Letter Assembly-I (Third Semester)

Historical Development of Typesetting from Guttenberg to present

                                                                                                                                                   John Guttenberg invented movable type in the mid of the fifteen century. The second event in 1886, otter Mergenthaler developed the Linotype machine and Talbert E. Lanston introduced the Monotype machine in the year 1898.

In 1911, Ludlow Typographic company manheted its display typesetting machine named Ludlow machine.

In 1920, Walter Morey invented Typesetting (T.T.S.) machine. The T.T.S. went through various stages of development, and by the early 1950, hundreds of newspaper used T.T.S. Keyboards.

Although there are many different opinions on dates, places and people involved in the birth of Phototypesetting, most sources indicate that Phototypesetting had its beginning in France in 1944. Two French engineers Rene A. Higonnet and Louis became interested in the use of flash tubes to expose characters on to photo graphic materials. Higonnet and Louis developed a machine that projected light through spinning disc that contained a type font, and then on to photo graphic material. In 1946, Higonnet visited the U.S. seek financial backing. He contacted W.W. Girth, president of Lithomat Corporation, developers of Lithoplates. Development of Phototypesetting continued and in 1949 their first machine was shown to the industry Lithomat later changed its name to photon and by 1955 the 200 series of photon Phototypesetting machine was introduced.

Hyphenation, Justification and pagination are electronically performed and line and halftone graphics can be electronically inserted. Vide Display Terminal (VDT) can be used for editing. Corrections or revisions can be re-routed back to the computer. The outfit is generated on the face of a Cathode   Ray Tube for recording on to a photographic material.

Person’s related to the industry and consultants started classifying the technological system into generations of Phototypesetting machines.

a     First Generation Phototypesetting machine

Phototypesetting incorporates photographic technology into the electro-mechanical world of hot metal typesetting. Machines such as the Interty Photo setting and Mono-Photo type setters come into this classification. Those machines used matrix to contain a complete characters alongside each other.

a    Second Generation Phototypesetting machine

Phototype setters incorporate electro-mechanical escapement system with electronically controlled minors, lenses and gears to set lines of type (rather than individual characters). Included among these machines are the Photo 200, the Mergen Thalor Linofilm, and Intertype Fototronic. These machines introduce storage of characters on discs, drums and grids to provide larger character repertories and size changing capability.

a    Third Generation Phototypesetting machine

Phototypesetting machine shifts from electromechanical to electronic escapement systems and form matrix fonts to digitizing as a means of projecting characters on to film or paper, it is a generation designed to work with computers. Examples of this classifications includes Mergenthalor Linotron 1010 and Harris Fototronic C.R.T. Typeseters. The digitizing is accomplished by a computer and is displayed on a Cathode Ray Tube (C.R.T), from which the characters pass either through a lenses or onto a fiber-optics face plate and on to the photographic material.

a    Fourth Generation Phototypesetting machine

Phototypesetting incorporates LASER can aronym for Light Amplification by (Stimulated Emission of radiation) technology and ins in its beginning stages at presstime. Examples of this classification include the Monotype Laser comp. and Mergenthaler Omnitech 2000 typesetting systems. This generation incorporates a sophisticated Light source into fully computerized systems that can scan, copy, set type, compose pages, insert drawings and halftones, create tabular materials and store all of the above information in memory for assembly and exposure onto made up pages or printing plates/paper and film galleys and page makeup are current, but they will be by passed by system approaches is the future.

v    Advantages

Fourth generation phototypesetting offer severe advantages over 3^rd generation devices, especially for the generation of graphic images. For this reason 4^th generation Phototype setters are offer referred to an image setter. One major advantage is the 4^th generation devices for type production are the almost complete elimination of all stepping type formation.