The Dead Media Notebook by Bruce Sterling, Richard Kadrey, Tom Jennings, Tom Whitwell Page A
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but was not practical for making copies written with the light pressure of pen and ink. Typewriters changed the situation. Copying with carbons was called “manifolding,” and some typewriters were sold claiming the ability to make up to 25 carbon copies at once!
An alternative duplicating method for very long runs became available after the turn of the century in a device called the Gammeter or Multigraph. This was actually a small rotary printing press, with grooves in its cylinder allowing type to be easily set on the surface. Setting the type took more work than producing a stencil, of course, so the Multigraph’s use was limited. The 20 th century brought other new potentials to “office duplicating” advancing it considerably toward “desktop publishing.”
Among the new devices was the Vari-Typer, an evolved form of the old Hammond Typewriter, which had been on the market since 1884. The Hammond was distinctive in that it typed with a single type element, a simple curved strip which could be quickly changed for a variety of typestyles.
In the 1920’s Hammond added variable pitch to its machines, making typestyles in widely different sizes practical for the same machine. Later, the Hammond was renamed Vari-Typer, and the Ralph Coxhead Corporation took it over. The Vari-Typer was electrified and equipped with differential spacing and line justification.
Lines were justified by typing them twice. The first typing determined the number of letters on the line, which was set on a dial. This altered the word spacing to align the right margin for the second typing.
No longer was this machine called a typewriter. It was known as a cold typesetter, and Vari-Typers using the basic Hammond design were in production until the 1970’s. The Vari-Typer could be used to type Mimeograph stencils, although this was a bit cumbersome.
Much easier was its use with photo-lithography, which appeared in the 1930’s. As today, an original was created on plain paper, and a litho plate was produced from it by photography. Back then it was not as easy as it is today, but the concept was the same. Special materials were also available allowing the original to be typed directly on a thin, flexible printing plate. Thousands of copies could be printed on a small offset printing press from a Vari-Typer original.
Such devices were used to produce the surrender documents signed by Japan aboard the Battleship Missouri at the end of World War Two.
The combination of typewriters, Vari-typers, Mimeographs, Multigraphs, offset litho machines and spirit duplicators carried our developing desktop publishing technology through to the end of its first century in 1956.
Electrostatic copying, which first appeared in 1938, was just beginning to make a big impact as the 1960’s approached.
“Xerox” was starting to become a household word, but high-volume plain paper copiers would take a while to become the inexpensive fixtures they are today.
In 1956, computers had not reached desktop publishing capability, and the instant print shop was still years away.
The Vari-Typer, however, would soon find a competitor in IBM’s Selectric Typewriter, introduced in 1960, and later available in typesetting versions with all the features offered by Vari-Typers.
The first century of desktop publishing offered tremendous progress for people who wanted to turn out printed material on a small scale. However, the second century so far has been nothing less than amazing.
Who, after all, would have ever dreamed that an entire publication could be written, edited, typeset and composed before even the first drop of ink was applied to the first piece of paper?
Source: The Office Magazine; Early Typewriter Collectors’ Association
Military Telegraphy, Balloon Semaphore
From Bradley O’Neill
“Balloons were used for observation in the sieges of Conde (1793), Maubeuge (1794), and Charleroi (1784); in the battle of Fleurs (1794) and Gosselins (1794); and
An alternative duplicating method for very long runs became available after the turn of the century in a device called the Gammeter or Multigraph. This was actually a small rotary printing press, with grooves in its cylinder allowing type to be easily set on the surface. Setting the type took more work than producing a stencil, of course, so the Multigraph’s use was limited. The 20 th century brought other new potentials to “office duplicating” advancing it considerably toward “desktop publishing.”
Among the new devices was the Vari-Typer, an evolved form of the old Hammond Typewriter, which had been on the market since 1884. The Hammond was distinctive in that it typed with a single type element, a simple curved strip which could be quickly changed for a variety of typestyles.
In the 1920’s Hammond added variable pitch to its machines, making typestyles in widely different sizes practical for the same machine. Later, the Hammond was renamed Vari-Typer, and the Ralph Coxhead Corporation took it over. The Vari-Typer was electrified and equipped with differential spacing and line justification.
Lines were justified by typing them twice. The first typing determined the number of letters on the line, which was set on a dial. This altered the word spacing to align the right margin for the second typing.
No longer was this machine called a typewriter. It was known as a cold typesetter, and Vari-Typers using the basic Hammond design were in production until the 1970’s. The Vari-Typer could be used to type Mimeograph stencils, although this was a bit cumbersome.
Much easier was its use with photo-lithography, which appeared in the 1930’s. As today, an original was created on plain paper, and a litho plate was produced from it by photography. Back then it was not as easy as it is today, but the concept was the same. Special materials were also available allowing the original to be typed directly on a thin, flexible printing plate. Thousands of copies could be printed on a small offset printing press from a Vari-Typer original.
Such devices were used to produce the surrender documents signed by Japan aboard the Battleship Missouri at the end of World War Two.
The combination of typewriters, Vari-typers, Mimeographs, Multigraphs, offset litho machines and spirit duplicators carried our developing desktop publishing technology through to the end of its first century in 1956.
Electrostatic copying, which first appeared in 1938, was just beginning to make a big impact as the 1960’s approached.
“Xerox” was starting to become a household word, but high-volume plain paper copiers would take a while to become the inexpensive fixtures they are today.
In 1956, computers had not reached desktop publishing capability, and the instant print shop was still years away.
The Vari-Typer, however, would soon find a competitor in IBM’s Selectric Typewriter, introduced in 1960, and later available in typesetting versions with all the features offered by Vari-Typers.
The first century of desktop publishing offered tremendous progress for people who wanted to turn out printed material on a small scale. However, the second century so far has been nothing less than amazing.
Who, after all, would have ever dreamed that an entire publication could be written, edited, typeset and composed before even the first drop of ink was applied to the first piece of paper?
Source: The Office Magazine; Early Typewriter Collectors’ Association
Military Telegraphy, Balloon Semaphore
From Bradley O’Neill
“Balloons were used for observation in the sieges of Conde (1793), Maubeuge (1794), and Charleroi (1784); in the battle of Fleurs (1794) and Gosselins (1794); and
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