Ottmar Mergenthaler

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Ottmar Mergenthaler

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Ottmar Mergenthaler , 1854-99, American inventor of the Linotype (see printing ). Mergenthaler was born in Germany. He emigrated to the United States in 1872 and was employed to inspect and repair clocks in the government buildings in Washington, D.C. After 1876 he lived in Baltimore, where he perfected his linotype, first patented in 1884 and put into operation in 1886 in the office of the New York Tribune. The machine revolutionized the publishing industry by allowing lines of metal type to be set from a keyboard similar to a typewriter instead of each piece of type being set by hand.

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Mergenthaler, Ottmar

The Oxford Companion to American Literature | 1995 | | © The Oxford Companion to American Literature 1995, originally published by Oxford University Press 1995. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Mergenthaler, Ottmar (1854–99),German‐born inventor, came to the U.S. (1871) and perfected the linotype machine that bears his name (1885), which was first used to set type for a daily newspaper by the New‐York Tribune (1886).

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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Mergenthaler, Ottmar." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 26 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Mergenthaler, Ottmar." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (December 26, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-MergenthalerOttmar.html

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Mergenthaler, Ottmar." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford University Press. 1995. Retrieved December 26, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-MergenthalerOttmar.html

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Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

Ottmar Mergenthaler: The Man and his Machine.(Review)
Magazine article from: Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada; 3/22/2001; ; 700+ words ; Basil Kahan. Ottmar Mergenthaler: The Man and his Machine. New...of commercial acceptance, was Ottmar Mergenthaler, inventor of the Linotype. The life of Ottmar Mergenthaler is a classic story of American...
MUSEUM OF PRINTING ACQUIRES AN ORIGINAL LINOTYPE MACHINE ONE OF TWO BUILT
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 4/7/2002; ; 700+ words ; ...was the Linotype machine. Ottmar Mergenthaler's invention, one of two...Linotype machine produced by Mergenthaler's company in the early 1970s...to make a lot of money." Mergenthaler was a German-born immigrant...
SETTING THE STAGE for the 20th Century.
Magazine article from: Graphic Arts Monthly; 12/1/1999; 700+ words ; ...century slowed the development by Ottmar Mergenthaler and others of a hot-metal...biggest invention of that era. Mergenthaler's Linotype machine, which...group of engineers from the Mergenthaler organization formed a competing...
Always a hot story
Newspaper article from: The Record (Bergen County, NJ); 3/23/2005; ; 700+ words ; ...Not just any linotype, but a Mergenthaler, Model 8, No. 44265R, dating to the late 1920s. Ottmar Mergenthaler of Baltimore invented the linotype...the alphabet: ETAOIN SHRDLU. "Mergenthaler, that man was a genius," says...
Idaho Man Provides Last Vestiges of Hot-Metal Printing Type.(Originated from The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.)
Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News; 7/7/1997; ; 700+ words ; Jul. 7--A century after Ottmar Mergenthaler invented the Linotype, it seems...catalogs put together." Before Mergenthaler's invention in 1886, printing...the availability of books, Mergenthaler made them affordable to the...
The information age ... in 1830.
Magazine article from: Cobblestone; 1/1/2005; ; 700+ words ; ...had at least one typewriter. Another technology, invented by German American Ottmar Mergenthaler (1854-1899), sprang from the typewriter. In 1884, Mergenthaler introduced the Linotype, a machine whose typewriter keyboard could set printing...
How it started one evening over drinks.(MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER)(Company overview)
Magazine article from: Real Estate Weekly; 8/20/2005; ; 700+ words ; ...type and produced his Bible, and from then until Ottmar Mergenthaler invented a linotype machine in 1886 much was unchanged. The text of REW was first produced by a Mergenthaler linotype, and since then things have changed...
Adjustable tools and Mark Twain
Magazine article from: The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc.; 3/1/2001; ; 700+ words ; ...One could set type with it, but not for long, for it had a tendency to break type and break down. Meanwhile, Ottmar Mergenthaler came along with his linotype machine which worked far better and cost much less, thereby killing any future the...
Some types enjoy Museum of Printing.(Main)
Newspaper article from: Albany Times Union (Albany, NY); 8/7/2005; 700+ words ; ...time and pluck into the hole." The museum boasts an 1885 prototype of the first linotype machine, invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler. It also has an original plate from Page One of The New York Times the day after the moon landings, which reads...
Museum Shows Power of the Printing Press
News Wire article from: AP Online; 7/17/2005; ; 662 words ; ...time and pluck into the hole." The museum boasts an 1885 prototype of the first linotype machine, invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler. It also has an original plate from Page One of The New York Times the day after the moon landings, which reads...
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Ottmar Mergenthaler. Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)

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