LINOTYPE 



3452 



LINZ 



A floor covering is made with linoleum as a 

 base; it is more durable than oil cloth, which 

 was once largely used. It is made by mixing 

 the linoleum cement with ground cork, rosin 

 and kauri gum, and, if a plain linoleum is de- 

 sired, mineral coloring is added. This mixture 

 is spread on burlap and passed through rollers 

 to give it a smooth surface and uniform thick- 

 ness. -The inlaid, or figured, linoleum, is made 

 by stamping the pattern upon the surface, or 

 making the design with cements of different 

 colors. 



LINOTYPE, li'notipe, or lin'otipe, a ma- 

 chine for setting type, so named because it 

 casts a solid bar of raised letters the length 

 of a desired line. Although complicated in de- 

 sign, the machine is simple in use and enables 

 one printer to do the work of about eight in 

 setting type by hand. 



The operator sits before a keyboard similar 

 to that of a typewriter, although much larger. 

 He presses the key corresponding to that of 

 the desired letter, and a brass mold, or matrix, 

 having the letter impressed on its edge is re- 

 leased and travels down an inclined tube to a 

 moving belt by which it is carried to its proper 

 place in the line. The spaces between the 

 words are formed by duplex wedges dropped 

 into place in the same manner by pressing a 

 key. 



When the operator has set all the characters 

 the line will hold, it is transferred automat- 

 ically to the casting apparatus. Here the line 

 is properly spaced, or "justified." The molds 

 are then filled with melted type metal and a 

 solid line of type is cast, which is carried, also 

 automatically, to its ' proper position in the 

 stick. The matrices are then returned by a 

 lever to the case, being guided to their proper 

 places by elevations and depressions on the 

 back. The operator is thus relieved of the 

 task of placing the type in the stick and dis- 

 tributing the matrices, and is able to attain 

 great speed. The average speed is about 3,500 

 "ems" an hour, but a rapid operator may set 

 5,000 ems, and over; about 2,700 ems are con- 

 tained in one page of this book. 



The linotype machine was invented by Mr. 

 Ottmar Mergenthaler, of Baltimore, who com- 

 pleted it in 1884, after twenty years of experi- 

 mentation. Its success has been enormous, and 

 no other type-setting machine is so widely used 

 in the newspaper offices and other printing 

 establishments of the world. It has now been 

 developed to such a point of excellence that 

 it is capable of the most intricate work. The 



cost of a machine, with attachments for elec- 

 tric power, is about $3,000. 



LIN 'SEED OIL, which is pressed from the 

 seed of the flax plant, is the only oil success- 

 fully used in mixing paints. It is adapted to 

 this use because it has the property of absorb- 

 ing oxygen from the air and of drying quickly 

 when spread in thin coats. The tough skin 

 formed does not break or chip, and it with- 

 stands the weather. No substitute has ever 

 been found, and no adulterant has proved suc- 

 cessful. It is prepared in two ways by hot 

 press and by cold press. The latter gives a 

 better grade of oil, but not in so great quan- 

 tity. In the hot-press method, the seed is 

 ground, boiled in water and pressed. The oil 

 derived by the hot-press method is dark and 

 has an unpleasant odor, but that defect has 

 been remedied by chemical processes. It is 

 also much cheaper. Linseed oil was known in 

 very ancient times, but its peculiar properties 

 as a drying oil were not made use of until the 

 twelfth century. The production of linseed oil 

 is from eighteen to twenty-seven per cent of 

 the weight of the seed, depending upon the 

 quality of the seed and the method of extract- 

 ing the oil. The average yield is about sixty- 

 six gallons to the ton. Under normal condi- 

 tions linseed oil costs from sixty-five to seventy 

 cents a gallon. See FLAX; PAINT; VARNISH. 



LIN 'TON, WILLIAM JAMES (1812-1897), an 

 English wood-engraver and writer whose book 

 illustrations won for him an enviable reputa- 

 tion in his own day a reputation which critics 

 of later times have confirmed. He was also 

 known as a radical republican, and published 

 various periodicals in the interest of political 

 reform. The last thirty years of his life he 

 spent in the United States. 



LINZ, lintz, a city of Austria, capital of the 

 duchy and crownland of Upper Austria. It is 

 an old city; its name appears in manuscripts 

 as early as 800, and it is believed to have ex- 

 isted in Roman times. Some of its old build- 

 ings are interesting and picturesque, but for 

 the most part Linz is a modern city, with at- 

 tractive suburbs, flourishing manufactures and 

 a thriving commerce. Much of its trade is with 

 Vienna, between which city and Linz boats ply 

 daily. For Linz is on the Danube, and from 

 its wharves are sent out not only its own 

 manufactured articles, such as machinery, to- 

 bacco, woolen goods and leather, but products 

 of the tributary region, which are brought in 

 by the railroads which make Linz their center. 

 Its population in 1910 was 67,817. 



