Category: Monotype

An Excellent Film for English Monotype Operators

That is, for people who operate an English Monotype Composition Caster (as opposed to the American Lanston Monotype machine). Even more specifically, given the mix of English and American equipment now in use, for users of English composition moulds. There

Monotype 14-point Display Fonts #1 and #2

I recently cast several fonts of type in Monotype  #329 Sans Serif Light. This included 12-point from composition matrices and 14-point from display matrices. As with a few other Monotype faces, this one is available as display matrices in two

49A Matrix Holder Parts Breakdown

The Monotype 49A matrix holder is listed with plate 35 in the English Spare Parts List book, and although a list of all its parts is included, the holder is not shown in the illustration. This post shows the internals

Lanston Monotype Wedge Substitutions

Based on the data from Alembic Press’s Monotype information, there are a few normal wedges that are interchangeable. So far, this is just theoretical, so I haven’t tried this. And of course, any errors in my source data will reflect

Mystery Diecase Combs Identified!

I previously posted about some Monotype diecase combs which were too long for any diecases that could be used on the Composition Caster. I did not think they were for the newer Monomatic caster because I thought the diecases for

Mystery Matcase Solved!

Thanks to Mark K. Digre on the Letterpress mailing list, I think the mystery of the strangely-sized cellular matrices has been solved! The mechanism for using this matcase is described in US patent number 1079321. Essentially, the caster is fitted

Monotype Pump Stroke Counter Tweak

Although I thought I had the pump stroke counter on my Monotype working, I recently did some casting and found it still wasn’t counting properly. Fiddling with the magnet and sensor position didn’t seem to help. The job probably could

Now I know…

…why the Monotype manuals say not to raise or lower the pot unless it is molten. They never explained why this could cause any problems, and the pump piston linkage is jointed enough to follow the pot up and down

Sorting the Sorts

Now that I have the font display matrices in boxes, I have an assortment of sorts matrices to sort out and store. In addition to the sorts I also had a few cardboard boxes of unfiled small caps, odd sizes,

Making a Display Matrix, but Which One?

It seems natural for me, as a first project using my new pantograph engraver, to try making a matrix. Rather than designing a whole new family of typefaces (or even a single typeface), I decided to make a single character.

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