Wisconsinite
Red Skull Member
I bought a tool box and found this tool in it. I have no idea what it is, appears to be made of brass. Any ideas?
Internals for an old cash register?
Internals for an old cash register?
It looks like there are four brass rods running the length of the part. It is very odd.
They are called 'mats', used in a Linotype machine. Old school, the way we used to set type ('hot type') using these brass mats, we would cast molten lead ('lino metal') to create lines of type for letterpress printing.
Turns out it is a part for old type setting machines. Was pulled from a newpaper printer way back when , according to the daughter of the PO.
Turns out it is a part for old type setting machines. Was pulled from a newpaper printer way back when , according to the daughter of the PO.
Turns out it is a part for old type setting machines. Was pulled from a newpaper printer way back when , according to the daughter of the PO.
No idea. My phone does a thing where if you hold the camera to something it'll pull up similar images and it came up blank. Looks like something that if you twist it the wrong way, Pinhead will show up and teach you about suffering. Be careful with that.
I was going to say this. Linotype matrix.
Source: Not a printer (though I was once in a printing union), just watched all 3 Industrial Revelations series on youtube. I strongly recommend the entire series.
15:55
But also though to be fair to me, I know what a linotype matrix is because it's one of the major civilizational advancements of the Industrial Age. The Germans came up with the printing press (a literal hand operated press), the power press (automated, invented by Kerning, which is now the term for the space between characters), and Linotyping, but the British came up with the modern fonts (Baskerville). When it came to font, the Germans went way, way, way down the rabbit hole of ornate Tuetonic script. British made font easy to read (I still use Baskerville on documents).
Mind your p's and q's comes from printing, but that's a pretty well known trivia. From hand type-setting.
Shut up. All you do is google and watch youtube from your mommy's basement. That doesnt make you an expert on anything.