Intertype photosetter
The Intertype photo setter is a photographic typesetting machine from Harris-Intertype Corporation, Cleveland (Ohio). It is based on WS Scudder's Intertype lead typesetting machine and was developed between 1936 and 1944. A test model went into operation in the state printing plant in Washington in 1945. Series production began in 1948, and the photosetter was presented to the public in Chicago in 1950.
technology
The function is similar to that of the lead model (Intertype model F), except that the matrices now have a negative face and an exposure device is installed instead of the casting chamber. The photo setter was mainly used for the typesetting of magazines, as well as for commercial jobs , formula typesetting, tables, running text and large type. The typesetting result could be outputted correctly, reversed, positive and negative on film or photo paper from the roll, optionally in 17, 28, 39 and 48 Cicero widths) and used as a reproduction template for letterpress printing or for assembly in offset or gravure printing .
The photosetter has a 114-key keypad that is used to enter text. When a button is pressed, a die, also known as a Fotomat, is released from the magazine and transported to the collection point. Four magazines can be inserted into the photo setter, whereby two can be mixed in each set. There are special exclusion matrices as half, third or quarter em for the spaces between words . The machine has an automatic exclusion mechanism that detects the remaining space in the line and can adjust the spacing for justified. Line widths of up to 48 Cicero (depending on the model) can be processed. The completely excluded line goes into the exposure chamber, where the individual Fotomats are exposed to light-sensitive material one after the other. Different font sizes are set using an eightfold optical lens system, which enables around 15 sizes between 4 and 36 points . The filing mechanism works exactly like the line cast intertype. For corrections there is a special punching device that punches out the incorrect line and inserts the correction.
Intertype photosetter super
The improved "Fotosetter-Super" model was introduced at the end of 1959 and has additional Fotomat sets in sizes 6, 8, 12 and 18 point as well as a new lens tower with 14 lens systems. This enables 30 different font sizes between 3 and 72 points. The sentence width increased to 50 Cicero . There is also a centering device for the rows. The typesetting performance is between 6000 and 8000 characters per hour, depending on the user, well below the capacity of the camera, which is capable of 480 exposures per minute with small font sizes.
Intertype-Fotomatic
The successor model "Fotomatic" was introduced in 1963 and can be controlled both manually and via a 6-channel punched tape. The punched tape has a similar function to the punched card . On each die there are two letters in 8 points, each in basic and distinctive font. Eight lens systems allow font sizes from 4 to 54 points to be generated. The exposure unit theoretically makes 600 exposures per minute (36,000 characters per hour) and thus more than the 18,000 characters per hour that can be achieved in practice using punched tape. Despite the higher performance, a simplified design with only 90 keys and 40 Cicero set widths resulted in a sales price that was more than halved compared to the photo setter.
The Fotomat matrices of the Fotomatic are made of brass. Corresponding fields have been left out for the double letters, in which the letter negatives on film - protected by Plexiglas on both sides - have been glued. The introduction of the letter negatives had to be carried out with the highest precision in order to guarantee the accuracy of the large cone operation. On one narrow side the letters are still engraved for information purposes (but can no longer be filled with lead), on the opposite side two large notches ensure that the exposure unit switches between normal and marking letters. For storage in the magazine, the Fotomats have the usual serrated signature for line typesetting machines.
distribution
The Intertype photo setter was mainly used in the USA. A total of around 550 machines are said to have been delivered worldwide by 1972. At the beginning of 1967 Intertype announced on request that it had installed 30 photo setters (one of them in Germany) and 12 Fotomatics (four of them in Germany) in Europe. The selling price for the photo setter in 1968 was approx. 152,000 DM, the price for the Fotomatic approx. 65,000 DM.
literature
- CL Boileau: The Intertype 'Photosetter' Machine . In: The Penrose Annual . Volume 47, London 1953, pp. 91-94.
- Sepp Dußler, Fritz Kolling: Modern typesetting . 4th edition. Verlag Documentation Saur KG, Pullach 1974, ISBN 3-7940-8703-8 .
- Georg Gnauck: The printing technician . Book printing and publishing house Horst Gnauck, Berlin 1972, p. 23f.
- Jochen Kleinert: Photo typesetting - with its upstream and downstream problems . Written Main work z. State final examination Wuppertal, 1968, p. 13, p. 40–44.
- Willy Klemz: The typography and the typesetting machines. Golden Rules No. 4 . Kupijai & Prochnow, Berlin 1960.
- Günter Schmitt: typesetter. Typographer. A job through the ages . AT Verlag, Aarau 1990, ISBN 3-85502-380-8 .