MORGENTHALER’S WONDERFUL LINOTYPE MACHINE. Kids, one of the best parts of my legal career was watching Linotype machines in operation. The machine seemed to me to imitate complex movements of human arms and hands. This wikipedia entry describes all the things that the machine does. Surprisingly, it says that “the most significant innovation in the linotype machine was that it automated the sorting of the letters or, in the case of a Linotype machine, the letter molds which were called “matrices”. Previously, in hand printing, somebody would have to manually sort the letters and put them back for use.
I spent a little time looking for a video of a machine in operation on Youtube, and this “Present!” video with Jim Gard seemed to give the best idea of the operation of the machine. At the beginning of the video, notice the sound of the machine.