Apprentice linotype operator at Queensland Times, Ipswich, 1975

1975

Linotype, typesetting machine by which characters are cast in type metal as a compete line rather than as individual characters as on the Monotype typesetting machine. It was patented in the United States in 1884 by Ottmar Mergenthaler. Linotype, which has now largely been supplanted by photocomposition, was most often used when large amounts of straight text matter were to be set. In the Linotyp