INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

There were so many inventions and innovations that changed graphic design and the printing industry during the Industrial Revolution. There were innovations to the machinery i.e. improved presses, etc. and mechanized manufacture of paper. However, the one invention that in my mind revolutionized graphic design, typographic composition, and the printing industry in general was the Linotype machine.

In 1825 Ottmar Mergenthaler registered his patent for the Linotype machine and by 1886 he had perfected his machine. Type composition was the most time consuming step in the printing process. Prior to this machine, each individual letter had to be set in place by hand, and then after the press run had been completed each letter would have to be removed from the galleys and carefully sorted back in to two type cases; the upper type case for capitol letters, and, you guessed it, the lower case for the minuscule letters. (Today we still use the archaic terms of upper and lower case letters.) With the Linotype, the operator sat at a keyboard and when a "key" was hit a small brass "matrix key" would drop into place. When the entire line of text was set into place the lead/tin/antimony alloy was poured into the keys and a line of type was "set" into a slug. Now when the press run was finished it was simply melted down to set the next edition.