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A furnace for type metal

A quality of the type metal is that it can be re-used several times.



In the machine, it is heated in the melting pot and then casted as a slug. When the full text is cast, the operator brings all the slugs to the printer, who finisched the layout of the full page. Then he puts ink on the slugs, and uses them in the printing presses. Afterwards, when all the pages are printed, the type metal is melted again and reused in the typecasting machine. Small amounts of type metal can be put directly into the melting pot again. But large qualities are recycled with the aid of a furnace. The photo below shows one of the larger furnaces, used in a printshop where multiple typecasting machines were in use. On the left side, the reservoir is being filled with used slugs. On the right side, two moulds can be seen (currently filled with tools). Those moulds will be filled with the molten type metal, so it takes the form of long bars.



The output of the furnace are type bars. They have the form as shown on the photo below. Note the opening on the top, in which a hook can be attached.



Those bars are hanged on the automatic feeder, which is positioned above the heating pot. Every time that a line of text is sent into the machine, the automatic feeder controls if the amount of type metal in the pot is large enough. When there is not enough type metal in the pot, the automatic feeder lowers the bar, so the bottom heats up and some of the type metal runs in the pot. The folowing video is filmed at a Linotype model 31, although the principle is also the same for Intertype, Monotype, Ludlow, etc.



The quality of the type metal lowers after repeated use. Specifically the amount of antimony diminishes, making the type metal harder. The operator could order new type metal at a shop, or he could add some antimony into the furnace.

Sources

  1. Own materials
  2. BRIAR PRESS. (2013). Ludlow Casting Question… [Online] https://www.briarpress.org/33522.

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