Sedalia Dave Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 3 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 In the early part with those wooden boxes ( cold cases), is where “mind your p’s and q’s” came from. Having done that work, b’s and d’s too. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 When I started in graphic design, my world revolved around those machines. Eventually I got pretty good at taking copy from a typewriter and figuring out how to spec (specify) type for the typesetters to fit the designed space. Those folks were craftsmen. I was lucky to be involved with it then, and later make the transition to computers.* It was, and still is a wild ride. I’m reminded of a line from the movie “The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid. Cliff Robertson as Jesse James said when remarking on advancing technology, “It’s a wonderment.” *My first Macintosh computer set-up with a suite of software set me back $17,000 in 1990. 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Sandor, SASS #74075 Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 (edited) Thanks for the memories, Dave! Long time since I heard the sound of a Linotype in operation...! My first job after high school was as a laborer in a 3-person small-town weekly newspaper office/ job shop printer. Mrs. Wilson owned the place, was the reporter/editor/salesperson. The printer went by the name "Young Bill", while the Linotype operator was "Old Bill." I was not an apprentice, so didn't get the title of Printer's Devil, but did many of the tasks just the same. One of the jobs after a press run was to help Young Bill break down the assembled type. Then I got to melt it down and cast it into the long ingots the linotype machine used. The ingots were about two feet long, and around 2 1/2 inches wide. After the ingots were cooled, I had to carry them back to the Linotype machine and hold them in place while Old Bill physically hooked them to the chains - NO ONE but him was allowed to touch ANY part of the Linotype, not even the boss! The handles on the molds were convenient for moving them around in the melt shed, but I soon learned the hard way that they were not for carrying the ingots back inside...2-foot long chunks of tin, antimony and lead can do bad things to a floor, or a dumb kid's foot when they shrink and fall out of the mold! Picture of molds is attached Edited February 11 by Count Sandor, SASS #74075 clarity 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 10 minutes ago, Count Sandor, SASS #74075 said: The handles on the molds were convenient for moving them around in the melt shed, but I soon learned the hard way that they were not for carrying the ingots back inside...2-foot long chunks of tin, antimony and lead can do bad things to a floor, or a dumb kid's foot when they shrink and fall out of the mold! Picture of molds is attached Bad things when the lead splashes too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eliphalet R. Moderator Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 In a school class long, long, ago we learned the basics of type setting and printing. I can't say what grade, my rememberer won't give it up. But, I do think I enjoyed it. I have a couple of type boxes in the workshop for small gun part storage. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 1 hour ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said: Cliff Robertson as Jesse James Cole Younger. Jesse James was Robert Duvall. And Mr Duvall played a beautiful sociopathic lunatic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 In the 1950s my father's barbershop was in the building where the local newspaper was published. While dad got his hair trimmed I would watch the newspaper being created through the windows that the Chieftan/Star Journal generously provided for us curious types. Watching the linotypes operate was hypnotic; little letters dropping into words that I could read later in the day when the rubber band bound paper smacked onto the front porch. I have a coffee can of linotype letters in my lead inventory for bullet casting, but haven't used any. The wheel weight ingots are already hard enough!! And the letters aren't being made anymore. There is a cafe in Miller, Missouri a few doors west of Hunt's Hardware (a gunstore as well), that used to be a newspaper office. They have kept the linotypes as part of the decor. You have flung a craving on me! Time to visit the gunstore and eat among the linotypes! 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 The mental agility of the men who designed these is amazing. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 (edited) When I visited the Boston Globe, they had the last hot metal front page on display in a glass case. The lead setup for it, not the printed page. in the 60s, 70s, after a series of strikes, the printers had negotiated good wages and lifetime contracts that could be bought out. Papers got into a race to automate. The Baton Rouge paper had so many take the offer that they had to hire some back, without the lifetime bit. Edited February 12 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 (edited) I took Printing in 10th grade and I loved it. I remember the letters were in a "job case" The thing you held in your hand (I forgot what it was called) you put everything in backwards I believe. We also learned photo developing in the dark room. Fascinating stuff, I would have went into printing but the music bug hit me and I started playing drums and had a band etc. Pics of old job cases here..... https://www.briarpress.org/42382 Edited February 12 by Rye Miles #13621 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 34 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said: I took Printing in 10th grade and I loved it. I remember the letters were in a "job case" The thing you held in your hand (I forgot what it was called) you put everything in backwards I believe. We also learned photo developing in the dark room. Fascinating stuff, I would have went into printing but the music bug hit me and I started playing drums and had a band etc. Pics of old job cases here..... https://www.briarpress.org/42382 Upside down and backwards. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 1 hour ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said: Upside down and backwards. Aha upside down too! Yes I remember now! Thanks for shaking up my memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Did you see the picture on the wall in the first part of the video? Samuel Clemens. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 8 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said: I took Printing in 10th grade and I loved it. I remember the letters were in a "job case" The thing you held in your hand (I forgot what it was called) you put everything in backwards I believe. We also learned photo developing in the dark room. Fascinating stuff, I would have went into printing but the music bug hit me and I started playing drums and had a band etc. Pics of old job cases here..... https://www.briarpress.org/42382 Like this? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 I had the good fortune in HS to have a part time job at an award winning weekly suburban newspaper. Pretty amazing. An enormous press (I think antique even in the very early '60's), a couple of linotype machines. I broke down the type and pictures in the frames that fit the press and assembled the newly printed papers and bundled those that went to retail. I enjoyed it and earned some pocket money. Funny afterward, in College I had a friend, and still do all these decades later, who is a noted writer, and was a fan of a newspaper called the Catholic Worker. We visited, and coincidentally, at exactly the same point in time as my job. I sat down and embraced nostalgia. Inserting and bundling papers for a far different religious / political organization. It was a fine nostalgic experience, with one of my oldest friends. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 (edited) When I was looking for a summer job out of HS, I got hired at the local twice weekly newspaper, which was also a print shop. I was to help anybody do anything, plus proofreading, painting the front of the building, janitor work… it used an offset press for the paper. anybody who needed help called on me. I even ran to the corner drug store for iced teas in the afternoon. The guy who needed the most help was Brian the linotype operator as he also did many other tasks. That’s how I learned so many things about printing. I worked up to 65 hours a week at 1.10 /hour without time and a half. Edited February 13 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 8 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said: Like this? Yes!! That’s it! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 7 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said: If that show had been made these days, when he told the woman to keep his cigar burning, she would have taken a puff. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 \\ "And you understand that it can kill you." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 42 minutes ago, Alpo said: If that show had been made these days, when he told the woman to keep his cigar burning, she would have taken a puff. Or put it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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