The “mechanical miracle” that ruined Mark Twain’s life

Post by kazinator » Tue, Aug 11, 2026, 4:44 AM UTC

DrewADesign wrote: post #20

bluGill wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lineotype they use lead letters. They use an alloy. There was a lot of lead, but there's also other metals in it because lead is too soft to be useful in a press. The alloy had the interest stream property that it has very low shrinkage when it cooled.

Classic letterpress type is lead, antimony and tin, but I don’t know if the so-called hot lead machines used that particular alloy. People usually just call it all “lead type” though.

Post by ekelsen » Tue, Aug 11, 2026, 4:48 AM UTC

rcbdev wrote: post #29

ekelsen wrote: post #16

I wish school curriculum included things like "how printing actually worked through ages". Monks writing out manuscripts is somewhat relatable since we all (at least for now) still learn how to write. Everyone is taught the Gutenberg press was a big deal -- but how did it actually work? Why was it still a pain and how did later inventions fix those problems?

In my school curriculum here in Vienna, this was very specifically taught in history class.

Post by ekelsen » Tue, Aug 11, 2026, 5:00 AM UTC

eru wrote: post #34

ekelsen wrote: post #16

I wish school curriculum included things like "how printing actually worked through ages". Monks writing out manuscripts is somewhat relatable since we all (at least for now) still learn how to write. Everyone is taught the Gutenberg press was a big deal -- but how did it actually work? Why was it still a pain and how did later inventions fix those problems?

Most of the things school curricula touch turn awful. It's never been easier for you and interested kids to learn these things on their own.

Post by Retric » Tue, Aug 11, 2026, 5:08 AM UTC

eru wrote: post #34

ekelsen wrote: post #16

I wish school curriculum included things like "how printing actually worked through ages". Monks writing out manuscripts is somewhat relatable since we all (at least for now) still learn how to write. Everyone is taught the Gutenberg press was a big deal -- but how did it actually work? Why was it still a pain and how did later inventions fix those problems?

Most of the things school curricula touch turn awful. It's never been easier for you and interested kids to learn these things on their own.

Post by WalterBright » Tue, Aug 11, 2026, 5:11 AM UTC

ekelsen wrote: post #33

rcbdev wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my school curriculum here in Vienna, this was very specifically taught in history class.

That's really awesome! Did they have you try and typeset something by hand? I feel like for us it presented as some magical thing that made producing books trivially easy, whereas in reality typesetting a page was still very labor intensive and not that fast!