Background
Mergenthaler was born on May 11, 1854 in Hachtel, Württemberg, Germany. He was the third son of a school teacher, Johann Georg Mergenthaler.
Mergenthaler was born on May 11, 1854 in Hachtel, Württemberg, Germany. He was the third son of a school teacher, Johann Georg Mergenthaler.
He found immediate employment in the Washington, D. C. , shop of August Hahl, where various types of scientific instruments, including a great many models of new inventions required for the patent application, were made.
The machine was intended to produce print by typewriting words upon a strip of paper, which would then be reproduced by a lithographic process.
By 1878 the machine was built but, as Mergenthaler had anticipated, difficultieswere experienced in separating metal from matrix.
In 1883 he established his own shop in Baltimore and built additional machines with paper matrices.
Then he hit upon the idea of using metal matrices, casting type bars directly from them, one line at a time.
After a line of matrices with indented characters was assembled and justified, molten type metal was introduced, producing a line of type ready for printing.
All these processes, as well as the redistribution of the matrices, were performed by the single machine. By July 1884 Mergenthaler had constructed the first direct-casting Linotype; it was patented in August, and in December the National Typographic Company was organized to manufacture it.
The machine's use spread quickly throughout the United States and abroad.
He patented at least 50 improvements to it before his death. Mergenthaler was a friendly, personable man.
He had four children.