Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Ottmar Mergenthaler's machine cast slug by slug and replaced hand compositors. The figure is taken from Smithsonian Institution, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a history fact?

Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

The Linotype set whole lines of type at once

Ottmar Mergenthaler's machine cast slug by slug and replaced hand compositors Before typesetting machines, compositors picked individual metal letters by hand. Ottmar Mergenthaler's Linotype, first used at the New York Tribune in 1886, assembled brass matrices for a whole line, cast it as a single metal slug and returned the matrices. It made daily newspapers of many pages practical. It sits in Mondo's history collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Smithsonian Institution

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

History trivia Technology trivia

More facts like this

Wood pulp made newspapers cheap enough for everyoneGround timber replaced rag paper in the 1840s with Friedrich Keller's grinding process Lithography let printers work straight from drawingsAlois Senefelder's grease on limestone process spread art to cheap posters Bi Sheng invented clay movable type printing in ChinaSong Dynasty artisan Bi Sheng crafted individual ceramic character tiles around 1040 CE The London Gazette is the oldest surviving newspaperIt has been published continuously in Britain since 7 November 1665 Receipt printers use heat-sensitive paper coated with leuco dyeTargeted thermal pulses turn chemical paper coatings black to print receipt text The Diamond Sutra is the oldest dated printed bookThe scroll carries a printed colophon dated to the year 868 AD

Tags: printing, newspapers, typesetting

The Linotype set whole lines of type at once: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Ottmar Mergenthaler's machine cast slug by slug and replaced hand compositors. The figure is taken from Smithsonian Institution, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a history fact?: Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.