Type metal question

[Jack Stanley]

An ad on the for sale section got me wondering about some lino I picked up a while back perhaps someone can answer a question for me .

This batch has the small lines of letters like you would expect newsprint to be . It also has even thiner strips of metal about the thickness of very thick paper but other than that it's dimensionally the same . It bends easier than the other before breaking but that may be because its thinner I just don't know .

Question is ; are the thin strips likely made of the same alloy ?

Thanks , Jack

[Texasflyboy]

An ad on the for sale section got me wondering about some lino I picked up a while back perhaps someone can answer a question for me .

This batch has the small lines of letters like you would expect newsprint to be . It also has even thiner strips of metal about the thickness of very thick paper but other than that it's dimensionally the same . It bends easier than the other before breaking but that may be because its thinner I just don't know .

Question is ; are the thin strips likely made of the same alloy ?

Thanks , Jack


Yes. Those thin strips are line spacers to set type closer or farther apart depending on the font size of the type.

There were used when racking the lines of type (line o type) into the print box master to set the spacing.

Same material at the other lines of type.

But, do a magnet test. It wasn't uncommon for thin pieces of steel to be used in the same way. From time to time when I used to get type metal, I would find small pieces like that both in type metal and in steel in the scrap.

[runfiverun]

i run across those strips in the junk lead pile at our local scrap yard, and get them for .40 a lb.
i ain't gonna tell them what they are.

[Jack Stanley]

Thanks fellas .

Jack

[454PB]

I also found a lot of copper strips mixed in with my loose linotype and monotype.

[Gussy]

I was at the junk yard last week. He had a part barrel of type. They wanted $.75 for "lead" any form, type included.

[cabezaverde]

Based on my experience in the industry, those were called "leads" - pronounced leds.

They are pretty close to pure, as evidenced by their much easier bending compared to the lino strips.

When my CRS kicks out, I will remember the name of the machine that made them.

[cabezaverde]

My brain cell just fired - the machine that makes the lead spacer strips is an Elrod.

Look here for a photo:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Metal_strip_cast_by_Elrod_machine.jpg

[Jack Stanley]

That's the strip I'm talking about and the info on the machine is interesting also . I remember as a youngster the little town news was in the old railway depot . Every so often I'd stop in and watch the man type the strips of lead for the news , it was amazing to watch .

Jack

[cabezaverde]

Glad I could help Jack. I was a teenager running one of those, a Linotype machine, and the Ludlow machine they mentioned in the Elrod article in the early 70's.

On an apprentice - trade program in high school at a local job shop printer.

So, just to stay on track, those spacers are real close to pure. Just because it came with Linotype lines doesn't mean it is all Linotype metal.

[Blacksmith]

Because those strips, the leads, were only spacers and did not do any printing they did not have to be as hard an alloy. The steel strips may be "rule" which depending on edge shape are used for printing very thin lines, or creasing card stock, or perforating tear offs, or cutting shapes. If they are rule they will be the same height as the type but if they are spacers they will be shorter.

Blacksmith

[hammerhead357]

I had never heard of them being pure lead but it sure could have been. Most of the old hottype shops I was around had an old Elrod or, such I thought the other was a Ludlow, and would cast their own strips and all of them I was around used lino. But that is just what I saw so can't comment about all of it.

One of the shops that I bought out had a lot of it still in the brown paper wrapping that it came in from the factory and the old printer told me it was lino and that was how I used it.
I had the same results with it as from Lino so at least in this instance it was the same....Wes

[454PB]

My lot had both. Some of the spacer strips seemed to be very soft, and others would snap in half if bent.

[Jack Stanley]

I think the next time I need to use lino for something , I'll sort the little strips out untill I have enough for a potfull to try .

Jack

[hammerhead357]

454pb yes all of the ones I ran across would bend only so far and then snap. However some of them were pretty thick and wouldn't bend easily. They had a crystal structure like lino when they snapped IIRC but it has been many years since I had many of them. I think I still may have a few small pieces in the reloading room. Will have to see if I can find them and maybe post a picture....Wes