Vertical Milling Machine used by Monotype Corporation

Brown & Sharpe motorised vertical milling machine for stepping and flanging with adjustable head, 2-speed cone drive to spindle, 8 1/2 x 4-inch table with hand feeds, integral 1/4hp DC motor with switchgear, and a clamping fixture. Plant No. 703, adapted by Lanston Monotype Corporation, Salfords, Redhill, Surrey, England, 1917. This machine is part of the equipment used in the production system for Monotype composition matrices.

This machine is one of many used in the process to make a 0.2-inch (0.51cm) or 0.4-inch (1.02cm) matrix. Some of the machines were designed at the Monotype factory in Salfords, Surrey, and other machines were purchased and adapted by Monotype.

There were 82 separate processes needed to transform a designer’s drawing of a letter, figure, punctuation or symbol into a piece of Monotype metal type for printing. A pantograph was used to trace and cut the letter from a copper pattern into a piece of steel called a punch. After being hardened, the punch was driven into a piece of bronze using a crank press to produce a matrix. The finished matrix was ready to go to the Monotype Composition Caster where molten metal was pumped through a mould against the matrix to produce a piece of type.