1. The types cast by the type-founder are oblong square pieces of
metal, each having, on one end of it, a letter or character, in
relief. The metal of which these important instruments are composed,
is commonly an alloy consisting principally of lead and antimony, in
the proportion of about five parts of the former to one of the latter.
This alloy melts at a low temperature, and receives and retains with
accuracy the shape of the mould. Several hundred pounds of type-metal
are prepared at a time, and cast into bars filled with notches, that
they may be easily broken into pieces, when about to be applied to
use.
2. In making types, the letter or character is first formed, by means
of gravers and other tools, on the end of a steel punch. With this
instrument, a _matrix_ is formed, by driving it into a piece of
copper of suitable size. A punch and matrix are required for every
character used in printing. A metallic mould for the body of the type
is also made; and, that the workman may handle it without burning his
hands, it is surrounded with a portion of wood. The mould is composed
of two parts, which can be closed and separated with the greatest
facility.
3. The type-metal is prepared for immediate use by melting it, as fast
as it may be needed, in a small crucible, over a coal fire. The caster
having placed the matrix in the bottom of the mould, commences the
operation of casting by pouring the metal into the mould with a small
ladle. This he performs with his right hand, while with the other he
throws up the mould with a sudden jerk; then, with both hands he opens
it, and throws out the type. All these movements are performed with
such rapidity, that an expert hand can cast about fifty types of a
common size in a minute. Some machines have been lately introduced,
which operate with still greater rapidity.
4. Each type, when thrown from the mould, has attached to it a
superfluous portion of metal, called a _jet_, which is afterwards
broken off by hand. The jets are again cast into the pot, or crucible,
and the types are carried to another room, where the two broad sides
are rubbed on a grindstone. They are next arranged on flat sticks
about three feet long, and delivered to the _dresser_, who scrapes the
two sides not before made smooth on the grindstone, cuts a groove on
the end opposite the letter, and rejects from the row the types which
may be defective.
5. The whole process is completed by setting up the types in a
printer's composing-stick, and tying them up with packthread. Much of
the work in the type-foundry is performed by boys and females. In the
preceding cut are represented a man casting types at a furnace, and a
boy breaking off the jets; also two females rubbing types on a large
grindstone. The fumes arising from melted lead in the casting-room are
considered deleterious to health.
6. Various sizes of the same kind of letter are extensively used, of
which the following are most employed in printing books--Pica, Small
Pica, Long Primer, Bourgeois, Brevier, Minion, Nonpareil, Pearl, and
Diamond. A full assortment of any particular size is called a _fount_,
which may consist of any amount, from five pounds to five hundred, or
more. The master type-founder usually supplies the printer with all
the materials of his art, embracing not only types, leads, brass
rules, and ordinary ornaments, but also cases, composing-sticks,
galleys, printing-presses, and other articles too numerous to be
mentioned.
7. The inventor of the art of casting types was Peter Shoeffer, first
servant or workman employed by Guttemburg and Faust. He privately cut
a matrix for each letter of the alphabet, and cast a quantity of the
types. Having shown the products of his ingenuity to Faust, the latter
was so much delighted with the contrivance, that he made him a partner
in the printing business, and gave him his only daughter, Christina,
in marriage.
8. The character first employed was a rude old Gothic, mixed with
secretary, designed on purpose to imitate the hand-writing of those
times, and the first used in England were of this kind. To these
succeeded what is termed _old English_, or _black letter_, which is
still occasionally applied to some purposes; but Roman letter is now
the national character not only of England, but of France, Spain,
Portugal, and Italy. In Germany, and in the states surrounding the
Baltic, letters are used which owe their foundation to the Gothic,
although works are occasionally printed for the learned in Roman.
9. The Roman letter owes its origin to the nation whence it derives
its name, although the faces of the present and ancient Roman letters
differ materially, on account of the improvements which they have
undergone at various times. For the invention of the Italic character,
we are indebted to Aldus Manutius, who set up a printing-office in
Venice, in 1496, where he also introduced Roman types of a neater cut.
10. Before the American revolution, type-founding was carried on at
Germantown, Pennsylvania, by Christopher Sower, at Boston by Mr.
Michelson, and in Connecticut by Mr. Buel; but there was too little
demand for types, to afford these enterprising individuals much
patronage. Soon after the close of the revolution, John Baine
established a foundery in Philadelphia. The printers, however, were
not supplied with every necessary material and implement of the art
from American founderies, until 1796, when Messrs. Binny & Ronaldson
commenced the business in the same city. Baine and Ronaldson were both
from Edinburgh, Scotland. The first type-foundery was established in
New-York, in 1809, by Robert Lothian, a Scotch clergyman, and father
of the ingenious type-founder, George B. Lothian.
11. In the year 1827, William M. Johnson, of New-York, invented the
machine for casting types now used by John T. White, and in 1838,
David Bruce, Junr., produced another, which was purchased by George
Bruce. George B. Lothian has also lately invented a machine for the
same purpose, and likewise one for reducing types to an equal
thickness. Both of these machines act with great accuracy. There are
now in the United States sixteen type-founderies; viz., two in Boston,
six in New-York, three in Philadelphia, one in Baltimore, one in
Pittsburg, one in Cincinnati, one in Louisville, and one in St.
Louis.
[Illustration: STEREOTYPER.]