon at left links to a presentation of this manual at The Internet Archive, where it may be read online conveniently. Here is a local copy of the PDF (505 Megabytes): thompson-typecaster-manual-transcription-50pct-of-600dpi-as-jpegs.pdf
Monotype-Thompson Adjustments (1950)
Monotype-Thompson Adjustments. (Philadelphia, PA: Lanston Monotype Machine Company, 1950).
This is a 600dpi mostly-greyscale scan. I have also scanned the plates at 1200dpi in color. These plate scans come to over 3 Gigabytes. I'd be happy to make them available to serious Thompson enthusiasts.
The icon at left links to a presentation of this manual at The Internet Archive, where it may be read online conveniently. Here is a local copy of the PDF (2.0 Gigabytes): lanston-monotype-thompson-adjustments-1950.pdf
Monotype-Thompson Adjustments (1956)
Monotype-Thompson Adjustments. (Philadelphia, PA: Lanston Monotype Machine Company, 1956).
600dpi scans as lossless PNGs. Text scanned in greyscale, covers scanned in color but converted to greyscale to keep this under 2 Gigabytes. I have also scanned the plates at 1200dpi in color. These plate scans come to over 3 Gigabytes. I'd be happy to make them available to serious Thompson enthusiasts.
Note: the physical arrangement of the Plates and their accompanying callouts in this manual is awkward and hard to use. Here is a PDF of just the plates and their explanations with everything rotated for easy reading (232 Megabytes): thompson-1956-parts-plates.pdf
Walczak. "Water, Water, ..." (1988)
Walczak, James E. "Water, Water, Everywhere - But Not In the Mold!!!" ("A short treatise on unclogging waterway passages in a Thompson typecaster mold.") A paper presented at the American Typecasting Fellowship Sixth Biennial Conference , Terra Alta, West Virginia 14 - 20 July 1988.
This is the standard reference on the water passages in the Thompson mold and how to clean them. Until you memorize the mold's construction, you need to have this paper - and especially its diagram of the waterways - at hand each time you try to unclog a Thompson mold. Note that although he refers specifically to English Monotype-Thompson molds, American Monotype-Thompson molds are the same. (The only thing it does not cover is which brass tubes go where and how to hook up the hoses to them - take a photograph of these before you tear down your mold.)
Reprinted here by the kind permission of Jim Walczak, given in converation at the 2014 ATF Conference in Salem, NH. My thanks to Schulyer R. Shipley of Skyline Type Foundry for permitting me to scan his working copy.
Here, because it is so useful, is an extract of the page with the primary drawing of the mold waterways - click on the image below for a PDF version, print it out, and pin it above your Thompson workbench.
Stop Motion Blueprint (1925)
Thompson Type Machine Company blueprint. This drawing is not dimensioned, so I presume that this is an operational/service print rather than a manufacturing print. Name of Part: "Stop Motion" Date: 1925-01-12.
Thanks are due to Patrick Goossens for making this material available.
The icon at left links to a presentation of this drawing at The Internet Archive. Here's a local version (67 Megabytes, PNG and PDF): thompson-stop-motion-blueprint-1925-reassembled-0600rgb.png thompson-stop-motion-blueprint-1925-reassembled-0600rgb.pdf
Electric Pot Wiring (1958)
"Wiring Diagram, Thompson Caster, Electric Pot." (Philadelphia, PA: Lanston Monotype Company, 1958). Drawing 32,385. Drawn, checked, and approved 1958-04-15. Engineering Change Notice No. 1045 on 1958-04-25.
This arrangement uses 250V Cutler Hammer heating elements, a Partlow M2J102 thermostat, and a Cutler Hammer H395 magnetic contactor.
The icon above left links to a PDF-format (with JPEG image inside) version of the image scaled to 2048 pixels in width. Here it is as a JPEG: thompson-wiring-diagram-electric-pot-drawing-32385-1958-04-15-ecn-1045-1958-04-24-dk-1200rgb-recto-composite-21091x13639-scale-2048x.jpg Thanks are due to David Krenz for preserving this drawing and making it available.
If you need a higher-resolution version, here's one at what is effectively 600dpi, as a JPEG (23 Megabytes): thompson-wiring-diagram-electric-pot-drawing-32385-1958-04-15-ecn-1045-1958-04-24-dk-1200rgb-recto-composite-21091x13639-scale-0600rgb-10545x6819.jpg
Until I was able to scan the copy of this drawing shown above, the version than I had online was a photograph taken of a different copy. It is the same drawing (exactly - both from the same original). For reference, here is this photograph: thompson-electric-pot-wiring-diagram-drawing-32385-1958-stf-crop-2487x1485.pdf This is a 7.7 Megabyte PDF of a digital photograph of an old duplicate of the original whiteprint. Thanks are due to Schuyler Shipley of Skyline Type Foundry for preserving this drawing and making it available.
[Parts] Price List (1940)
An extract (containing only the Thompson pages) from Price List [of] Monotype Equipments[,] including Monotype-Thompson . (Philadelphia, PA: Lanston Monotype Machine Company, 1940-05-21). Parts lists such as these are especially useful in maintaining the machines because they identify not only the parts but also the assemblies/configurations supplied.
Thanks are due to Sky Shipley of Skyline Type Foundry for making this material available.
The icon above left links to a presentation of this work at The Internet Archive. Here's a local copy of the PDF (30 Megabytes): monotype-equipments-thompson-price-list-1940.pdf
Parts Price List (1942)
Parts Price List: Monotype-Thompson Type-Caster . (Philadelphia: Lanston Monotype Machine Co., 1941-03-01 (revised 1942-04-02)) As with the 1940 Parts List reprinted above, this list is useful both in identifying parts and in understanding assemblies and configurations supplied.
For convenience, here is a local copy of the PDF (103 Megabytes): monotype-thompson-typecaster-parts-list-1942-25pct-of-1200dpi.pdf
Thanks are due to Sky Shipley of Skyline Type Foundry for making this material available.
How to Read a Lanston Thompson Parts List
This isn't a primary source, but rather a two-page chart that I put together explaining the symboling system used for the Lanston Monotype Machine Company's Monotype-Thompson Type-Caster (as of at least the 1942 revision of the Parts Price List).
The icon at left links to the presentation of this chart in ../ Maintenance -> Illustrated Parts List.
You may also be interested in the Notebook on the Bancroft / Monotype Part Symboling System.
Set Width Conversion Table
Table for Conversion of Set Width Markings on Matrices to Points and Decimals of an Inch. Document "TC 8036". The original of this document has been damaged by fire, water, grime, and neglect; some of the figures in it are no longer legible. It is presented here in two versions. The one in color is a PDF created from a JPEG conversion of the original scan. It is 11 Megabytes in size. The black and white version is the same chart after a fair bit of image processing. It is 1 1/2 Megabytes in size.
This table seems to have been published in two forms. The one here bears the code "TC 8036", where the "TC" would seem clearly to indicate the Thompson Caster. This makes sense because the need to convert matrix markings to points and decimal inches occurs only with the Thompson, which is calibrated in points and inches rather than Type & Rule Caster wedge positions. However, the same table data appear in ../../../ Noncomposing Typecasters -> Casting Machines -> The Type & Rule Caster -> Literature -> "Monotype Display Type Wedge Positions for Casting Type Bodies 2 1/4 to 36 Points in Width" (8036-7-52-500) , along with several notes relevant to the Type & Rule Caster. The columns entitled "Matrix Markings" in the "TC 8036" version are entitled "Wedge b21D1D Position" and "Wedge a11D1 Position" in the non-TC version (but contain the same data). The scan of the non-Thompson version, 8036-7-52-500, is more legible than this scan of TC 8036.
Here are both TC 8036 (left) and 8036-3-55 (right), side by side:
Display Type Wedge Position, 2 1/4 - 48 pt
This seems to be a development of chart TC 8036 (but it bears no identifying code) which goes up to 48 points. It would seemt to be a Type & Rule Caster chart (it calls out wedge positions rather than matrix markings), but would be (more?) useful with the Thompson, which goes to 48 points. The link here is "up and over" to ../../../ Noncomposing Typecasters -> Casting Machines -> The Type & Rule Caster -> Literature -> "Positions of Display Type Wedges for Casting Type Bodies from 2 1/4 to 48 Points in Width" ,
Matrices Now Available to Users ...
Matrices Now Available To Users of the Thompson Type, Lead & Rule Caster. (Chicago: Thompson Type Machine Company, n.d.) This is a 16 page one-line specimen book. This is a digital version scanned from a multigenerational photocopy, so the image quality is imperfect. 72 Megabytes.
Thanks are due to Sky Shipley of Skyline Type Foundry for making this material available.
Matrix Catalogue (1911)
Matrix Catalogue: A Complete Showing of Typefaces which can be Made from Faces Now in Our Libraries... . (Chicago: Thompson Type Machine Company, n.d. [1911?]) 116 leaves. A copy is in the Newberry Library, Chicago. (Wing Z 40583 .871)
Bulletin of Additional Fonts (NY/Chicago)
Bulletin of Additional Fonts of Matrices Now in Our Libraries. (New York & Chicago: Thompson Type Machine Company, n.d. [circa 1911?]). This contains one-line showings of Thompson series: 10, 11, 15, 16, 20, 21, 24, 25, 32, 33, 34, 62, 66, 108, 512, 1015, 1028, 1053, 1106, 1151. It does not give them names; neither does it give correspondences with named types from other makers.
A copy of this is inserted in the 1911 Thompson Matrix Catalogue at the Newberry Library (see above).
Bulletin of Additional Fonts (Chicgao, 1911?)
Bulletin of Additional Fonts of Matrices Now Available to Users of the Thompson Type, Lead and Rule Caster . (Chicago: Thompson Type Machine Company, n.d. [circa 1911?]). This Bulletin contains a table of Universal [Type Caster; ex-Nuernberger-Rettig] type series, with Thompson series correspondences for some of them and citations of "Foundry Specimen Book[s] Where [the] Face is Shown." The nature of this Bulletin strongly suggests that it results from the acquisition of Universal by Thompson.
A copy of this is inserted in the 1911 Thompson Matrix Catalogue at the Newberry Library (see above). It is possible that a copy may also be present in their 1912 copy of the Thompson Matrix Catalogue (see below).
Matrix Catalogue (1912)
Matrix Catalogue: A Complete SHowing of Typefaces which can be Made from Faces Now in Our Libraries... . (Chicago: Thompson Type Machine Company, n.d. [1912?]) A copy is in the Newberry Library, Chicago. (Wing Z 40583 .873) This copy also contains a "Bulletin of Additional Fonts," but I do not yet know which Bulletin this is.
Hopkins. Casting a Font of Type
Casting a Font of Type. Hopkins, Richard L. Casting a Font of Type. Terra Alta, WV: Hill and Dale Private Press and Typefoundry. Film, 84 min. total on the Schlesinger DVD.
The first half of this film concerns casting a font of type on the Thompson Type-Caster (though it has good information on general matrix identification as well). The second half concerns casting a font of type (vs. composed matter) on the Lanston Monotype Composition Caster. Then there is a third part to the Schlesinger DVD, not a part of the original film, which is an autobiographical sketch by Hopkins with many shots of his commercial business, The Pioneer Press (using at this time 1980s-vintage computer-driven phototypesetting and offset printing). The main film also shows, briefly, the Monotype composition caster, Monotype display caster ("Orphan Annie"), Supercaster, and Monomatic II.
Casting 24 point type on the Thompson (an electric machine, with yet a 3rd (to me) type of shop-made modification to the starting mechanism). It has an excellent presentation of many different kinds of matrices. Examining and arranging mats in preparation for casting. Use of ATF font scheme. Examining test casts (incl. use of two cap 'H' characters head-to-head to check set by symmetry). Use of 72 point gauge for checking set width. Use of steel line standard. Use of alignment gauge. Changing set width (note that his Thompson lacks the guard over this mechanism). Changing mats (I find that I need to do a test cast for each new sort; Rich does not). Fonting into a composing stick (in arbitrary order so that it fits). Tying and packing a font.
Available from Carl Schlesinger; see ../../../../typemaking/bibliography/index#hopkins-casting-a-font-of-type.
McCue. Inland Printer (1909)
McCue, Alfred. "Talks on Typecasting." The Inland Printer. Part 2 in Vol. 44, No. 3 (Dec. 1909): 381-382. This contains a side-by-side comparison of the Compositype, Nuernberger-Rettig, and Thompson. The icon at left is a link to its presentation in the General Literature on Making Printing Matrices and Types Notebook.
From Legros and Grant (1916)
Legros and Grant's 1916 Typographical Printing Surfaces remains the most comprehensive technical survey of all aspects of type-making. It has been digitized and released for full view by Google, but I have independently scanned an original copy. The images here are from my scans. The first link (the image on the left, of the title page) links to a PDF assembling all of the references to this caster in Legros and Grant except patent number citations and the index. This source is useful primarily because it illustrates the "native" Thompson matrix. The second link is to a higher-resolution version of the plate illustrating the machine.
Hackleman, Commercial Engraving. (1924)
This is a brief entry, with some well-done halftones (to be expected from this author) in Hackleman, Charles W. Commercial Engraving and Printing. Second Edition. (Indianapolis, IN: Commercial Engraving Publishing Company, 1924.) The image of the titlepage on the left here links to a PDF of an extract of the Thompson bits, while the three illustrations from that extract are reproduced as 1200 dpi greyscale lossless PNG image below (this is the full resolution that I scanned at).
Rogers. Newspaper Building. 1918
An extract of two pages concerning the Thompson from Jason Rogers' Newspaper Building: Applications of Efficiency to Editing, to Mechanical Production, to Circulation and Advertising . (NY: Harper and Brothers, 1918). This is a quick business-case summary of the Thompson. It is interesting primarily insofar as it gives prices for the machine and the locations of the Thompson company's matrix libraries (NY, Chicago, London).
This is available via Google Books; the PDF here is an extract of two pages from the Google Books PDF.
Mike Anderson. "From Thought to Type."
In 2007, Mike Anderson wrote a good three-part article for Galley Gab entitled "From Thought to Type." In it, he wrote about designing type (part 1), engraving matrices on a Deckel pantograph engraver (part 2) and casting type on the Thompson (part 3). The link here goes "up and over" to my Notebook in the "Machine Engraving" section where I've put links to the online version of these articles.
American Printer (January 1908).
Cited by Huss in The Development of Printer's Mechanical Typesetting Methods.
US Patent 1,119,733 ([1906/]1914)
US patent 1,119,733 (1914-12-01), John S. Thompson, assigned to Thompson Type Machine Company. "Type Casting Machine." Although issued in 1914, this patent was filed in 1906. It appears to describe a precursor to the later Thompson Typecaster.
This is a PDF created from lossless PNG conversions of TIFFs downloaded directly from the US Patent and Trademark Office website.
US Patent 908,519 (1909)
US patent 908,519 (1909-01-05), John S. Thompson. "Type Casting Machine." I think that this is also a precursor to the Thompson as manufactured.
US Patent 1,026,185 (1912)
US patent 1,026,185 (1912-05-14), John S. Thompson. "Type Casting Machine." The Thompson as manufactured begins to emerge in this patent.
GB Patent 6523 of 1908
British patent No. 6,523 of 1908. Application 1908-03-24, acceptance 1909-01-21. Edward Charles Robert Marks for The Thompson Type Machine Company (Chicago).
AT Patent 50,876 (1911)
Austrian patent 908,519 (1911-11-25), Thompson Type Machine Company.
US Patent 1,029,243 (1912)
US patent 1,029,243 (1912-06-11), John S. Thompson. "Metal-Pot for Type-Casting Machines and the Like" (and choker valve).
US Patent 1,133,198 (1915)
US patent 1,133,198 (1915-03-23), John S. Thompson. "Type-Casting Machine" [Matrix Carrier] The invention here (filed 1912, issued 1915) is "adapted to form a part of, and coöperate with" the typecaster of patent 1,026,185 (filed 1907, issued 1912).
US Patent 1,345,286 (1920)
US patent 1,345286 (1920-06-29), John S. Thompson, not assigned. "Type-Casting Machine." Note: although not issued until 1920, this patent was filed 1916-02-07, and thus predates Thompson's No. 1,291,259 (1919, filed 1917) and Thompson & Bast's 1,294,572 (1919, filed 1916-10-26) This is a fusion-type stripcasting attachment for the Thompson "or similar machines".
US Patent 1,291,259 (1919)
US patent 1,291,259 (1919-01-14), John S. Thompson, assigned Thompson Type Machine Company. "Metal Casting Machine." This is an ejector blade for a fusion-type casting machine.
US Patent 1,294,572 (1919)
US patent 1,294,572 (1919-02-18), John S. Thompson and Joseph Bast, assigned Thompson Type Machine Company. "Machine for Casting." This is a patent for improvements in the fusion apparatus and in the cutoff apparatus for a fusion stripcasting machine.
US Patent 2,048,021 (1936)
US patent 2,048,021 (1936-07-21) Lester A. Neumann, assigned to M & L Typesetting & Electrotyping Company (Chicago). "Apparatus for Casting Quads or Spacers" (on what is obviously a Thompson). These "quads or spacers" were of a form designed to be used with the base patented by Neumann in US patent 2,088,306 (1937-07-27) [click here to read on The Internet Archive].
Thompson was also issued US patent 917,975 (1909-04-13) for a matrix-wheel style Type Casting Machine which appears to be unrelated to the Thompson as we know it.
The US patents here were downloaded as TIFF images from the USPTO and assembled by me (well, by a hacked version of the pat2pdf script) into PDF files. I haven't done any cleanup of these images (no rotation, no cropping, etc.); they are exactly as available at the USPTO. They are full resolution; I don't have higher-resolution scans of these. (I belive that the USPTO scanned their patent archive at 300 dpi and then destroyed the original documents.)
The AT and GB patents here were downloaded as PDF files from the GB portal to the European Patent Office's esp@cenet user interface I don't have any higher-resolution versions of these.
Anderson, Mike. The Thompson Caster. (2001).
This is a two-part online article published originally on the website of the late John Hern (then www.happygreyhound.com). That website is no longer online. An archive of Anderson's Thompson article is available by searching on its former URLs (www.happygreyhound.com/art1.html and www.happygreyhound.com/art1.html ) at http://www.archive.org/ (The Internet Archive) One photo seems to be missing from the archive, though.
However, a copy of Hern's website, including this article, is still online at http://www.civilwarsignal.org/happygreyhound/index.html
The Newsletter of the American Typecasting Fellowship (ATF) is probably the best modern source for detailed and hands-on technical information about the Thompson (and indeed, along with Theo Rehak's Practical Typecasting, about typecasting generally).
[ATF 2] Hopkins, Rich? "Who Was John Thompson?" ATF Newsletter. No. 2 (Jan, 1979): 3. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 1979.
[ATF 2] Rice, Roy. "Insulating Your Thompson." ATF Newsletter. No. 2 (Jan, 1979): 5. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 1979.
I don't have ATF Newsletter No. 2.
[ATF 3] Hopkins, Rich. et. al. [several articles and contributions on the Thompson; see note below] ATF Newsletter. No. 3 (July, 1979) Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 1979.
Articles: Hopkins. "Rare Thompson Specimen Studied" (pp. 1-2). Hopkins. "Thompson Fonts by Number." (pp. 2-3). Hopkins. "Symbol Translations: Old Thompson Type-Cater Numbers Translated to Monotype-Thompson Symbols." (p. 5). "Useful Information on Thompson Casters" by Harold Berliner ("Who Was John Thompson?"), Phil Cade ("About the Thompson Gas Pot"), D. E. Belfort ("Still Committed to Hot Metal"), and Hopkins ("Let's Share Thompson Molds").
[ATF 4] Hopkins, Rich. [articles on the Thompson; see note below] ATF Newsletter. No. 4 (March, 1980) Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 1980.
Articles: "Followup to the Thompson Article" (p. 1), "[Reproductions of] Detail Plates on Rule-Casting Attachment for the Thompson" (p. 2), and "Little-Known Details Regarding the Thompson Caster" (p. 3). These cite the 1925 Thompson manual as saying that it cast rule in the manner of an Elrod. This is curious - Benjamin Elrod's patent wouldn't have expired until 1929. But note Thompson's US patent 1,291,259, 1919-01-14, for a fusion (not continuous) stripcaster.
[ATF 11] Hopkins, Rich. "A Thompson Operating Lever for Your Safety." ATF Newsletter. No. 11 (April, 1986): 4. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 1986.
I don't have ATF Newsletter No. 11.
[ATF 17] Hopkins, Rich, and H. L. Walker. "Advice on Operating a Thompson." ATF Newsletter. No. 17 (July, 1993): 24. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 1993.
This reprints the technical portions of a letter by H. L. Walker, assistant mechanical engineer for Lanston Monotype, to G. A. Snow of the Kelsey Company on May 16, 1950.
[ATF 19] Patel, Arvind. [letter] ATF Newsletter. No. 19 (Jan., 1996): 13. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 1996.
Discusses a bespoke adaptation of the Thompson matrix holder for casting quotation quads.
[ATF 20] [Report of a lettery by Roy Rice] ATF Newsletter. No. 20 (Sept., 1996): 4. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 1996.
A response to the information in Patel's letter (ATF 19, see above).
[ATF 21] Hern, John "My Thompson Pot Wouldn't Get Hot Enough." ATF Newsletter. No. 21 (May, 1997): 9. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 1997.
[ATF 22] Reis, Bill. "[addendum to] My Thompson Pot Wouldn't Get Hot Enough." ATF Newsletter. No. 22 (March, 1998): 7. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 1998.
I don't have ATF Newsletter No. 22.
[ATF 24] Driscoll, Phillip. "Fretting About a Thompson Choker Valve Gone Astray." ATF Newsletter. No. 24 (Nov., 1999): 23. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 1999.
[ATF 22] Shipley, Sky. "Installing a Metal Feeder on a Thompson." ATF Newsletter. No. 28 (Dec., 2003): 29. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 2003.
I don't have ATF Newsletter No. 28.
[ATF 30] Shipley, Sky. "[The Choker Valve - ] A Different Set of Problems with the Thompson." ATF Newsletter. No. 30 (April, 2005): 15-16. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 2005.
[ATF 30] Shipley, Sky. "How I Blew Up My Thompson." ATF Newsletter. No. 30 (April, 2005): 30. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 2005.
[ATF 31] Rayher, Ed. "Fitting a Thompson Mat Holder with New Technology." ATF Newsletter. No. 31 (October, 2006): 28. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 2006.
A dial indicator to calibrate the matrix holder.
[ATF 31] Shipley, Sky "Skyline Type Foundry Marks Two Years of Progress." ATF Newsletter. No. 31 (October, 2006): 29. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 2006.
Skyline runs Thompsons.
[ATF 32] Rimmer, Jim. "What Not to Do When Repairing a Thompson." ATF Newsletter. No. 32 (August, 2008): 24. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 2008.
[ATF 32] Hopkins, Rich "Display Matrices for Individual Casting." ATF Newsletter. No. 32 (August, 2008): 15. Terra Alta, WV: American Typecasting Fellowship, 2008.
Illustrates "Electrodeposited matrix made by original Thompson Type Machine Company before absorption into Lanston organization. Made to Linotype (0.043") drive."
Duensing, Paul Hayden. Matlas ["matrix atlas"] Vicksburg, MI: The Private Press and Typefoundry of Paul Hayden Duensing, 1988.
Contains dimensions of the (American) Thompson matrix.
Hopkins, Rich. Casting a Font of Metal Type. Terra Alta, WV: Hill and Dale Private Press and Typefoundry, 1966. VHS, 66 min.
It's a good film (I've seen it at my local university library, on what must be their last remaining VHS player). It is described in some detail in Rob Banham's A Handlist of Films Showing Printing and Typesetting (item J 1.2) .
Hopkins, Rich. "Thompson Typecaster Hints for Operation." 2001.
Unpublished.
Huss. The Development of Printer's Mechanical Typesetting Methods, p. 250
Huss cites American Printer (January 1908).
Lanston Monotype Machine Co. A Complete Type Foundry [1940?]
How tantalizing the "snippet" view of Google Books can be. If I'm interpreting the partial information in such a snippet correctly, there is a report in Graphic Arts Monthly Vol. 12, No. ? (?, 1940): p. 72 for "An interesting new folder illustrating and describing the Monotype-Thompson Type-Casting Machine" by, I presume, Lanston Monotype.
[M&H] "Hot Metal is Still Hot - M & H Type Foundry & Letterpress Tour." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4q5C8Kgn4g (Youtube user "mirabile123")
A video of the Arion Press and M & H Type Foundry. It shows Lewis Mitchell operating (first) the Thompson and (then) the Monotype Composition Caster. The provenance of this video is unspecified, but the narrator clearly has the voice of a newcaster.
Rehak, Theo. Practical Typecasting
This has an interesting analysis of the Thompson.
Williams, Fred. "'Every Printer His Own Typefounder.'" Type & Press. (Fall, 1986): pp. 1-2. Hayward, CA: Press of the Golden Unicorn, 1986.
This is a good basic article (without illustrations) which contains some biographical information on John S. Thompson. It has been reprinted online by the APA (Amalgamated Printers' Association). The URL of this article has spaces in it, which simply aren't going to transmit correctly if I just put them here (I wish people wouldn't do this to filenames!) To find the article, go first to the APA website, http://www.apa-letterpress.com/. Then (until they change the layout), click on the "FOR MORE INFORMATION..." link. Then, on the left click on the link for "Reprints from Type & Press". Once there, go down to near the bottom and click on "The Thompson Typecaster." Or just search on "fred williams thompson typecaster type press" in Google. The title in the APA reprint is: "The Thompson Typecaster: 'Every Printer His Own Typefounder'.) The original printed version contains a line drawing of a Thompson and a photograph of John S. Thompson in later years; neither is present in the APA online version.
There is some discussion of John S. Thompson and the Thompson Type Machine Company in the 1980 Garland Press reprint of Thompson's The Mechanism of the Linotype and History of Composing Machines. (these are Volume 23 of Garland's Nineteenth=Century Book Arts and Printing History).
In a 1994 posting to the ExLibris mailing list at http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/ (now apparently available only via the Google cached copy), Terry Belanger posted a list of video recordings owned by The Book Arts Press of the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia. This listed a 1948 film by ATF under the title American Type Founders: Type Speaks . 26 minutes. Converted from 16mm to VHS by Carl Schlesinger. This film is listed elsewhere, but the description of it in Belanger's posting is because it contains an error related to the Thompson. It is described as "A good overview of 1940s punchcutting and typefounding methods; done at the American Type Founders Company. Narrated by Ben Grauer. Shows how ATF designs and manufactures its type. Some very good drawn schematics of the inside of a Thompson typecaster. Designer Warren Chappell is shown working on his Lydian face." Separately, Rob Banham's A Handlist of Films Showing Printing and Typesetting (item X 1.3) says that that minutes 12:50 through 20:22 of this film shows "Casting machines (the Thompson type caster)". Both of these citations are in error. I've just watched this film again (from a copy purchased from Carl Schlesigner) and can confirm that the typecasting machine shown in operation is a Barth caster, not a Thompson.
Lanston Monotype Machine Company. Monotype-Thompson Type-Caster: A Type Founding Machine. Philadelphia, PA: Lanston Monotype Machine Company, [no date]
The bibliographic citation online for this item is ambiguous, referring to it as a book but giving its physical characterstics as a single sheet 83x42 cm, folded to 28x21 cm. This sounds like an advertising brochure.
Lanston Monotype Machine Company. [ Plate Book]?
It was the practice of Monotype to issue "Plate Books" containing illustrations of the parts of their machines. The 1941/1942 Parts Price List (see above) makes reference to such a book for the Thompson. I have neither seen it nor, indeed, seen any other reference to it.
Mayr, John C. and Carl Sorenson. Monotype Thompson Adjustments. Lanston Monotype Co., undated. 82pp.
Cited on p. 17 of Mills, George Jackson. Sources of Information in the American Graphic Arts. (Carnegie Press, 1951; Google Books snippet view). WorldCat doesn't show the Mayr and Sorenson book at any library. The Library of Congress doesn't have it. Google Books hasn't digitized it. At present, no bookstore lists it online.
Thompson Type Machine Company. Points of Superiority of the Thompson Typecaster. (Chicago: Thompson Type Machine Company, 1910).
This is listed in an "openlibrary.org" entry; I know nothing more about it yet.
Note: I'm including only specimen books specific to the Thompson. Monotype specimen and matrix books after their acquisition of Thompson sometimes mentioned the Thompson.
James E. Walczak's paper "Water, Water, Everywhere - But Not In the Mold!!!" is copyright 1988 by James E. Walczak and is reprinted here by permission. It is not licensed under the same Creative Commons license as the rest of this page.
Instructions for Operating the Thompson Type Caster . (Chicago: Thompson Type Machine Company, 1925.) was published without copyright notice in the US at a time when such notice was required, and so passed into the public domain upon publication. The digital version presented here was digitized by DMM from an original copy owned by Schuyler Shipley of Skyline Type Foundry. This digital version is also in the public domain.
Monotype-Thompson Adjustments. (Philadelphia, PA: Lanston Monotype Machine Company, 1950) was copyright 1950, but this copyright was not renewed as would then have been required to secure its continuation. It therefore lapsed into the public domain upon the expiration of its original copyright. The digital version presented here was digitized by DMM from an original copy. This digital version is also in the public domain.
Monotype-Thompson Adjustments. (Philadelphia, PA: Lanston Monotype Machine Company, 1956) was copyright 1956, but this copyright was not renewed as would then have been required to secure its continuation. It therefore lapsed into the public domain upon the expiration of its original copyright. The digital version presented here was digitized by DMM from an original copy. This digital version is also in the public domain.
The Thompson Type Machine Company service blueprint "Stop Motion" (1925) was published without copyright notice in the US at a time when such notice was required, and so passed into the public domain upon publication. The digital version presented here was digitized by DMM from an original copy owned by Patrick Goossens. This digital version is also in the public domain.
Matrices Now Availale to Users of the Thompson Type, Lead & Rule Caster . (Chicago: Thompson Type Machine Company, [1929 or earlier]) seems to have been published without copyright notice in the US at a time when such notice was required. Even if it had been copyrighted at publication, a search of the copyright records indicates that no renewal was filed, as would have been required. It is therefore, in either case, now in the public domain. The digital version presented here was digitized by DMM from a photocopy owned by Schuyler Shipley of Skyline Type Foundry. This digital version is also in the public domain.
Parts Price List: Monotype-Thompson Type-Caster . (Philadelphia: Lanston Monotype Machine Co., 1941.) was published without copyright notice in the US at a time when such notice was required, and so passed into the public domain upon publication. The digital version presented here was digitized by DMM from an original copy owned by Schuyler Shipley of Skyline Type Foundry. This digital version is also in the public domain.
The Inland Printer advertisement(s) reproduced here are all in the public domain.
Legros and Grant's Typographical Printing Surfaces (London: Longmans, Green an Co., 1916). is in the public domain. Scanned by DMM from the original. The digital versions here are in the public domain.
Hackleman's Commercial Engraving and Printing. (1924) was copyight 1924, but a search of the copyright records reveals no renewal as was then required. It therefore passed into the public domain upon the expiration of its original copyright, in 1952. The digital extracts here are also in the public domain.
Rogers' Newspaper Building (1918) is in the public domain, as are Google's scans of it and the PDF that I've constructed here from Google's scans.
US patent documents are in the public domain. The digital versions presented here, prepared from the scans at the USPTO, remain in the public domain.
British patents issued before Aug. 1, 1989 were subject to Crown Copyright for a period of 50 years. The original versions of the patents reproduced here are therefore in the public domain. The source documents used here are the PDFs presented by the UK Intellectual Property Office via ESP@CENET. I can find no indication at all in their presentation that any additional copyright has been asserted for these digital versions. I believe, therefore, that they are in the public domain.
The 1911 Austrian patent document reproduced here is, due to its date, in the public domain at least in the United States. I do not know what its copyright status might be elsewhere.
All portions of this document not noted otherwise are Copyright © 2009-2010 by David M. MacMillan and Rollande Krandall.
Circuitous Root is a Registered Trademark of David M. MacMillan and Rollande Krandall.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons "Attribution - ShareAlike" license. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ for its terms.
Presented originally by Circuitous Root®
Select Resolution: 0 [other resolutions temporarily disabled due to lack of disk space]
