A MODERN “BATTERY.”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 April 1938, Page 6

A MODERN “BATTERY.”

: “TIMES-AGE” TYPE-SETTING MACHINES. ’ The “Times-Age” is set by a battery . of five linotype machines, installed in . a composing room designed and : equipped with every possible regard to working efficiency and the comfort of the men who operate the machines. The composing room is splendidly lighted, large windows extending right along the wall opposite, which the machines are placed. The compositors sit with their backs to the windows, so that the light falls clearly on the front of their machines and particularly on the boards carrying the “copy” they are engaged in setting. Like all other parts of the building, the composing room will be warmed in cold weather by a central heating plant. The monarch of the row of five type-setting machines is the Blue Streak, the latest product of me Linotype Company. With its multiple magazines, the Blue Streak is capable of setting anything from the smallest text type to big and heavy display type used in the largest headings and in advertisements. The change from one magazine to another is effected with great facility, merely by turning a crank handle. The Blue Streak is fitted also with a Mohr saw, for cutting the slugs the lines of type) to any desired length. Work of this kind, ofen called for particularly in setting advertisements, formerly had to be done by hand, taking up much more time and being done less effectively. Most of the display type and a proportion of the ordinary reading matter in this issue were set on the Blue Streak. The other units of the type-setting battery are generally similar, except that they are not capable of turning out the wide and varied range of type faces produced on demand by their big companion. All the machines are driven by individual motors, so that the greatest possible flexibility is afforded in working arrangements. Shafting is also provided, so that in the event of a failure of electric power the machines may be driven by an auxiliary plant. A wooden bulk provides a safety cover for the shafting and the upper surface of this bulk, at convenient table height, is the point . of departure for type-metal from the '■ machines to the "stones" on which the i pages are made up.