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My dad was a linotype operator before WW2, his dad was blind and during the depression as the oldest he had to leave school at 15 to support the family (this wa

My dad was a linotype operator before WW2, his dad was blind and during the depression as the oldest he had to leave school at 15 to support the family (this was in NZ) Skilled lino operators were the programmers of their days, in short supply, they were paid really well (for the time) and could quit, travel for a while and find a job almost anywhere. When dad signed up for WW2 he was almost immediately seconded to a HQ company, men who could type were as scarce as hen's teeth, too valuable - he was shot at occasionally but they generally weren't sent right to the front line, mostly one row back - people had to be paid, orders had to be intelligible

simonh 6y ago
When I was a kid my dad ran a printing club at our school. He was a Physics and Maths teacher, but had a love of printing and photography so the printing room also had a dark room attached. He used to produce posters, leaflets and booklets for the school. In the late 70s he made a computer from a parts kit bought through an electronics magazine. Watching the type being popped on to the composing stick brought back memories.
Taniwha 6y ago
BTW if you ever get to see a linotype machine operating in a tech museum get someone to show you - especially look at how the type molds are mechanically sorted after use, how automatic line justification is done - see how a line of type (hence the name) is cast in molten type metal - it's absolutely brilliant and completely mechanical machinery Dad could read type backwards, it was part of the job, he still worked for the newspaper after getting an accounting degree after coming back from the war, I spent a summer working there, got to see a full hot-metal system working before computers came along and made lots of people redundant (used to be a reporter's copy was checked by 3-4 people: lino operator, reader, copy holder, sub editor) now it's just spellcheck ... and before the evening paper was essentially killed by TV

simonh 6y ago

When I was a kid my dad ran a printing club at our school. He was a Physics and Maths teacher, but had a love of printing and photography so the printing room also had a dark room attached. He used to produce posters, leaflets and booklets for the school. In the late 70s he made a computer from a parts kit bought through an electronics magazine. Watching the type being popped on to the composing stick brought back memories.

Taniwha 6y ago

BTW if you ever get to see a linotype machine operating in a tech museum get someone to show you - especially look at how the type molds are mechanically sorted after use, how automatic line justification is done - see how a line of type (hence the name) is cast in molten type metal - it's absolutely brilliant and completely mechanical machinery Dad could read type backwards, it was part of the job, he still worked for the newspaper after getting an accounting degree after coming back from the war, I spent a summer working there, got to see a full hot-metal system working before computers came along and made lots of people redundant (used to be a reporter's copy was checked by 3-4 people: lino operator, reader, copy holder, sub editor) now it's just spellcheck ... and before the evening paper was essentially killed by TV