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View Full Version : Ludlow vs Linotype.



mto7464
03-05-2008, 11:36 PM
Is it the same stuff? Guy has some lead from a Ludlow printer but doesn't know the composition.

grumpy one
03-06-2008, 12:22 AM
Is it the same stuff? Guy has some lead from a Ludlow printer but doesn't know the composition.

Check this site:
http://letterpressprinting.com.au/page39.htm

It appears from that information that Ludlow typesetting machines conventionally used linotype, or near-linotype alloy. According to Wikipedia the Ludlow was a very basic typesetting machine compared with a linotype machine, but produced a similar outcome: a line of precast printmetal. Of course what a machine is supposed to use, and what is actually put into it in its declining days just before it is junked, can be different.

mto7464
03-06-2008, 09:14 AM
the guy says he can bend the "bars" with his hands. Is Linotype this soft? I have yet to ever handle any. This sounds more like soft lead to me.

GSM
03-06-2008, 03:14 PM
It's not that it is soft, but that the pieces are thin.

454PB
03-06-2008, 11:23 PM
The thin strips will bend, but if bent very far, they snap.

HeavyMetal
03-06-2008, 11:45 PM
type metal, by it's nature, has to be harder than plain lead. If it wasn't the action of the press would obliterate the print before you could print half a paper!

No matter how old the machine was if it had type in it it has to be at least Lino quality and maybe better than lino!

Go see this stuff and if it's still type metal buy it all! If it's cast into ingots you got no idea, without a hardness tester, what it is. Play that price by ear and don't be afraid to walk if you think it's to high a price!

hammerhead357
03-07-2008, 08:03 PM
I used to have several old ingot moulds that were just about the same size as most of the lino pig moulds that I have ever seen and they had the word LUDLOW on the bottom. I would guess from this that the metal was lino or very close.
I wish I could remember what ever happened to those ingot moulds...Oh well CRS I suppose....Wes

Sherlok
03-09-2008, 09:25 PM
Ludlow is a type of Linotype machine. Linotype is Linotype.

Regards,
Sherlok