Tolbert Lanston

February 3, 1844 (age 69)

Troy, Ohio, United States

Lanston helped his father with the farm work, in which he displayed a marked mechanical skill and inventive ability, until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted and served throughout that struggle. At its close he went to Washington, D. C. , and obtained a clerical position in the United States Pension Office. For twenty-two years he continued in this service, meantime studying law and being admitted to the bar. He also found time to exercise his mechanical ingenuity. In 1870 he patented a padlock and in the following year a hydraulic dumbwaiter, a brush and comb, and a railroad car coupler. In 1874 he invented a locomotive smokestack; and in 1878 a sewing-machine chair. Later he was granted patents for a sewing machine, a water faucet, and a window sash. About 1883 he became greatly interested in machines for composing type, probably as a result of the work along this line which Ottmar Mergenthaler was then doing in Washington. Presumably Lanston devoted all of his available time between 1883 and 1887 to this subject, for he was rewarded on June 7, 1887, with a series of three patents for "producing justified lines of type, " one for a "type forming and composing machine, " and one for a new form of type. About the same time he obtained British patent No. 8183 on the same mechanisms. Resigning from the Pension Office, he organized the Lanston Type Machine Company, in Washington, and to it assigned all his patents. He then undertook the difficult task of converting his patented ideas into a practical machine for commercial work, and at the same time a machine which could be successfully manufactured. For ten years he labored on the problem and finally introduced in 1897 his perfected "monotype. " The monotype consists really of two machines, one for composing type and one for casting it. On the composing machine is a keyboard much like that of a large typewriter: when each key is struck, two perforations are made in a paper ribbon, this ribbon then passes to the second or casting machine, and, as it runs through, air passing through its perforations causes letters to be cast, one by one, at the rate of 150 a minute. As each letter is cast it is pushed into a line and each line as finished is added to the last. Lanston at first worked on the idea of stamping the types in cold metal but about 1890 arranged his machine to cast them from melted metal. A few years prior to the introduction of his machine, he reorganized his company and, under the new name of Lanston Monotype Manufacturing Company, established a plant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the next thirteen years he not only assisted in the successful conduct of the business but also devoted much time to the further perfection of the monotype. Over and above his basic patents of 1887 he was granted further patents in 1896, 1897, 1899, 1900, 1902, and 1910. While the linotype composing machine antedated the monotype, there was apparently room for both: fully nine-tenths of all type setting in the United States is done on these machines. In 1899 he also patented an adding machine. Shortly after securing his last patent he was stricken with paralysis and was invalided until his death three years later. He died in Washington.

Tolbert Lanston

Edit Profile

inventor

Background

Tolbert Lanston was born on a farm at Troy, Ohio, the son of Nicholas Randall and Sarah Jane (Wright) Lanston. During his boyhood he moved with his parents to Iowa.

Education

He attended the district schools.

Career

Lanston helped his father with the farm work, in which he displayed a marked mechanical skill and inventive ability, until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted and served throughout that struggle. At its close he went to Washington, D. C. , and obtained a clerical position in the United States Pension Office. For twenty-two years he continued in this service, meantime studying law and being admitted to the bar. He also found time to exercise his mechanical ingenuity.

In 1870 he patented a padlock and in the following year a hydraulic dumbwaiter, a brush and comb, and a railroad car coupler. In 1874 he invented a locomotive smokestack; and in 1878 a sewing-machine chair. Later he was granted patents for a sewing machine, a water faucet, and a window sash.

About 1883 he became greatly interested in machines for composing type, probably as a result of the work along this line which Ottmar Mergenthaler was then doing in Washington. Presumably Lanston devoted all of his available time between 1883 and 1887 to this subject, for he was rewarded on June 7, 1887, with a series of three patents for "producing justified lines of type, " one for a "type forming and composing machine, " and one for a new form of type.

About the same time he obtained British patent No. 8183 on the same mechanisms. Resigning from the Pension Office, he organized the Lanston Type Machine Company, in Washington, and to it assigned all his patents. He then undertook the difficult task of converting his patented ideas into a practical machine for commercial work, and at the same time a machine which could be successfully manufactured.

For ten years he labored on the problem and finally introduced in 1897 his perfected "monotype. " The monotype consists really of two machines, one for composing type and one for casting it. On the composing machine is a keyboard much like that of a large typewriter: when each key is struck, two perforations are made in a paper ribbon, this ribbon then passes to the second or casting machine, and, as it runs through, air passing through its perforations causes letters to be cast, one by one, at the rate of 150 a minute. As each letter is cast it is pushed into a line and each line as finished is added to the last. Lanston at first worked on the idea of stamping the types in cold metal but about 1890 arranged his machine to cast them from melted metal.

A few years prior to the introduction of his machine, he reorganized his company and, under the new name of Lanston Monotype Manufacturing Company, established a plant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the next thirteen years he not only assisted in the successful conduct of the business but also devoted much time to the further perfection of the monotype. Over and above his basic patents of 1887 he was granted further patents in 1896, 1897, 1899, 1900, 1902, and 1910. While the linotype composing machine antedated the monotype, there was apparently room for both: fully nine-tenths of all type setting in the United States is done on these machines. In 1899 he also patented an adding machine.

Shortly after securing his last patent he was stricken with paralysis and was invalided until his death three years later. He died in Washington.

Achievements

Lanston was well known as the founder of Lanston Monotype Manufacturing Company and the inventor of the monotype, a typesetting machine that produces type in individual characters. It was patented by Tolbert in 1887. For his invention Lanston was awarded the Cresson gold medal by the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia in 1896.

Connections

Lanston was married in 1865 to Betty G. Heidel of Washington and a number of years after her death he married, in 1909, Alice H. Hieston of that city.

Father:: Nicholas Randall Lanston
Mother:: Sarah Jane (Wright) Lanston
Spouse:: Alice H. Hieston
Spouse:: Betty G. Heidel

Main Photo

School period

College/University

Career

Achievements

Membership

Awards

Other Photos

Connections

Connections

Tolbert Lanston

Background

Education

Career

Achievements

Connections

Born

Died

Resting place

Nationality

Awards

Elliott Cresson Medal

Cresson Gold Medal of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia