A selective list of places in the CircuitousRoot Typefoundry & Press site which have at least some content which may be of interest.
(This also includes a few links to items which are "one level up" in the hierarchy of the CircuitousRoot website, in the more general Typefounding, Lettering & Printing (On Making Words as Things) set of Notebooks.)
I will tend to refer to web pages and related sets of web pages as "notebooks," because that is what they are. The entire organization of the CircuitousRoot website is hierarchical, because that is what it should be (except when talking about Monotypes; sigh).
Some of the links here will be broken. At times these are genuine errors. Sometimes, though, it is because I've coded in a link to work that is still under development and just isn't online yet. These are notebooks, not finished works.
Addressograph (and Graphotype) [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing]
Alignment of Type, Horizontal. See Horizontal Alignment of Type
Alignment of Type, Vertical. See Lining
Merged with The Inland Printer
American Typecasting Fellowship
"Antique" Types [so-called, here meaning mostly ornamental 19th century types] - The 20th Century revivals of
Baseline (of type), non-existence of. See the discussions in The Vertical Alignment of Type (Lining)
Benton, Waldo & Co. (Northwestern Type Foundry)
Booklists. See Research Sources / Booklists
Brewer Keyboard (etaoin keyboard for the qwerty Teletypesetter, by the ITU)
The main entry on him includes or links to, inter alia:
Capital Type-Writing Machine Company. For the only known records of this, see the later patents of Charles T. Moore
Chord Keyboard. Did you mean Logotype Keyboard?
C & G (printer's saws, etc.): See Morrison
CircuitousRoot - philosophical matters
CircuitousRoot's physical stuff
Clubs and Cults: Revisiting the Concept of "Typeface" and the Optical Scale in Typefounding
See also the Notebook "From the Optical Scaling to Optical Scaling" [On Carter's "The Optical Scale in Typefounding"] in the Circuitous Root Matrix Miscellany.
Both of these essays are a part of the loose grouping of A Heretic's Guide to Type.
CPTops (Michael Langford's CPTops Linotype/Intertype Keytops) - the open-source hardware side of this product, which is now made commercially by LemurType LLC
Curle Matrix Anvil: See Monomelt Co. Linecasting Accessories
Curle Manufacturing Company (San Francisco); possibly later the Curlesaw Co.
Cuts and Non-Typogrpahical Ornaments (stereotyped, electrotyped, photoengraved)
Davidson Duplicators/Presses ("Dual Duplicator," "Dual-Lith")
These were dual-technology machines which could do both lithographic and letterpress printing (not at the same time). They also offered an option of "Dry Offset" hybrid technology (relief plates to a lithographic roller).
Designers (who were not also printers, typefounders, or other actual makers of things)
Dewey Defeats Truman. See Graphotyping a Newspaper
Diazo [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing]
See also: Stencil Duplicators
Digital Type. See: Type, Digital
Dougall Linotype [note: section not yet written]
A derivative of the Linotype made by the Canadian Linotype company. Sometimes (confusingly) called the "Simplex" Linotype; see The "Simplex" Linotype (Never Made In America) for a discussion.
Driving Matrices with a Hand-Powered Press
Dry-Transfer Lettering ("Letraset" ® is the best known brand) [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing]
Dry Offset. A hybrid technology using relief printing plates to create a printable image on a lithographic roller. Used optionally in certain equipment:
Duplex, Simplex, and Triplex Equipments/Fittings for Linotypes. See The "Simplex" Linotype (Never Made In America) for a discussion.
"Electro-X" machines (e.g., Electrotypograph, etc.) See Telegraphically Controlled Composing Systems
Esham's Matrix Milling Machine (for cutting Linotype-compatible matrix combination teeth)
etaoin, origins of, in FAQs, Myths, & Misconceptions (Linotype & Intertype)
Fairchild Graphics Corp.; See Teletypesetter Corp. and Fairchild Graphics Corp.
Films and videos of typecasting and linecasting, hosted on CircuitousRoot. See Video and Film
Film (Silent), Intertitle Cards
Fisk Align-A-Mat (Linotype-compatible matrix repair)
Fitting (of type; one part of the horizontal alignment of type). See also:
Foil Stamping. See Hot Foil Stamping
Force Pump (Justifiers'; also used for production hand casting 1830s-1840s
German glossary; See Glossaries.
Giant Caster (Lanston Monotype Machine Company)
Gossen Automatic Spaceband Cleaning Machine: See Mortco
Graphic Designers. See Designers
Graphotype (and Addressograph) [one level "up" on CircuitousRoot, above the Typefoundry & Press]
Graphotyping a Newspaper ( Chicago Daily News) [one level "up" on CircuitousRoot, above the Typefoundry & Press, and then down that hierarchy]
Hammond (originally Hill-Curtis)
See also Hand Molds
See also (Justifiers) Force Pump
See also Hand Casting in this Topic Index.
Hardinge, Henry H. (type machinery maker; yes, late of Hardinge Bros.)
See also his business partner, Robert Wiebking.
Became Hammond.
See also the Universal Strip-Caster.
Hopkins, Richard L. (Material on CircuitousRoot)
Horizontal Alignment of Type See also:
This was a transitional technology. Little information survives about it. It would appear that the Ludlow and Hammond companies may have marketed a system by this name jointly. The inclusion here of the Morrison Slug Stripper, which would seem to be useful in work of this type, should not imply any connection between Morrison company and the Ludlow and/or Hammond system.
Hot Foil Stamping [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing]
Instructional Material, for letterpress printing (not linecasting/typecasting)
International Typographical Union
The Intertype section is a bit of a mess right now. See, though, the Intertype sales literature on the Models X and Z. It is possible that the Model X at CircuitousRoot is the only one left.
Justape / Justape Jr. See Compugraphic Justape
Kelsey Printing Presses (and auxiliary literature, including the Kelsey Printing Course)
This is a physical operation in the manufacture of type (metal, photographic, or digital) which cannot be done by the user. Unless you have manufactured type itself you have never kerned type (you have letterspaced it, or in some situations mortised it). See:
Lettering (which is not hte same as "typography") [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing]
"Letterpress" (as a noun) is an appropriate alternative name for a letter copying press (a piece of office equipment common in the 19th century). It has nothing to do with printing. The machine used in letterpress printing is called a "printing press" or, more simply, a "press" - it is not called a "letterpress." For a short discussion of this, see Printing Presses. For more illustrations of letterpresses see the 19th and early 20th century office equipment catalogs in An Office Miscellany [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing]
Letterpress Equipment for Non-Relief Processes
Letterset. Heidelberg trade name for Dry Offset
Lettraset ®. See: Dry Transfer Lettering
Lever Hand Molds. See Hand Molds
Linasec Justape [Mergenthaler/Compugraphic]. See Compugraphic Justape
Linecasters, Composing (e.g., Linotype, Intertype)
See also the individual manufacturers and third-party suppliers by name.
Linecasters, Noncomposing (e.g., Ludlow Typograph Machine, A-P-L, Nebitype)
Linomatrix Company (and machine?)
Linotype (US). See Mergenthaler Linotype Company
Lining (vertical alignment of type) and Lining Systems
Lithography, Offset. (as a printing technology)
I don't really cover much in this area, but I do run into the odd manual which needs preservation. When I do have anything, it will go in Lithography [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing].
Certain firms also spanned the offset/relief technology gap. See in particular Multigraph Presses [nothing yet] and Davidson Duplicators/Presses. See also "Dry Offset"
Lithographic-Transfer Composing Systems (excluding Phototypesetting)
Logotype Casting and Composing Machine [I think there was only one]
Ludlow type specimens (and matrix data)
Ludlow Typograph Company, who made the:
Note: The Ludlow Typograph sections are actually pretty complete. The primary omissions at this time are proper digitizations of all of the manuals and full digitizations of all of the specimen books.
Matlas (Paul Hayden Duensing)
Note: "Matrices" is the plural form. The singular is "matrix" ( not "matrice").
Matrix Engraving (Direct, by Pantographic Engraving Machine)
Matrix Engraving (Direct Milling, by CNC Milling Machine)
Actually, I don't really get into this.
For matrix-making by other processes) see:
Matrix Repair and Modification Tools
Mergenthaler-Lawrenz Logotype Casting and Composing Machine
Ottmar Mergenthaler & Company (Baltimore)
Metal Feeders for Typographical Casting Machines
The Monomelt System was a hot metal feeder (a combined remelter and feeder).
Molds, type founders', hand. See Hand Molds
Monotype: A Journal of Composing-Room Efficiency
The house organ of the Lanston Monotype Machine Company.
Monotype Composing Typecasters
Most of the Monotype material on CircuitousRoot is from/about the American Monotype company (the Lanston Monotype Machine Co.) rather than the English Monotype company.
In organizing Monotype information I attempt to make a distinction between equipment for casting composition and equipment for casting types for the cases. This division frequently creates confusion, though, because the basic Monotype machine could be converted between these two uses.
Monotype Composition Caster technical literature
Monotype information online elsewhere (a list of links)
Monotype specimens and matrix data
Lanston Monotype (that is, US). Literature for the Composition Caster or for both the Comp. Caster and the Giant / Type-&-Rule casters, but not literature specifically excluding the Comp. Caster. Confusing, no?
Surely this machine must hold the record for having the most names.
Moore Printing Typewriter Company. For the only known records of this, see the litigation surrounding The Linomatrix Company (WV, 1899)
Mortco (Gossen Automatic Spaceband Cleaning Machine)
Munson's System of Power Type-Composition
Nelson, Stan (Raymond Stanley Nelson, Jr.)
Non-Casting Composing Machines (taxonomy and individual machines)
Nuernberger-Rettig Type-Casting Machine (aka "Universal Type-Casting Machine"
A pivotal caster refined for the end user.
'O' (letter), slashed or otherwise distinguished (vs. '0' (figure) slahsed) [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing]
Office Equipment, generally [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing]
Offset printing. See Lithography, Offset
[Optical Scale] "From the Optical Scaling to Optical Scaling" [On Carter's "The Optical Scale in Typefounding"]
"You keep using these words. I do not think that they mean what you think they mean."
See also the chapter Clubs and Cults: Revisiting the Concept of "Typeface" and the Optical Scale in Typefounding in the "book" Making Matrices .
Both of these essays are a part of the loose grouping of A Heretic's Guide to Type.
Orphan Annie. A colloquial name for the Monotype Type-&-Rule Caster.
Pantographs [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing]
Pantographs of all kinds (for making type and all other purposes). This section is getting a little out of hand, and as a result is great fun.
For the first types cast in America from pantographically made matrices (by direct matrix engraving, in 1882), see the Central Type Foundry Pantograph. For a study of the rather active field of pantographically engraved matrices before Benton, see Beyond (and Before) Benton.
Pantographs (Topics in the Typefoundry and Press)
Paper Feeders for Printing Presses
Paper-Ruling Machines [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing]
Part Numbers, Systems For. See Parts Symboling Systems
Parts, Newly Drawn and/or Made
Parts, Original Drawings and Old Reverse-Engineering
Patrix Cutting (in Soft Metal, by Hand or Machine)
Note: In principle patrix cutting by hand differs from patrix cutting by machine just as much as punch cutting by hand differs from punch cutting from machine. But in practice patrix cutting has been so overlooked in American histories of type, and there is so little information about it, that I'll combine hand and machine patrix cutting while I'll separate hand and machine punch cutting.
Pattern Types See Patrix Cutting (in Soft Metal, by Hand or Machine)
Pearl Printing Press. See Golding
Phototypesetting [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing]
See also Drag Pin (aka Discharging Pin) in Pivotal Type Casters
Pivotal Type Casters (aka Bruce Type Casters)
Point-Set Type. See also Unit-Set Type.
See also individual printing presses by company name.
Prestype. See: Dry Transfer Lettering
Printers (persons, not telegraph or computer peripherals)
Printing by others. See A Typographer's Florilegium
Proofreading (editors' and proofreaders' marks)
Punchcutting (by hand in steel). See also Type-Making
Punchcutting (in Steel, by Machine)
Reid (Reid Brothers) (not done)
Note: Remelting is not "smelting." Wikipedia puts this succinctly: "Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore." ( Wikipedia (en): Smelting, accessed 2013-06-20) Nothing at all like this is going on in the remelting of typemetals.
Roberts, Jane W. (Material on CircuitousRoot)
Rogers System of Linotype Rule and Figure Work [NOT DONE; this was a system of unit-set matrices for the Linotype]
Ruled Form composition systems (by hand and machine)
Ruling Machines. The term has several unrelated meanings; see:
Saws. See Printer's Saws
Saxe, Stephen O. (Material on CircuitousRoot)
Saxe, Stephen O. (Material scanned by Saxe and reprinted by CircuitousRoot on The Internet Archive)
Schokmiller, Charles H. (St. Louis; typefounder; pantograph and typecaster maker)
See also his business partner, Nicholas J. Werner.
"Self Spacing Type" (trade name for unit-set type by L.B.Benton). See Unit-Set Type
Set (set width of type; one part of the horizontal alignment of type). See also:
Shaffstall (matrix detectors for Linotypes/Intertypes)
Simplex, Duplex, and Triplex Equipments/Fittings for Linotypes. See The "Simplex" Linotype (Never Made In America) for a discussion.
Simplex Linotype. An alternative name for the German derivative of the Model 1 Linotype manufactured by Mergenthaler Setzmaschinen-Fabrik GmbH, Berlin [link currently broken; I haven't written the section yet] . No "Simplex" Linotype was ever made by Ottmar Mergenthaler or ever manufactured in America, England, or any country other than Germany. The "Simplex" Linotype manufactured briefly in Canada and possibly imported into Germany was the Dougall Linotype, an entirely different machine. See The "Simplex" Linotype (Never Made In America) for a discussion.
Simplex Linotype (Canadian). An alternative name for the Dougall Linotype. Unrelated to the fictitious "Simplex Linotype" wrongly attributed to Ottmar Mergenthaler.
Simplex One-Man Type Setter. See: Thorne Type-Setting Machine
Slashed letter 'O'. See 'O' (letter) Slashed
Spaces after period (typed and typeset). See The Fashionable Set.
Star Parts (originally Linotype Parts Company)
Star Parts was the largest third-party supplier of Linotype and Intertype compatible parts, with a full line. Some of their better-known products with independent literature were:
Stencil Duplicators (e.g., Mimeograph) [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing]
See also: Diazo
There were two distinct strip-casting technologies in the hot metal era. Various Monotype machines (and the Thompson) employed a fusion-casting technology whereby individual portions of a strip were die-cast into finite molds. Successive castings were fused together end-to-end to form a single strip. This allowed the casting of strip material with decorative elements. The Elrod introduced a true continuous casting process whereby a single solid strip was drawn out of a bath of liquid typemetal. This method precluded the use of anything but linear ornament on the strip, but excluded air entirely from the casting process.
Swiftape, a Teletypesetter-compatible composing linecaster auxiliary machine by the Ludlow Typograph Company.
Symbols and Symboling Systems, for Parts. See Parts Symboling Systems
Tabular composition systems (by hand and machine). See Ruled Form composition systems
Tachytype Impression Slug Caster
Tape Controlled Composing Systems (both casting and non-casting)
Telegraphically Controlled Composing Systems (both casting and non-casting, but excluding the Teletypesetter)
Teletypes and related 5-level teleprinters [in Telegraphy]
Teletype Corp., 6-level equipment (just notes and links)
Teletypesetter Corp. and Fairchild Graphics Corp. (so far just sales literature)
Teletypesetter & related literature cross-reference
This is the machine which defined independent American typecasting in the 20th century. The section on CircuitousRoot is as complete as I can make it; for other information, see Skyline Type Foundry's "Thompson Tech" page.
Later called the Simplex, still later the Unitype.
Thorp's Unit-Set Type (unit-set in two dimensions)
Triplex, Simplex, and Duplex Equipments/Fittings for Linotypes. See The "Simplex" Linotype (Never Made In America) for a discussion.
Twain, Mark. See Paige Compositor
Although this is in principle a general category, in practice it was devoted to various machines sharing a single lineage: that of the Monotype (q.v.)
This is a broad category comprising not only all machines which cast single types for hand composition but also the types themselves and their uses. So it encompasses not only technical studies of individual typecasting machines (e.g., the Thompson or the Monotype Giant Caster) but also a huge list attempting to identify every typefoundry which ever existed and their extant digitized specimens. Significant subsections include:
See also the individual type casting machines by name (Thompson, Nuernberger-Rettig, Giant, etc.)
See also the major set of Notebooks on Making Printing Matrices and Types, and in particular Measurement for Typefounders.
Typeface, evolution of the modern concept of ["Clubs and Cults" chapter of Making Matrices
Typeface Index (obviously very incomplete, but still there are some interesting tidbits; parts are undergoing reorganization and are quite messy with many broken links)
Typefounding (making single types once you have a matrix)
Typefoundries (an attempt at a comprehensive list, with specimens when digitized and freely available)
Typefoundries in Current Operation
Type & Type-Making History and Design
Type-Making, considered generally (matrix making + typefounding)
Typesetting Machinery (Non-Casting Type Composing Machinery)
Type Specimens and Matrix Information
CircuitousRoot is organized around the technologies of machinery and production, not graphic design. This means that type specimens are distributed in many locations depending upon the method of production of the type which made them. This page collects links to these.
Typewriters [in Typefounding, Lettering & Printing]
Typograph, Ludlow. (A noncomposing linecaster.) See Ludlow Typograph Machine
Typograph, Rogers. (A composing linecaster.) See Rogers Typograph
Unitype One-Man Type Setting Machine. Thorne Type-Setting Machine
Universal Type Making Machine / Universal Automatic Typecasting Machine. See Nuernberger-Rettig.
Universal Mono-Tabular Rule Broach. See Honig.
Vertical Alignment of Type. See Lining
Video and film of typecasting and linecasting, hosted on CircuitousRoot
Werner is our primary source of information on early machine matrix making methods in America. Unlike Bullen, when you cross-check Werner against known facts, he is reliable.
See also his business partner, Gustave F. Schroeder.
Wiberg's "Self-Spacing Composer"
Robert Wiebking. (The forgotten critical figure in American type-making)
See also his business partner, Henry H. Hardinge.
Most of my research on Wiebking was done in the context of researching his pantograph matrix engraving machines. That section, therefore, is presently a better guide to his life than the actual "main page" on him in these Notebooks.
All portions of this document not noted otherwise are Copyright © 2013-2014 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.
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