Techniques
used in online printing services
Mechanical composition
and typesetting is a modern
still widely
used since the first decades of
the 20th century. In this technique
all type was set and composed into
columns and pages by hand or by
mechanical means
 Letterpress
composition by hand type
Mechanical composition and typesetting
technique needs the typographer
to work standing in front of the
case. He locks the knee of the composing
stick at the length of the line
to be composed. Against the inside
edge of the stick he places a lead,
a strip of nonprinting lead alloy
that later enables him, using a
second lead, to grip the finished
line in order to remove it from
the composing stick. Holding the
composing stick in one hand, he
uses the other to select the individual
type characters from the case.
Semi-mechanized
composition type Mechanical composition
and typesetting printing
technique uses Ludlow as
a combination machine. Though the
Ludlow automatically casts slugs,
it is related to hand composition
by the way the matrices are assembled.
The matrices are bronze blocks bearing
the letter or sign engraved in intaglio
on their lower side and with two
shoulders on their upper side.
Slugcasting typesetting
type Mechanical composition
and typesetting printing
technique is particularly
suited to printing newspapers. In
this technique, the Linotype and
Intertype slugcasting typesetters
produce lines of letterpress composition
in a single operation, starting
with the assembling of the movable
matrices. The set of matrices is
stored in a magazine, a flat, trapezoidal
metal box consisting of 90 channels.
The operator sits in front of a
keyboard with 90 keys, corresponding
to the channels in the magazine.
Modern machines
have several magazines of varying
type sizes that can be used alternately.
Double-distribution machine is a
modern typesetting machine
which permits two magazines
to be used at once by pressing a
supplementary key. The performance
of recent models has been improved
by accelerating the revolution of
the matrices, intensifying the cooling
system of the mold, and increasing
the number of molds on the mold
wheel to six.
Typesetter casting aligned characters
typesetting type Mechanical composition
and typesetting printing
technique uses a Monotype
keyboard. The operation of the Monotype
typesetter, which casts individual
aligned characters, is based on
a system of measuring the width
of characters, called the set. This
special model of the keyboard permits
simultaneous perforation of two
tapes for composing the same text
in identical or different kinds
of type and lengths of line. The
advantages of the Monotype system
are the quality of its composition
and the ease with which corrections
can be made without having to reset
the whole line. This technique is
not well suited to newspaper printing
because of the difficulty of handling
lines of movable type and because,
since typecasting begins with the
end of the tape, composition must
wait until all the type has been
cast.
Automatic
composition (perforated
tape) type Mechanical composition
and typesetting technique
uses
(TTS) system. The most recent typesetters
specially designed for use with
the Teletypesetter simplifies the
path taken by the matrices and speeds
the starting up of the casting cycle.
Computer
Programmed composition
type Mechanical composition and
typesetting technique uses computer,
the use of which eliminates manual
intervention in preparing the perforated
tape, in assessing the length of
the lines, and even in deciding
how to end them. The computer can
also carry out the correction of
mistakes before composition. The
computer is usually programmed to
sort out and correct even mistakes
or anomalies in typing.
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