TYPES.

Mr. Samuel Weller, of facetious memory, has told us of the girl who,

having learned the alphabet, concluded that it was not worth going

through so much to get so little. This, to say the least of it, was

disrespectful to Cadmus, and should be condemned accordingly. Authors

have feelings, which even scholastic young maidens cannot be permitted

to lacerate. I therefore warn the reader of this article against any

inclination toward sympathy with the critical mood of that obnoxious

female. My theme is not as lively as "Punch" used to be; but, on the

other hand, it is not as dull as a religious novel. Patient

investigation may find it really agreeable: good-nature will not find it

a bore.

I propose, then, a half-hour's gossip concerning Types, Type-Setting,

and the machinery connected with Printing, at the present time. It

would, perhaps, be interesting to review in detail the printing-devices

of the past; but that would be to extend unwarrantably the limits of

this article. Enough that any sketch of the invention, manufacture, and

use of types would illustrate the triumph of the labor-saving instinct

in man, and thus confirm the scientific lesson of to-day,--that

machinery must entirely supersede the necessarily slow processes of

labor by hand. That it will at no distant day supersede those processes

in the art of printing is, as you will presently see, a fixed fact.

Machinery now does nearly every sort of labor,--economizing health,

strength, time, and money, in all that it does. We tread upon

beautifully figured carpets that are woven by machinery from single

threads. We wear clothes that are made by machinery at the rate of two

thousand stitches a minute. We hear in every direction the whistle of

the locomotive, which saves us almost incalculable time, in the safe and

convenient transportation of our persons and our property. We read in

our newspapers messages that are brought instantaneously, from points

far as well as near, by a simple electric current, governed by

machinery, which prints its thought in plain Roman characters, at a rate

of speed defying the emulation of the most expert penman. These, among

many illustrations of scientific progress, occur in our daily

experience. Manufacture, agriculture, and commerce would yield us others

quite as impressive. In all this we see that man is finding out and

applying the economy of Nature, and thus that the world is advancing, by

well-directed effort, toward a more natural, and therefore a happier

civilization.

The labor-saving processes of mechanism as applied to Printing are in

the highest degree advantageous and admirable. Once types were cast in

moulds, such as boys use for casting bullets. Now they are turned out,

with inconceivable rapidity, from a casting-machine worked by steam.

Ink and paper, too, are made by machinery; and when the types are set,

we invoke the aid of the Steam-Press, and so print off at least fifty

impressions to each one produced under the old process of press-work by

hand. Machinery, moreover, folds the printed sheets,--trims the rough

edges of books,--directs the newspaper,--and does, in short, the bulk of

the drudgery that used to be done by operatives, at great expense of

time and trouble, and with anything but commensurate profit.

These are facts of familiar knowledge. They indicate remarkable

scientific progress. But the great fact--by no means so well

known--remains to be stated. It is only of late that machinery has been

successfully employed in the most laborious and expensive process

connected with the art of printing,--that, namely, of Composition. In

this process, however, iron fingers have proved so much better than

fingers of flesh, that it is perfectly safe to predict the speedy

discontinuance, by all sensible printers, of composition by hand.

Composition--as probably the reader knows--is the method of arranging

types in the proper form for use. This, ever since the invention of

movable types,--made by Laurentius Coster, in 1430,--has been done by

hand. A movement toward economy in this respect was, indeed, made some

sixty years ago, by Charles, the third Earl Stanhope, inventor of the

Stanhope Press, and of the process of stereotyping which is still in

use. His plan was to make the type-shank thicker than usual, and cast

two or more letters upon its face instead of one. This, his Lordship

rightly considered, would save labor, if only available combinations

could be determined; since, using such types, it would frequently happen

that the compositor would need to make but one movement for two or three

or even four letters. The desired economy, however, was not secured.

Subsequent attempts at combinations were made in England, but all proved

abortive. In the office of the London "Times," castings of entire

words--devised, I think, by Sterling--were used, to a limited extent. It

remained, however, for a New-York mechanic to make the idea of

combination-type a practical success. Mr. John H. Tobitt, being a

stenographer as well as a compositor, was enabled to make a systematic

selection of the syllables most frequently occurring in our language;

and thus it happens that his combinations have stood a practical test.

His improved cases, with combination-type, were shown at the London

Exhibition, in 1851, when a medal was awarded to the inventor. These

cases have now been in use upwards of ten years, and have demonstrated a

gain of twenty per cent over the ordinary method of composition. It

should be mentioned that Mr. Tobitt's invention was entirely original

with himself. When he made it, he had never heard of Earl Stanhope, nor

of any previous attempt at this improvement.

It is evident, when we reflect upon the intricate construction of

language, that this method of saving labor, though it may be made still

more useful than at present, must always be restricted within a limited

circle of operations. Nor would any number of combination-letters

obviate the necessity of composition by hand. The printer would still be

obliged to stand at the case, picking up type after type, turning each

one around and over, and so arranging the words in his "stick." Every

one knows this process,--a painfully slow one in view of results,

although individual compositors are sometimes wonderfully expert. But it

is only when a great many men labor actively during more hours than

ought to be spent in toil, that any considerable work is accomplished by

this method. The composing-room of a large daily paper, for instance,

presents, day and night, a spectacle of the almost ceaseless industry of

jaded operatives. The need of relief in this respect was long ago

recognized. The attempt at combination-letters was not less a precursor

of reform than an acknowledgment of its necessity. It remained for

American inventive genius, in this generation, to conceive and perfect

the greatest labor-saving device that has ever been applied to the art

of printing,--the last need of the operative,--the Type-Setting Machine.

It was inevitable that this should come. The only wonder is that it did

not come before. Perhaps, indeed, the idea was often conceived in the

minds of skilful, though dreamy and timorous inventors, but not

developed, for fear of opposition. And opposition enough it has

encountered,--alike from inertia, suspicion, and conservative

hostility,--since first it assumed a practical position among American

ideas, some ten years ago. But I do not care to dwell upon the shadows.

Turn we to the sunshine. There are two strong points in favor of the

invention, which, since they cover the whole ground of argument, deserve

at least to be stated. I assert, then, without the fear of contradiction

before my eyes, that the Type-Setting Machine, besides being a universal

benefactor, is, in a double sense, a blessing to the mechanic. It spares

his physical health, and it stimulates his mental and moral activity.

The first truth appears by sanitary statistics, which prove that the

health of such artisans as the type-founder and such craftsmen as the

printer has been materially improved by the introduction of mechanical

aids to their toil. The second is self-evident,--seeing that there is a

moral instructor ever at work in the mazes of ingenious and

highly-wrought machinery. Those philosophers are not far wrong, if at

all, who assert that the rectitude of the human race has gained

strength, as by a tonic, from the contemplation of the severe, arrowy

railroad,--iron emblem of punctuality, directness, and despatch.

In the interest, therefore, of education no less than health, it becomes

imperative that machinery should be substituted for hand-labor in

composition. At present, our printing-offices are by no means the

sources whence to draw inspirations of order, fitness, and wholesome

toil. On the contrary, they are frequently badly lighted and worse

ventilated rooms, wherein workmen elbow each other at the closely set

cases, and grow dyspeptic under the combined pressure of foul air and

irritating and long-protracted labor. All this should be changed. With

the composing-machine would come an atmosphere of order and cleanliness

and activity, making work rapid and agreeable, and lessening the period

of its duration. I know that working-men are suspicious of scientific

devices. But surely the compositor need not fear that the iron-handed

automaton will snatch the bread out of his mouth. To diminish the cost

of any article produced--which is the almost immediate result of

substituting machinery for hand-labor--is to expand the market for that

article. The Sewing-Machine has not injured the sempstress. The

Power-Press has not injured the pressman. The Type-Setting Machine will

not injure the compositor. Skilled labor, which must always be combined

with the inventor's appliances for aiding it, so far from dreading harm

in such association, may safely anticipate, in the far-reaching economy

of science, ampler reward and better health, an increase of prosperity,

and a longer and happier life in which to enjoy it.

Let me now briefly sketch the history of type-setting machinery. This

must necessarily be done somewhat in the manner of Mr. Gradgrind. I am

sorry thus to tax the reader's patience; but facts, which enjoy quite a

reputation for stubbornness, cannot easily be wrought into fancies.

Color the map as you will, it is but a prosy picture after all.

Charles Babbage, of London, the inventor of the Calculating-Engine,

first essayed the application of machinery to composition. His

calculator was so contrived that it would record in type the results of

its own computations. This was over forty years ago. At about the same

time Professor Treadwell of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who was bred a

practical mechanic, turned his attention to this improvement, and

ascertained by experiment the feasibility of the type-setting machine.

But mechanical enterprise was then comparatively inactive in America,

and nothing of immediate practical importance resulted from the

Professor's experiments. Nor did greater success attend the efforts of

Dr. William Church, of Vermont, a contemporary inventor, who constructed

an apparatus for setting types, but failed to provide for their

distribution. Subsequently, for a long time, the idea slumbered.

At length, about the year 1840, Mr. Timothy Alden, a printer, and a

native of Massachusetts, conceived a plan for setting and distributing

type, which has since been put into successful operation. Mr. Alden's

workshop was, I believe, situated at the corner of Canal and Centre

Streets, in New York city. There he labored in privacy, year after year,

encountering all manner of difficulty and discouragement, till his great

work was substantially completed. His invention was patented in 1857,

but the studious and persevering inventor did not live to reap the

fruits of the seed he had sown. Worn out with care and toil and

long-suffering patience, he died in 1859, a martyr to scientific

progress. His patent passed into the hands of his cousin, Mr. Henry W.

Alden, who has since organized a company for the manufacture and sale of

the Alden Machine.

In appearance, this machine resembles a circular table, having in its

centre a wheel, placed horizontally, from the outer edge of which lines

of type radiate, like spokes from an axle, to the distance of about one

foot. Three-quarters of the circle is filled up by these lines. In front

is a key-board, containing one hundred and fifty-four keys, by which the

operator governs the action of the machine. The central wheel controls

some forty "conveyors," half of which compose the types into language,

while the other half distribute them, guided by certain nicks cut upon

their sides, to their proper places, when no longer needed. Both

operations may go on at the same time. The types, as they are composed,

are fed out in a continuous line, at the left of the key-board. The

operator then divides this line into proper lengths, and "justifies" it

by hand. "Justifying," it should be stated, consists in placing spaces

between the words, and making the lines of equal length. This machine is

a very ingenious invention, and marks the first great step towards

successful improvement in the method of Type-Setting.

Another machine, originated by Mr. William H. Mitchell, of Brooklyn, New

York, was patented in 1853. In appearance it suggests a harp placed

horizontally. In front is a key-board, in shape and arrangement not

unlike that of a piano. Each key indicates a certain letter. The types

employed are arranged in columns, nearly perpendicular. The touching of

a key throws out a type upon one of a series of endless belts, graduated

in length, from six inches up to three feet, which move horizontally

towards the farther side of the machine, depositing the types in due

order upon a single belt. This latter carries them, in uninterrupted

succession, to a brass receiver, on which they stand ranged in one long

line. This line is then cut into lengths and justified by hand. Mr.

Mitchell's Distributing-Apparatus--which is entirely distinct from the

Composing-Machine--is, substantially, a circular wheel armed with

feelers, which latter distribute according to the nicks cut in the

types.

These machines require very considerable external aid in the labor they

accomplish, while, like the Alden Machine, they neither justify nor lead

the matter that is set. They have, however, stood a practical

test,--having been in use several years. It may interest the reader to

know that the matter for the "Continental Monthly" is set up and

distributed by them, in the office of Mr. John F. Trow, of New York.

They are also known, and to some extent employed, in printing-houses in

London, and are found to be economical.

But, as remarked by Macbeth, "the greatest is behind." I touch now upon

the most comprehensive and effectual invention for labor-saving in this

respect,--namely, the Felt Machine. This ingenious creation, which is,

in all particulars, original, and quite distinct from those already

mentioned, performs, with accuracy and speed, all the work of composing,

justifying, leading, and distributing types. It was invented by Mr.

Charles W. Felt, of Salem, Massachusetts, a man of superior genius,

whose energy in overcoming obstacles and working out the practical

success of his idea is scarcely less remarkable than the idea itself. I

shall dwell briefly upon his career, since it teaches the old, but never

tiresome lesson of patient perseverance. He began the business of life

in his native town, though not in mechanical pursuits. His mind,

however, tended naturally toward mechanical science, and he improved

every opportunity of increasing his knowledge in that department of

study. The processes of Printing especially attracted his attention, and

the idea of applying machinery to the work of composition haunted him

from an early period of youth. He read, doubtless, of the various

experiments that had been made in this direction, and observed, as far

as possible, the results achieved by contemporary inventors. But it does

not appear, that, in the original conception of his wonderful machine,

he was indebted to any source for even a single suggestion. I have seen

his first wooden model,--made at the age of eighteen,--crude and clumsy

indeed, compared with the machine in its present shape, but containing

the main features and principles. This was the first step. He began with

the earnings of his boyhood. Then a few friends, fired by his spirit and

courage, contributed money, and enabled him to prosecute his enterprise

during several years. In this way it became the one purpose of his life.

In time the number of his liberal patrons increased to nearly one

hundred, and a considerable fund was placed at his disposal. Thus,

genius, energy, and patience, aided by capital, carried the work bravely

forward. It is a pleasure to record that a worthy design was thus

generously nurtured. Mr. Felt's fund was subsequently increased by

additional loans, from several of the same patrons. One of these

gentlemen--Dr. G. Henry Lodge, of Swamscott, Massachusetts--contributed

with such generous liberality that he may justly be said to share with

the inventor the honor of having introduced this noble improvement in

the art of printing. I take off my hat to Mæcenas. Dr. Lodge was led to

appreciate the need of such an improvement by personal experience in

publishing a large work, copies of which were gratuitously distributed

among various libraries in the Republic. Acquainted with the toil of a

printer's life, impelled by earnest love of real progress, and guided by

a sound, practical judgment, he was peculiarly well fitted for the

difficult province of directing the labors of an enthusiastic inventor.

His duty has been well performed. The success of Mr. Felt's undertaking

is due scarcely less to the pecuniary aid of all his patrons than to the

counsel and encouragement of this wise, liberal, and steadfast friend.

Thus aided, he has triumphed over all obstacles. Proceeding in a most

unostentatious manner, he has submitted his device to the inspection of

practical printers, and men of science, in various cities of the United

States and Great Britain, and has everywhere won approval. His first

patent was issued in 1854,--proceedings to obtain it having been

commenced in the preceding year. Meanwhile he has organized a wealthy

and influential company, for the purpose of manufacturing the machines

and bringing them into general use. One of them has been built at

Providence, Rhode Island, but the manufactory will be in Salem,

Massachusetts, where the company has been formed.

The merits of Mr. Felt's machine are manifold. It is comparatively

simple in construction, it is strongly made and durable, it cannot

easily get out of order, and it does its work thoroughly. All that is

required of the operator is to read the copy and touch the keys. The

processes proceed, then, as of their own accord. But the supreme

excellence of the machine is that _it justifies the matter which it

sets_. The possibility of doing this by machinery has always been

doubted, if not entirely disbelieved, from an erroneous idea that the

process must be directed by immediate intelligence. Mr. Felt's invention

demonstrates that this operation is clearly within the scope of

machinery; that there is no need of a machine with brains, for setting

or justifying type; that such a machine need not be able to think, read,

or spell; but that, guided in its processes by an intelligent mind, a

machine can perform operations which, as in this case, are purely

mechanical, much more rapidly and cheaply than they can be performed by

hand.

I cannot pretend to convey a technically accurate idea of this

elaborate, though compact piece of machinery; but such a sketch as I can

give--from memory of a pleasant hour spent in looking at it--shall here

be given as briefly as possible.

The machine stands in a substantial iron framework, five feet by four,

within which the mechanism is nicely disposed, so that there may be

ample room for the four operations of setting, justifying, leading, and

distributing. In front is a key-board of forty keys, which correspond to

two hundred and fifty-six characters, arranged in eight cases. A single

case consists of thirty-two flat brass tubes, standing perpendicularly,

side by side, each one being filled with a certain denomination of type.

Seven of the keys determine from which case the desired letter shall be

taken. Thus, the small letter _a_ is set by touching the _a_ key; the

capital A by touching the "capital key" in connection with the _a_ key;

the capital B by touching the "capital key" in connection with the _b_

key; and so on with every letter. There are also keys called the "small

capital," the "Italic," and the "Italic capital"; so that the machine

contains all the characters known to the compositor. The operation of

these "capital" and "small-capital keys" is similar to that of an

organ-stop in modifying the effect of other keys.

When the machine is in motion,--and I should here mention that it is

worked by steam,--a curious piece of mechanism, called "the

stick,"--which is about as large as a man's hand, and quite as

adroit,--plays to and fro beneath the cases, and acts obediently to the

operator's touch. The spectacle of this little metallic intelligence is

amusing. It is armed with pincers, which it uses much as the elephant

does his trunk, though with infinite celerity. Every time a key is

touched, these pincers seize a type from one of the tubes, turn

downward, and, as it were, put it into the mouth of the stick. And so

voracious is the appetite of this little creature, that in a few seconds

its stomach is full,--in other words, the line is set. A tiny bell gives

warning of this fact, and the operator finishes the word or syllabic. He

then touches the justifying-key, and the spacer seizes the line and

draws it into another part of the machine, to be justified, while the

empty stick resumes its feeding. No time is lost; for, while the stick

is setting a second line; the "spacer" is justifying the first; so that,

in a few moments after starting, the processes are going forward

simultaneously. That of justifying is, perhaps, the most ingenious. It

is accomplished in this wise. The stick never sets a full line, but

leaves room for spaces, and with the last letter of each word inserts a

piece of steel, to separate the words. When the line has been drawn into

the spacer, the pieces of steel, which are furnished with nicked heads

for the purpose, are withdrawn, and ordinary spaces are substituted. All

this requires no attention whatever from the operator. The matter, thus

set and justified, is now leaded by the machine, and deposited upon a

galley ready for the press.

In this machine, distribution is the reverse of composition, and is

effected by simply reversing the motion of the shaft. By duplicating

certain parts of the machine, both operations are performed at the same

time. The process of distributing, and also that of resetting the same

matter, may be made automatic by means of the Register. This device,

although an original invention with Mr. Felt, is an application of the

principle of the Jacquard loom. It consists of a narrow strip of card or

paper, in which holes are punched as the types are taken, forming a

substitute for the troublesome nicking of the type, which has heretofore

been thought indispensable to automatic distribution. By this means the

type can be changed in resetting, if desired, so that different editions

of the same work can be printed in different sizes of type.

The machine is adapted to the use of combination-types as well as single

letters. For this purpose Mr. Felt has developed a new system, based

upon an elaborate analysis of the language. In a number of examples of

printed matter, embracing a wide range of literature, the frequency of

the single and combined letters has been ascertained by careful and

accurate computation, and reduced to a percentage. It may interest the

reader to know that _e_ is the letter of most frequent occurrence,

constituting one-eighth of the language. _The_, as a word or syllable,

is found to be six per cent.; _and_, four per cent.; _in_, three per

cent., etc.

I have not pretended, in this description of Mr. Felt's machine, to

explain every technicality, or to raise and answer possible objections.

The great point is, that the labor of setting, justifying, leading, and

distributing types by machinery is actually done, by means of his

invention. Thus the aspiration of inventive genius, in this department

of art, is nobly fulfilled. Thus the links in the chain of progress are

complete, from Laurentius Coster, walking in the woods of Holland, in

1430, and winning, from an accidental shower-bath, the art of making

movable types, down to the wide-awake Massachusetts Yankee, whose genius

will make printing as cheap as writing, and therefore a thousand times

more available for all purposes of civilization,--besides lightening the

burdens of toil, and blessing the jaded worker with a bright prospect of

health, competence, and ease.

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