University of South Carolina Libraries
-work, and if you are in a mind to stay, all right, and yon can have a job long as I am in Imsines. But if you do go and don’t like it, come back to Wash ington, and I’ll give you a job.’ I he determination to carry out the con tract was complete, and from that hour there was no <}uftstion about the right or wrong of it. The train that loft Washington that night carried, among its other passengers, the boy who had struggled between right and wrong. Reaching Charlotte the next day the order for the outfit with which to print the paper was mailed to The Dodson Printers’ Supply Co., of Atlan ta. After spending two or three days in Charlotte he came on to Gaffney, arriving here January 30th, 1891. In an old wooden building which stood in the rear of where now stands the Commercial Hotel w'as a dilapi dated old newspaper outfit. This out fit had served in Camden, Cheraw and other places. It was practically use less, except as old metal, and had come into possession of its owners by rea son of their having advanced money to the gentleman who had last attempted to run a newspaper in Gaffney. These gentlemen had put in this old material as part of the stock. It was at once dumped into a box and shipped to the tvpe foundry. The rear portion of Dr. W B. DuPre’s drug store was rented for an office and a partition erected to cut off the drug store from the print ing office, or vice versa. In a few’ days the material began to arrive. With the assistance of Fitzhugh am. Clester'Hopper the new material w’as placed in position. A second hand Prouty press was purchased. Outside of the press a two-horse dray could have hauled the entire outfit at one load. The job press, type, etc., how ever. had the advantage of being new and with a good deal of hard work and giving vent u) pent-up feelings ox wrath we were enabled to get out a creditable line of job work and a fairly neat paper. The first issue of The Ledger ap peared ten years ago today. With the exception of two times we have not missed a single issue since it was launched, and those two wore due to a collapse of machinery. One remark able thing is that we have missed very few mails in all that time. We started with a seven-column four-page paper once a week at $1.50 a year. In a short while we reduced the price to $1.00 a year. Prof. tt. O. Sams was the first edi tor The Ledger had. The company was chartered as the Limestone Print ing and Publishing Co. R. O. Sams was president, and he, together with A. N. Wood, W. F. McArthur, F. G. Stacy, J. E. Webster, and E. H. De- Camp were the directors. Mr. Web ster was secretary and treasurer. When w’e look at the first issues of the paper we can then realize the mag nificent growth it has enjoyed. The first issue contained but two columns of advertising, and the advertisers were: L. Baker, Carroll & Stacy, A. N. Wood, Wilkins Bros., Wm. E. Wilson, Carroll & Carpenter, W. B. DuPre and Gaffney Brokerage Co., and a notice of election and convention. Mr. A. N. Wood was the mayor and Mr. N. H. Littlejohn town clerk. There were also a few reading notices advertising Cook & Gaffney, Hall’s Catarrh Cure, and H. E. Bucklen’s preparations. Now no issue of the paper appears with less than seven columns and some contain as many as thirty columns of ads. An other gratifying matter worthy of men tion is that of the eleven advertisers that started with the first issue ten years ago, eight of them, or then suc cessors, are still numbered among its patrons and friends, the others having gone out of business. There must be something in a business that can retain each and every one of its initial patrons, except those who retire from business, for ten years.. In the initial number Prof. Sams, as editor, wrote: “Its pages must be pure, truthful, life-giving and life-inspiring, helpful in every department of human labor, commending men and measures that would uplift, condemning what would destroy life or turn it from the path of duty.” How well the precept laid down by Mr. Sams has been fol lowed by his successors we leave it to our readers to judge. As a matter of fact, we started off with a very scanty subscription list. It was practically impossible to get a man to pay for the paper in advance. There had been half a dozen attempts at establishing a paper at Gaffney and each had enjoyed a more or less brief existence and then perished, so every body was afraid to pay in advance for fear they would lose their money. We continued in the usual trend of a new newspaper enterprise. The first year there was a Joss of about four hundred dollars, and the second year the paper about made expenses. On the 27th of January, 1897, Ed. H. DeCamp leased the outfit from the di rectors. Prof. H. P. Griffith was later engaged as- editor, and his vigorous style and correct English established a reputation for the paper. In 1900 the State Baptist Conven tion was held in Gaffney and Th.e Led ger performed the remarkable fear of getting out a daily newspaper for an entire week with a weekly outfit. Later on Prof. Griffith resigned as ed itor. The paper was loser by his with drawal. The present editor undertook the task. We will not attempt to say whether or not his work has been ac ceptable. Beginning January 1st, 1901, The Ledger adopted the cash-in-advance system for its subscription list. Pre vious to that time it had a circulation of about 1000. The new system cut its list almost in two, L it the people have continued to rejoin its list until now it enjoys a circulation of nearly 1500, every subscriber being paid in advance. We discontinue promptly all subscriptions at their expiration, and the people have become accustomed to the idea and many declare that it is the only proper way to run a paper. We have lately installed a linotype machine for the purpose ,f doing our composition. We will not attaupt to ciercribe it in our own terms, but in the terms of those who are better ac quainted with this marvelous machine than we are. Our Linotype. Years of continuous experiment and the expenditure of a million dollars were required for the invention of the Mergenthaler Linotype. The linotype is pronounced by The London Engi neering to be “the most rema ’kabie machine of this century.” Its inven tion and introduction are effecting a revolution in the business of printing newspapers and books which is scarcely second in importance to the wonders wrought by electricity. It marks the first and only success ful departure from the long-established forms of type composition. The last great Improvement was the production of a machine in which the linotypes wore produced instantly and ready for use on the press by the mere fingering of keys like those of a typewriter, the keys serving to assemble in line metal matrices bearing individual letters, The machine contains as its leading members a large number of # small brass matrices. The cut of one of these matrices looks like the letter Y. and Is to be seen among the cuts il lustrating this article. These matrices consist each of a flat plate, having in its vertical edge a female letter or matrix, (a), and in There are a number of matrices for | each letter or character represnted in the keyboard. mils a single matrix, bearing the cor- r< -pending character to fail out of the mouth of the magazine and downward through the channels (E), to an In cline traveling belt (F), by which the matrices are carried downward one af ter an her, and delivered into the slotted assembling block (G), in which they are set up or composed side by side in a line or row as repesented in Figs. 5 and <!. A stationary box (H) contains a series of spaces (1), and a ! against which the slugs or linotypes were cast in type metal. This machine, known to-day in every part of the world as the linotype, is now extensively made in factories in the United States. England, and Cana da, giving employment to many hun dreds of men. The machine is used on more than five humireu of the leading dailies of the world. Over five thous and machines are constantly in use throughout the world, and by numer ous book and job printers. Operated by a single person, the ma chine produces and assemble! lino types ready for the press, or stereo typing table, at the rate of from 3,000 to 7,50u ems per hour. The linotype produces finished mat ter of the highest quality. It permits the face or style to be changed at will. It permits the operator to read and correct his matter as he proceeds, thus avoiding the usual errors in correction. Any person of intelligence can, in a few days, become a good operator, and in a few’ weeks an expert The machines were intrdcTn^ed in a printing cfilco in ICSC and :.>c still in successful daily use. It - wan djrcided, however, to follow the development and improvement of the invention as far as possible. The action of the ma chines was carefully watched for months, the requirements of the print ing office studied, and the advice of skilled printers sought in all direc tions. In the light of the information thus gained the machine was modified, improved, increased in capacity and made adjustable or convertible to meet every demand. New shops were built, new tools and machinery devised and the manufacture inaugurated on the “interchangeable” system, which has given American watches their great reputatior. The result is the present standard linotype, a machine marvel ous in speed, in the quality of its pro- Ol'K PRKSKNT HOM1C. The machine is organized to select matrices bearing the required charac ters, anil set them up in line side by side, with intervening spaces, in the order in which they are to appear in print, as shown in Fig. C, and thereaf- delivery device connected with a fin ger bar (F) by which the spaces are discharged and permitted to fall into the line at their proper places. Thus it is that, by operating the keys, the i required matrices and spaces are de ter to present the line to a mold so that the linotypes or slugs may be cast against the entire line of mat rices at one operation. The operations are affected by a mechanism such as shown in Fig. G, which represents in outline the princi- , pal parts of the machine. (A) is an livered one after another and assen bled in line in the block (G), until contains all the characters necessar to complete one line of print. Aftt the line of matrices is thus compose it is transferred, as shown by the a rows in Fig. G and Fig. 7, to the fac of a verticle mold wheel (K), throug Ol'k FIRST nOM'.i duct, and in the perf ction and action of its parts. The principal iactory is located on Ryerson street. Brooklyn, N. Y., and the offices of the company are located in the Tribune Building, New York City. The linotype is not a typesetting ma chine in the ordinary sense of the word. On the contrary, it is > rue Vine which being operated by fing'-r keys like a typewriter, c ’eates or produces type matter ready for use on the press or stereotyping rabio. The machine shown in Fig. 1 marks a wide departure from *’'e ordinary method of using single )!■• 1 mr t v pe. It produces and assembles sme by ]de metal bars or slugs, as she •*' ii : g. 2. each the length and width of a line of type, and having< n t- • upper edge the ; type characters to p-int an entire line. These bars, having t’”' aupearanco of solid lines of type, ; uswe.ing the *same purpose, are culled “linotypes.” When assembled side by side as shown in Fig. 3, they constitute jointly a “form” composed of ordinary type, and adapted to be used in the same manner. After being used the lino- 1 types are returned to the melting pot to be recast into other lines, thus do ing away with distribution. The production of the linotypes la effected as follows: inclined stationary magazine or holder, which a slot or mold proper extends it i.ii ' channels in which the as- from th.e front to the rear face, as <I f ces are stored. The mat- shown in Figs. 7 and 8. The entirfe i ice ’1 to slide downward out of row of characters in the line is pre- the m?g iziue by reason of their grav- seated directly opposite the face of ity. hut they are held in check by es- the mold or slot, as shown in Fig. 7, o iments (B), ono at the mouth of so that the mold is filled with metal to ouch channel From these escape- produce a slug or linotype, the metal meats, rods (C) are extended down- 1 will flow into the matrices, which pro- Fig. 5- wards to a sorieg of finger-keys (D). There is a special key for each charac ter or letter. The keys are depressed by the operator in the order in which the corresponding characters are to appear in print. * Each time a key Id actuated it per- duce their respective type characters in relief on the edge of the casting. Behind the mold wheel there Is ar ranged a pot (M), In which type metal is maintained in a molten condition by a flame from the gas burner (N) thereunder. The pot has a delivery mouth or channel adapted to fit against and close the r«“ar face of the mold. Within the pot there is mount- d a mechanically operated pump plunger (G>. After the line of mat rices are lifted to the distributor, and 1 are transferred laterally to the box or holder (H), to be used again. The distribution of the matrices to i their proper channels is effected by A Matrice Fig 4 ami across the face of the mold, the | follows: mouth of the pot is closed against the rear side of the mold, and after the plunger then operated to force the molten metal from the mouth of the 111^^1104.11.10111 WJL v> A. LI CLLltJ Each matrix has teeth (b) arranged in a peculiar order or number, accord ing to the letter which it bears. In i other words, a matrix bearing any giv- Fig 5 |K)t into the mold, in which it solidi fies, completing the slug or linotype. After the linotype is thus produced the mold wheel makes a partial revo lution, turning the mold slot from the horizontal position in which it stood during the casting operation to the vertical position shown in Fig. 8. While the mold stands in this posi tion, a horizontal blade (P) advances from the rear and pushes the linotype en letter differs, as to the number or arrangement of its teeth, from a mat rix bearing any other letter, and these tt-eth are relied upon as the means for effecting distribution. As shown in Figs. G and 9, a rigid metal bar (T), is fixed in position above the open upper ends of the magazine channels and is formed at its lower edge with longitudinal teeth or ribs, (t), adapted to engage the teeth of the matrices and fF%U' i?l -r. v~-i - '—■ iMm HPEL F'g 6 forward out of the mold and between trimming knives into the galley (Q) on the front of the machine. A vi brating arm (R) advances the lino types one after the other along the galley, into which they are thus as sembled side by side in column form, as shown in Fig. 8,ready for immediate use. After the assembled matrices have answered their purpose in front of the mold it is necessary to distribute and return •them to th«s magazine, from which they are ag^ disclra.rged in hold the latter in suspension. The ribs of the distributor bar vary in number and arrangement at different points in its length, there being a special arrangement over the mouth of each channel of the magazine. The matrices to be distributed are simply pushed horizontally along the bar at one end so as to hang suspended there from, and then moved slowly along it over the mouths of the channels. Each matrix will remain in engagement with and be suspended from the teeth of the bar until it arrives over its Fig 7 differont order for use in succeeding lines. Aften the casting operation the line of matrices having answered their pur pose, is lifted vertically as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 6, and then proper channel, where the arrange ment of teeth permits the matrix to disengage so that it falls directly in to the channel. This falling action of certain matrices into their respective channels, while other matrices are MOLD EJECTOR PUSHING P LINOTYPE FROM MOLD TO GALLEY ftECEiVINc ' GALLtY LINOTYPES READY FOR USE ARM TO CARRY SLUGS OVER IN GALLEY shifted laterally until the teeth en gage the teeth of the plate (R). This plate then rises as indicated by dot ted lines, lifting the entire lino of matrices to the distributing mechan ism at the top of the magazine. The spaces remain behind when the mat- Fig 8 continuing their course along the bar to their proper points of delivery. t» clearly shown In Fig. 9. The move ment of the matrices is effected by means of longitudinal screws (U), which He below the distributor bar in position to engage the edges of the matrices and slide them along the bar.