REPORT OF NATIONAL, MUSEUM, 1923. 117 



printed signatures are to be bound. A pair of boards, paper back 

 strip, and a piece of cover cloth, are carried through the several 

 steps to the finished volume, ready for delivery. Many samples of 

 binding materials are also included. Two cases of finished bindings 

 are nearby. 



In machine composition of t^'pe two important gifts were received, 

 a Unitype type setting machine from the American Type Founders 

 Company of Jersey City, and the Monotype system of composing 

 and casting justified lines of single type from the Lanston Monotype 

 Machine Company of Philadelphia. In machine composition there 

 have been four classes of machines that have been tried, three suc- 

 cessfully and one unsuccessfully. The Unitype represents the class 

 in which the actual type was set; the old Mergenthaler, that which 

 casts new type in slugs, the length of the line desired ; the Monotype, 

 which casts single type properlj^ justified: the fourth and unsuccess- 

 ful class is represented by a matrix making machine, made and 

 invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler in 1884. It is doubtful if this last 

 class will ever be successful. 



The Unitype type-setting and distributing machine which was re- 

 ceived this year from the American Type Founders Company is 

 the last model to be made. In 1880, Joseph Thorne invented a type 

 setting machine ; this was later improved and called the Simplex and 

 still later the Unitype. It was made for only one size of type, 

 which could be set at about three or four thousand ems an hour and 

 more than double that amount when line justification was applied 

 to it. It was a highly successful commercial machine, being used 

 extensively in this country and England. Some were said to have 

 been in use in this country as late as 1916. It has been discarded 

 in favor of the slug and single type composing and casting ma- 

 chines. 



The last accession of the year was received from the Lanston Mono- 

 type Machine Company of Philadelphia; it is an exhibit of the 

 Monotype system of composing justified lines of single type. Their 

 composing and casting machines, series of 1900, and a photograph of 

 the 1922 machines give an idea of the system. The products shown 

 consist of four to forty-eight point type, type for A^arious nations 

 including Chinese, leads, slugs, rules, borders and ornaments, ob- 

 solete matrices and those in use at present. A novelty product is 

 shown under a microscope, in the form of a twelve point type bod}^, 

 on the end of which is the Lord's Prayer and the name and ad- 

 dress of the company. 



The pressing of a key on the composing machine punches one or 

 two holes in the paper ribbon at the top. The location across the 

 ribbon of the hole or holes indicates the letter or character which 

 will be cast. The ribbon, when the job is completed, is transferred 



