Early Machines

Terry Foster sent in these superb pictures of early Machines, taken from an old book. The captions are also taken from the book.

I have produced a set of eight postcards featuring some of these "Early Machines" - the cards are unique to this site and cannot be bought anywhere else. Price includes postage to anywhere in the world. Click here for further details.

The Kastenbein Typesetter
The Linotype Blower
The Square Base Linotype
The Linotype Model 1
The Reconstructed Linotype Model 1
The Linotype Model 2
The Linotype Model 3
The Linograph
The Linotype Model 4 (First Style)
The Linotype Model 4 (Second Style)
The Linotype Model 6

Kastenbein Typesetter

TYPESETTING. As we have seen composing type by hand was a very slow and skilled trade. The machine in this picture was called the Kastenbein Typesetter. Instead of picking up each tiny letter by hand the typesetter just tapped the letters he wanted, like a typewriter. The machine also sorted out the letters after they had been used, so they could be used again. The Times installed this typesetter in the 1870s