STRIKE ON! NEW AT TMOP he term “Cold Type” was first applied to the three devices that used typewriters for typographic composition: the Varityper, the Justo writer, and Tthe IBM Composer. The Varityper was based on the Hammond Type- writer, one of the first to have proportional type. Based in New Jersey, the company was taken over by Ralph Coxhead, who introduced a companion headline-setting machine with a plastic “Grama - phone record” as its font. It was NEWS called the Coxheadliner, and WHEN T. A. EDISON MET A. B. DICK later, just Headliner. Index typewriters do not have keyboards and the In the 1950s Friden Corp. user operates a pointer that selects a letter from an Spring 2008 he Museum of Printing has two of the original adapted their paper tape-based index while depressesing a lever that moves the type Edison-Dick Mimeograph machines. office machines for typesetting to the paper. The first index typewriters were in- The History of Non-Metal Typesetting T In 1876, Edison had been selling his Electric Pencil and the Justowriters were born. troduced several years after the first Sholes’ key- stencil duplicating pro - Friden was later taken over by board typewriter. The first index typewriter was the DEAR FRIENDS cess for several years. Singer Corp. Hall, in 1881 (patent date). Production continued Experimenting with In the 1960s, IBM ad- until the end of the 19th Century. The Hall was de- his is another special edition of our newsletter waxed wrapping paper, vanced their “golf ball” tech- that provides a window into the Museum’s Dick developed a pro - signed by Thomas Hall, a cess called the mimeo- nology to encompass a 9-unit Brooklyn engineer. The Hall collections. type system. The IBM Com- It is fair to say that the Museum of Printing has graph. Edison agreed was built into an oblong ma- T to sell Dick his patents poser had two versions, one hogany or walnut case and one of the broadest and deepest collections of for stencil duplicating that was manual and one that paper was fed from behind, under the platen to the unique graphic arts machines and artifacts, backed up and to help Dick mar- was automated—the MT/SC, front and again to the back, over a metal impres- by extensive printed matter—all specifically related to ket his invention as or the Magnetic Tape/Selectric sion strip. Letters were selected from a square index printing. What you see in this newsletter involves the “Edison Mimeo- Composer. card under a frame with holes. The Hall Type photographic typesetting, and it is only a fraction of graph.” In 1887, the The Justowriters helped to Writer is now in the Museum’s collection. the Museum’s collections. company subsidized convert weekly newspapers to The ongoing success of the Museum is related to Edison’s experiments on an improved ink, photo-offset, and the Varityper THE FRIENDS OF THE the growth of our membership and your support. typewriter, and stencil. helped to create the forms in- MUSEUM OF PRINTING Please visit our website where you can contribute and dustry. The IBM Composers join us. No donation is too small. The invention began GARDNER J. LEPOER the era of modern helped to establish the “cold Executive Director As a part of our mission, we host visitors from printed communica- type” composition industry. far and wide. We are especially proud that hundreds tion, at a time when Many of its users were among BOARD OF D IRECTORS AND TRUSTEES of students visit the Museum every year as a part of JOHN ADAMS, Vice President documents were re- the first to make the leap to JOHN BARRETT their curriculum and they get a glimpse into the print- pro duced by hand. In phototypesetting. MURRAY FRANKLIN ing industry’s past. 1887 the company re- BRIAN FRYKENBERG, Secretary The term “strike-on” com - HOWARD HANSEN, Curator leased the Model “0” position was also used, mostly JOHN IVAS Flatbed Duplicator, by newspapers. This technology REBECCA KRZYZANIAK which sold for $12. THEODORE LEIGH, Treasurer Later that year, the was replaced by phototypeset- WILLIAM V. LIVOLSI Edison Mimeograph ting in the 1970s and only a few LARRY OPPENBERG LSTON URVIS No. 4 had a nameplate direhards held on to it in the A P JOHN ROGERS bearing the Edison 1980s. When laser printing be- FRANK ROMANO, President patent from August 8, came mainstream after 1982, LOUIS ROSENBLUM THOMAS THOMSON 1876. In 1894, the Edison Mimeograph Typewriter #3; in the cold type world faded away. JEFFREY UPTON 1895, the Edison Mimeograph No. 51 “New Automatic;” in We should note that when cold type and phototype 1896, the Planetary Pencil Pointer; and, in 1900, the Edison left us, so did paste-ups and rubber cement and wax and WILLIAM E. BONSER, Director Emeritus Diaphragm Mimeograph No. 61 (Rotary). A.B. Dick Com- Rubylith and all of the photomechanical skills we had de- 800 MASSACHUSETTS AVE. pany was founded in 1884 in Chicago, Illinois, by a young veloped over a period of 25-plus years. “Desktop Pub- NORTH ANDOVER, MA 01845 lumberman named Albert Blake Dick. Thomas Edison’s 978-686-0450 ideas and his “electric pen” were key in creating the world’s lishing” was introduced in 1985 and suddenly everything WWW.MUSEUMOFPRINTING.ORG we did was historic. first duplicator. This simple device created an industry. The History of Photographic Typesetting is at the Museum of Printing 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s The Intertype Fotosetter The Photon The Morisawa The ATF B8 The Compugraphic CompuWriter The Mergenthaler V-I-P The Linotype Linotron 202 The Agfa SelectSet This was the first photographic Donated by its co-inventor Louis It made a quick splash in the mid- It was rudimentary in its capability It became the most successful The typesetting market beat a The Third Generation of photo- The laser era began in 1978 with typesetter and was a modified hot Moyroud, this was the very first 1960s and then disappeared. but it had the American Type entry-level phototypesetter ever. path to the Variable Input Photo- typesetting applied CRTs (Cath- the Monotype Lasercomp, and metal linecaster. Called the First Second Generation photographic This is the film font. The metal Founders behind it. The system The first machine had two type- typesetter. It mixed faces and sizes ode Ray Tubes). The 202 was part within a few years, there was only Generation of phototypesetting, typesetter. Actually, what you see pins protruding below were the consisted of two units: a keyboard faces in one size. It spawned many in the same job. The film segment of a family of devices that began laser phototypesetting. By this it was still in use is the input/control unit; there width values for each of the char- perforator and a photo exposure versions with more faces and more created a multi-million dollar busi- with the Linotron 1010 and 505 in time Compugraphic had been through the 1970s. was also the exposure unit. You acters in the font. unit. Even though ATF tried to sizes, but this one was the most ness with other font suppliers and the late Sixties, through the 303 taken over by Agfa and a steady It was based on literally sat inside the Photon re-position itself during the 1960s popular. It even came in one itera- and 606 in the late Seventies. But stream of Agfa and other “image- the Fotomat, a Model 200B. It was later replaced and 1970s, it was still seen as a tion with an ETAOIN linecasting the 202 was the most successful, setters” that could set type and linecasting matrix by tape-operated systems and nu- metal type company, and thus did keyboard for hot metal operators from its launch in 1978 until it images were replacing phototype- with a piece of merous competitors. Photon was not suceed in many of its at- who could not deal with the QW- ceased manufacture in 1980. It setters. By the Nineties, the laser film mounted in its belly. Each acquired by Dymo in 1972, tempts to compete with new tech- ERTY keyboard. The first ad said was used by printers, typesetters, was applied in Computer-To-Plate was photographed as it circulated merged into Unitex in 1980, and nology. The B8 is quite rare “CompuWriter: A whole new way the first user group based on the newspapers, and inplant opera- systems, and the typesetting era, from the magazine. then gone forever. because so few were sold. to set type.” VIPPY newsletter. tions around the world. as we knew it, was over. The Museum of Printing has a very large For headlines, the German-made Staromat As a result, inter-character spacing The floppy disk replaced paper tape The MOP photo- collection of the the film strips, glass disks, was available, but it and all other headliners could be as tight or loose as you wished. starting in the mid-Eighties and the laser typesetting collection is plastic disks, film segments, plastic and paled next to the venerable VGC Photo- This gave rise to an entire school of fitted printer entered the market at about the augmented by “cold metal segments, and other master fonts Typositor. Its 2-inch film strip contained all headline typography that flourished in the same time. At first, the industry applied the type” typesetting sys- used for most of the Second Generation the glyphs for one typeface. After loading 1960s through the 1990s. No other head- laser printed as a proofing device, but as re- tems (see back page) phototypesetting machines. on reels, you turned two wheels to position line device provided the beauty and quality olution advanced from 300 to 600 dpi, thse and one of the most In addition, you will also find the the character you wanted and viewed it in a of Typositor type.