TYPE-SETTING MACHINES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVI, Issue 78, 30 March 1892, Page 3

TYPE-SETTING MACHINES.

Ihe following is from Ihe Scottish Tyvographical Circular :~-lt is now about fcixty years since the Mesais Ballantyue, amidst name excitement— during wbioh Donald Dingwall, a dour pressrafcn. allowed his Highland blood to beoome so hoi as to cause him to throw an iron " aheepfit" at one of the now machines, and for doing whioh he was imprisoned— introdnoed the ilroi etcam prcßs into thai* premises in Paul's Work', since then tha useful hand presses, along with the indueUioos fellows who manned them, have almost entirely disappeared. One improved machine after another h&B sinco been tried, till in Ays lime the Whaifedale came to tho front. JlaviDg proved itself to be the handiest, it ifl Still in . great favour. No fewer than ten new Whaifedales have been oi late EBi agoing in Messrs Ballanfcyne's establishment. There waa a very neat model shown in tha Edinburgh Exhibition, in 1686, o! a maohirie where the ourved stereo plates Sor book work were fastened on the oylindar, We have heard nothing of it since, go there apparently exists eomo difficulty in in Wo duoiog it ; but it seems to bo quite plain, if it were eaoeesßiully introduced, that bookwork could be almost aa expeditiously thrown off as newspapers aro, During tho aixty yeajß above epoken of, the pressmen have been gradually transformed into maobinemen, tbe result being a groat improvement in their condition as workmen and tfage-receivere. This no one will doubt who has witnessed, like the present writer, the continuous hard work the pressmen bad to pjiforin in tho days of yoie. The machinemen are now gentlemen as regards hard work and wages compared with their predecessors. The cognomen "Pig" no longer fita them, Of course, the smartest pressmen were turned into machine minders. The compositors during all these sixty years have not had muoh to face as regards composing ruaobines— the one that is used and manufactured by Neill aud Co,, and worked by girl-power, had very partial success, Tho introduction of female compositors about eighteen yeaiß ago has been a muoh greater calamity. But now au improved ocmposiug inaohine is beginniug to assert itself. Huv ing received a ticket of admission to the office of tho Scottish Leader^ with a viow to ascertaining how far the Linotype is a success, wo presented ourselves to Mr Ross, the manager, who received na courteously, aud took us down at once to tho Linotype room. Its atmo sphero was olose and unhealthily worm, a strange fizzing sound pervading the place —a production of the Bte&m and Linotype in their conjunot working, We were shown firit a.Linotype worked by a man who makes &i a week at the rate of Id a thousand, and a lad of seventeen or eighteen who made £2 a week at 2d per thousand, These sums Mr Rosa said expregsly they made ; but added that the price per thoud&nd was to bo reduced to 3d, when £3 and £1 10s respectively would be earned by the above two hands. The Linotypers work only six hours- this is their night's task. From tho rapid way iv whioh the four-pouuder-a-weck struck the koyß of tho maohlne we felt that it would be poiudblo for him to earn hia wage. What the other hands made was not stated. Another Linotype machine is in in prooess of introduction, very much improved, by wbioh an expert may set up 9,000 to 12.000 cmi easily per hour. The Linotype ib simply marvellous in its constiuotion and working — the Way in whioh the matrices nre distributed after being used being particularly striking, The fact of no type being needed, no distribution required, every lino beiog beautifully epaoed out, the ease with which the proofs are correoted, and the swiftness with whioh blocks can be made up, seem to Btarap the invention as a first olasa one, No composing machine, the manager said, whioh required movable typo .vould ever pay; and he offered us two Edinbugh-made machines for nothing, if we liked to take tho trouble of lifting and carrying them oil* I Whatthiok ye of that, dear compositorial friends? We now state a fact which tho manager made us aware of —that is, that 150 compositors went through the ordeal of trying to work the Linotype, and failed, in tho Scottish Leader office, tho men we taw working the machines being the fow (about 18) who had succeeded, In faot it will take a clever fellow to work and understand perfectly tho meohanism o£ these very intricate maohines. No orie, it seems, is able to learn how to work tho Linotype after 25 years of ego, As we know nothing oertain as to bow the Linotype sped, is paying, wa refrain from speaking on the subject-it will in timo, seemingly, be a great rival to the compositor, but ita introduction rnuß* bo very gradual. Now, what ia the lesson whioh compositors — etpeoially young ones — ought to take in view of the above st&to of things, Clearly, to make themselves as efiioiont as they possibly can, that when the times of trial come- and possibly to tho present generation— they may be able to faco all difficulties, Eyerybody is aware that compositors, if willing, may have the ball at their foot by devoting a little time iv the evenings during the winter months to practical and theoretical classes. Wo are conviuced that those who neglect theso opportunities, and rest content with being merely type-weavers, will regret it much when the battle waxes hot between hand tetters and machine experts. If even with the Linotype in its present orudo state an expert can make £3 a week at 3d a thousand (equal to getting up 210,000 types), we think matters »re looking very seriouß for the ordinary compositor.