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The ATF Typesetter: Before the B-8
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Quadibloc
Apr 18, 2019, 2:57:55 AM4/18/19
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A number of older books about the then emerging field of phototypesetting will
include photographs of the ATF Typesetter.
This phototypesetter appeared to have been built by bolting a photographic unit
with a font disc on to a modified Flexowriter (or Justowriter).
I found, on Google Books, one item in a magazine for the drafting trade that
mentioned that it came in two versions, one using an 18-unit system, and a less
expensive one using a 7-unit system. I haven't been able to find any other
sources for the statement that one version used a 7-unit system, though.
What I did find, though, were:
The patent for the original version of the ATF Typesetter: US 3,082,670
The patent for a newer version capable of 18-unit typesetting: US 3,333,668
As well, if I do a Google Book Search on the terms "18 increment" "ATF
typesetter" I get multiple results concerning ATF's announcement of their new,
improved 18-increment ATF typesetter model B-8, which now produces output of a
higher quality than earlier models. The announcement was in 1963; the ATF
Typesetter first entered the market in 1959.
One web site in French noted that due to the limited quality of the earlier
version of the device, not many of those were sold. And apparently therefore it
is very obscure. I have managed to find a couple of samples of the print from
the older version; constructing an alphabet of one typeface, and comparing it to
Linn Boyd Benton's Self-Spacing Type, as far as I could tell, the widths could
match (and that 19th-century form of easy to set movable type was based on a 7
unit system).
Where would I ask about such matters?
John Savard
include photographs of the ATF Typesetter.
This phototypesetter appeared to have been built by bolting a photographic unit
with a font disc on to a modified Flexowriter (or Justowriter).
I found, on Google Books, one item in a magazine for the drafting trade that
mentioned that it came in two versions, one using an 18-unit system, and a less
expensive one using a 7-unit system. I haven't been able to find any other
sources for the statement that one version used a 7-unit system, though.
What I did find, though, were:
The patent for the original version of the ATF Typesetter: US 3,082,670
The patent for a newer version capable of 18-unit typesetting: US 3,333,668
As well, if I do a Google Book Search on the terms "18 increment" "ATF
typesetter" I get multiple results concerning ATF's announcement of their new,
improved 18-increment ATF typesetter model B-8, which now produces output of a
higher quality than earlier models. The announcement was in 1963; the ATF
Typesetter first entered the market in 1959.
One web site in French noted that due to the limited quality of the earlier
version of the device, not many of those were sold. And apparently therefore it
is very obscure. I have managed to find a couple of samples of the print from
the older version; constructing an alphabet of one typeface, and comparing it to
Linn Boyd Benton's Self-Spacing Type, as far as I could tell, the widths could
match (and that 19th-century form of easy to set movable type was based on a 7
unit system).
Where would I ask about such matters?
John Savard
Rich Alderson
Apr 18, 2019, 1:54:17 PM4/18/19
to
Brunswick. From the mail headers:
List-Subscribe: <mailto:LETPRESS-subs...@LISTSERV.UNB.CA>
A number of very knowledgable printers and typographers live there, including
Steve Saxe, who has written histories of printing technology.
--
Rich Alderson ne...@alderson.users.panix.com
Audendum est, et veritas investiganda; quam etiamsi non assequamur,
omnino tamen proprius, quam nunc sumus, ad eam perveniemus.
--Galen
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