"More books --- more education for all. At home we had no money for school books..." This was the vision of a man who revolutionized printing during the Industrial Revolution. | Ottmar Mergenthaler was born in Hachtel, Germany on May 11th 1854 to Johann Georg Mergenthaler and Rosina Ackerman. Johann was a poor village school teacher, and Rosina came from a family of teachers. Ottmar was their third child. Young Ottmar did a lot to help with chores, cooking meals and feeding his family’s livestock. As his fourteenth birthday drew closer, he realized that following in his family’s footsteps and becoming a teacher, as he was expected to do, was not the career he wanted. Alternative options were considered, and his family decided that he should pursue what he excelled in. Given that he had fixed the Lutheran church’s tower clock in his village and was handy with tools, machinery seemed to be the best choice. He was soon apprenticed to his uncle, Mr. Hahl, a watchmaker. Ottmar stayed with his uncle for four years, learning new skills and building his knowledge of complex machinery. He greatly enjoyed his time there with his uncle and the other apprentices. As soon as he turned eighteen and completed his apprenticeship, he travelled to Washington D.C. He arrived on Oct. 26, 1872, and immediately found work in a shop owned by his cousin August Hahl, the son of his former master and uncle. After working together for a few years, they moved business to Baltimore and opened a shop that built models for people looking to gain a patent for their ideas. One such client, Charles T. Moore, believed his invention would revolutionize type. Mergenthaler found many flaws with Moore’s “transfer typewriter” design and decided to make his own. This began the development of what would eventually be Mergenthaler’s claim to fame- the linotype line casting machine. Despite setbacks such as a fire that destroyed many of his files and unsatisfactory machines, Mergenthaler debuted his "Blower" model linotype machine in 1885, and this model was used by the New York Tribune in 1886. Ottmar Mergenthaler & Co. was soon established to continue producing these machines, but Ottmar continued to dream. In 1892, a new and improved model called the Simplex Linotype Model 1 was built, and it was a hit at the Chicago World's Fair the following year. Unfortunately, Ottmar did not have long to enjoy his success. Two years later, Ottmar was struck with tuberculosis. He died in Baltimore on October 28th, 1899 at the age of 45. He left behind Emma Lachenmayer, whom he had married in 1881, and their four children. However, he also left behind a legacy; Ottmar Mergenthaler's linotype machine revolutionized printing and thus the distribution of information during the Industrial Revolution, and the impacts of his invention are still felt today. |
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Before Ottmar Mergenthaler invented the linotype, compositors had to set every letter by hand, choosing each one from 150 separate compartments. Once a line of type was in place the compositor would have to go through the line adding spaces and shifting letters to justify the line. An experienced compositor could set about 350 words per hour, not accounting for justification time. The compositor was also responsible for, after the page was printed, taking every letter out by hand and put it in its place, a process which results in common errors, such as "u"s being printed as "n"s and "d"s being printed as "p"s. The entire process was monotonous, yet required a great amount of concentration. One incorrect letter could result in having to re-justify an entire line. Then came the linotype: the compositor's dream. Now, instead of standing, a compositor could sit comfortably in front of a keyboard and lever. To select a letter he pushed a key, as you would with a computer, and it is pushed into place. When he needed a space he could insert a "space band." Once the end of the line is reached and it needs to be justified, the compositors simply moved the lever to adjust the width of the bands. Once a line was justified, the linotype used it to make a pattern of the line, called a "slug," with quickly hardening molten metal, then sent this mold to its place with the other lines of the article, ready to print. The machine reset all of the letter molds used, never making a mistake. Lines could be produced as fast as the compositor could type, which was significantly faster than 350 words per hour. The linotype resulted in a more efficient way of printing, allowing more newspapers, books, and pamphlets to be sold. This was fantastic for business owners considering they had to pay less people to composite, and were able to produce more of their product. The linotype found a home at the New York Tribune, the Chicago News, and the Louisville Courier-Journal, finding limited success as they had to work kinks out of the system, a process which included the production of a user’s manual, which was a fairly new concept at the time. After all of these problems were solved, the linotype was invaluable to printing companies. In 1889 the New York Tribune saved $80,000 because of this new machine. Many would say that the linotype eliminated jobs formerly done by skilled professionals, and while that is true, it created jobs in the manufacturing and the maintenance of the machines. They were very complicated in nature, and not many would understand exactly how they functioned. Since they were so heavily relied upon, a broken linotype would affect the scheduled printing of newspapers and pamphlets as a manual compositor wouldn't. It also made a very strenuous job much less physically demanding. It also made books and newspapers much cheaper and more widely available to the public, and during the industrial revolution when education was scarce, any small push towards making information accessible benefited a lot of people.
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