A. A. Stewart

“ Each type is cast separately in a mold, and has the letter or printing character in bold relief on one end.
Exact uniformity of body is necessary in order that the types, when composed in lines and pages, may be locked together by pressure at the sides so as to make a compact mass. All types in a printing form must be of the same height, so that their faces may present a uniformly level surface from which an impression may be made that will show all the characters clearly. A short type will print faintly or will not print at all, while a long one will be unduly forced into the sheet. ”

“ Lead forms the chief part of all type metal, as it melts easily and fuses readily with other metals; but lead alone is too soft for the service required of type. Antimony is brittle and gives hardness, and tin is added to impart toughness. Lead and antimony in approximately these proportions make an alloy which has [Pg 27] the unusual quality of expanding slightly, instead of shrinking, when cooling, thus permitting a full, sharp cast in all parts of the mold. Tin flows readily when melted and increases the smoothness of the cast on the surface of the mold. ”

“ Each publication has been compiled by a competent author or group of authors, and carefully edited, the purpose being to provide the printers of the United States—employers, journeymen, and apprentices—with a comprehensive series of handy and inexpensive compendiums of reliable, up-to-date information upon the various branches and specialties of the printing craft, all arranged in orderly fashion for progressive study. ”

“ Large types, such as are used for posters and large bills, are made of wood. The smallest size for practical use is 48-point, or 4-line pica. Sizes of wood type are multiples of the pica, and are so named, as 8-line, 10-line, etc. They are much cheaper than metal types, though not as durable or satisfactory for printing. The wood commonly used is maple, and the letter is made on the end of the grain. It must be well seasoned and polished. Pine and other soft woods are used for very large sizes of wood type and poster engravings. ”

“ No tools used in modern industry seem simpler than these little pieces of metal, yet they are the product of the most highly specialized skill and ingeniously perfected mechanisms. To the young printer their physical elements are matters of first concern. An understanding of these elements may be only a small part of his trade education, but it is important. The possibilities and the limitations of type can be appreciated only by thorough familiarity with the technical details and niceties provided by the modern typefounder. ”

“ The old-time method of casting type was with hand molds, the melted metal being poured in at the foot of the mold with a small ladle while the mold was held in the hand. In the modern casting machine, the mold with its matrix, is assembled by the side of the metal pot, in which the metal is kept at a uniform temperature by means of a gas furnace. ”

“ A space of the thickness intermediate between the three-to-em and the en quad, known as a patent space, has been made for use in book work. Although it has great advantage as a substitute for two of the thinner spaces when these are [Pg 20] needed in spacing a line, its use has been limited and it is not included with the usual assortment furnished by dealers.
The common spaces and quads for general work, when the type itself is used for printing, are about seven-eighths of the height of the type, so that they are well below the printing surface. ”

“ The matrix covers the opening at one end of the mold, and on the opposite end (which is the foot of the type) is an opening through which the melted metal is injected. A mold is made for a single body-size of type but it is adjustable sideways to correspond to the various widths of the letters in an alphabet. One mold may be used to cast, in succession, all the letters of a font of type, or it may be used to cast any number of fonts of different faces that may be made on the [Pg 21] same body, by merely changing the matrices that form the face. ”

“ The size of a type is the vertical thickness of its body—the thickness of a line up and down the page. The width of a type is its set. Thus a 12-point en-quad is 12-point body and 6-point set, a 10-point figure of the thickness of an en quad is 10-point body and 5-point set, etc. The total length of a type, including feet and face, is its height-to-paper.
American type sizes conform to a graduated scale known as the point system. ”

“ American founders have adopted the practice of casting type-faces on uniform lining systems, variously known as American line, standard line, uniform line, etc. The earlier practice was to cast the type of a font so that the letters would align at the bottom only with their mates of the same font, without reference to any other face of type. ”

“ While these thicknesses of spaces are the usual kinds for sizes of type up to 12-point, larger types may have other kinds of spaces, six-to-em, eight-to-em, and even smaller divisions. The thickness of the hair space does not always bear the same proportion to the em quad; in some sizes it is one sixth of the em, in others it may be one eighth or one twelfth. Very thin spaces (copper 1⁄2-point, brass 1-point) , for exact spacing and justifying, are supplied by dealers. ”

“ An em is a square of type body of any size. This 10-point em □ is ten points square; a 10-point three-to-em space is one third of the em, a four-to-em is one fourth, etc. The en quad is really a thick space, though called a quad, and is equal to half the em. Larger blanks are the two-em and three-em quads, used to fill the last lines of paragraphs and other wide spaces.
The metal blanks shown here are the regular spaces and quads belonging to a font of type of the size of 10-point. ”

“ In the center of this metal pot is a rod with a spring attachment which, at each operation of the machine, acts as a plunger to force a small stream of hot metal through a side aperture into the jet-hole of the mold. After the casting, the two parts of the mold separate slightly, the matrix is drawn away from the face of the type, and the cast is moved out; then the mold and matrix close together again and the operation is repeated. Cold water or air is circulated near the mold to keep an even temperature. ”

“ The foregoing refers more particularly to type cast by the regular foundries. The metal used in automatic casting machines, like the Monotype, contains a larger proportion of lead and less antimony; while the metal used for casting line-slugs in the Linotype machine is composed of still larger proportion of lead and very little of the other two metals. Stereotype metal and metals used for leads, slugs, furniture, etc., are largely lead. ”

“ The Monotype keyboard, being an entirely separate machine, may be and usually is operated in any place away from the casting apparatus and work may be executed on it anytime before casting. The perforated roll may be fed through any number of times to produce duplicate castings of the matter, and a matrix-plate for a different face may be used if desired. In the casting of the line the proper spaces are cast with it, the spacing needed to justify each line being indicated on the perforated record during composition on the keyboard. ”

“ In old or much-used fonts to which additions have been made after the first supply, the new letters, being cast later in a different mold, may often show a difference in the position or the number of nicks. In cases of this kind the apprentice should observe carefully and inquire before deciding that a type with a different nick does not belong to the font. ”

“ One group embraces the majority of type-faces, those having capitals and small letters, g y p j. Another group embraces fonts of capitals only, mostly faces known as title letters and combination lining faces which, having no descenders, may be made lower on the body. A third group includes those faces having long descenders, like script types, which must be placed high on the body. ”

“ Body Type—The kinds of type, mostly roman faces, used for plain composition in paragraphs or pages of one face; text letter.
Borders—Characters cast in type, which may be adjustable in many ways, as for marginal lines, panels, and other decorative uses. (15)
Bourgeois—An old size of type, about 9-point.
Brass Type—For stamping book covers, etc. Ordinary type-metal cannot endure the heat which must be applied for stamping gold leaf, or printing on hard, rough surfaces. Brass types are more expensive as well as more durable. ”

“ This treatise is the first of a series of text-books, published under the general title of Typographic Technical Series for Apprentices, which have been prepared under the auspices of the Committee on Education of the United Typothetae of America, for the use of printers’ apprentices and students of typographic printing.
As will be noted by the table of contents, only the mechanical features of type and the usual methods of its manufacture have been considered here. No attempt has been made to review the history of type-faces or the development of type-making processes. ”

“ An advantage over the old method of unrelated widths is in the saving of time in composition, by reducing the number of different widths in the characters of the alphabet. By the old method each type had its own special width; in a complete font there might be a hundred or more different widths. By the modern point system those characters which are nearly alike in width are made on the same set, or, if different, the variation is governed by the standard unit.
Lining Type Faces
Showing irregular alignment of faces, the old method. ”

“ When type is cast by a hand machine it is unfinished, as a piece of metal called the jet still adheres to the bottom of each type. This jet is broken off, and the types are set in long lines and fastened in a narrow channel, face down. A small plane smooths away the rough surface caused by breaking off the jet. This leaves a shallow groove on the bottom of each type and allows it to stand squarely on its [Pg 23] feet. The types also have slight burs and sharp edges of metal which must be rubbed off before they are ready for inspection and for the font-room. ”

“ As all these irregular shapes must be made to appear in line with each other, the type-body on which they are made is larger than the letter. The blank parts around the face of a letter are called the counter, the shoulder, and the beard. The counter is the shallow place between the lines of the face. The shoulder is the low flat part of the type around the face. The beard is the sloping part between the face and the shoulder. ”

“ On the automatic machine, which is the modern method of casting type, breaking off the jet, rubbing, dressing, etc., are all accomplished automatically on the machine, the types coming out in a continuous line practically ready for the compositor’s case. ”

“ The metal used for small sizes of type is commonly harder than that used for the large sizes, the softness of the metal gradually increasing with the size of type made. Script types and faces with delicate lines are usually cast with metal a little harder than that used for the normal and bolder faces. ”

“ For many recent styles of heavy faces the founders furnish fractions, accented letters, and other special characters to match in boldness of face, but these are not included in ordinary letter-fonts.
[Pg 11] The quantity of each character apportioned to a regular font is the estimated average required for ordinary composition in the English language. It is rare that more than a fraction of a small font can be used in any piece of composition. No general scheme can meet the needs of every kind of work ”

“ Wedge-shaped space-bands are also controlled by a key, and when sufficient matrices and space-bands are assembled to make the line a bell rings. By operating a lever the line of matrices then moves in front of the mold inserted in the side of a wheel and behind which is a pot of melted metal. ”

“ Care has been taken to make all statements accurate and clear, with the purpose of bringing essential information within the understanding of beginners in the different fields of study. Wherever practicable, simple and well-defined drawings and illustrations have been used to assist in giving additional clearness to the text. ”

“ Laying Type—Putting a font of type into cases.
Leaders—Dots or short dashes placed at intervals in open lines to guide the eye, as in indexes, price-lists, etc. They are cast like quads for sizes of type most used. Leaders are also made of brass.
Letter—Sometimes this word is used to mean type. Letter-press printing, that done with type. Letter foundry, a type foundry.
Lining Type—The exact alignment at top or bottom of the face on a type-body. (16-18)
Linotype—A machine for casting type in solid lines. (23)
Long Primer—An old size of type nearly equal to 10-point. ”

“ Type Metal—A composition of lead, tin, and antimony. (26)
Typography—The process of printing with forms composed of movable types and small relief blocks.
Weight Font—A complete assortment of type measured by its weight instead of by the number of each letter. (12)
Weight of Type—Four square inches of type, composed solid, weigh approximately one pound. Thus, to find the weight of any given amount of type composition, find the number of square inches and divide by four. ”

“ A primer of information about the various operations employed in binding pamphlets and other work in the bindery. Illustrated; review questions; glossary.
Practical information about the usual operations in binding books; folding; gathering, collating, sewing, forwarding, finishing. Case making and cased-in books. Hand work and machine work. Job and blank-book binding. Illustrated; review questions; glossary.
PART VI—Correct Literary Composition
A primer of information about words, their relations, and their uses. ”