On 09/10/2017 06:25 PM, Tapley, Mark via cctalk wrote: > There was one of those machines in my Junior High School shop > classroom. I saw it run once (not well enough to successfully set a > line of type, but nearly). > > I endorse Mark’s assessment of its safety characteristics...
I knew a fellow who had one of them in his barn--and he set the local freebie weekly newspaper with it. Open gas flame, hot type metal that's mostly lead, lots of open whirling parts--what's not to like? Running one is definitely a real skill. ETAOIN SHRDLU CMFWYP... Neil Lincoln once told me that the name of ETA Systems back in the 80s was suggested by his son. Neil knew about the Linotype order, but it was unclear to me if his son got it from a literary work (there were several) or from the actual machine. Chris Elmquist might know. FWIW, the "assembler" in a Linotype machine is where the type matrices drop down in a row, ready for "kerning". Another non-computer use of the word. --Chuck
