The first practical mechanized type casting machine was invented in 1884 by Ottmar Mergenthaler. It is regarded as the greatest advance in 
printing since the development of moveable type 400 years earlier.Born in Germany, Mergenthaler was trained as a watch and clockmaker. He arrived in Baltimore in 1872, and took a job in a machine shop, eventually working his way up into a partnership. At the age of 32, he designed and built his first practical printing machine. With it, the two operations of setting and casting type in leaden lines were performed simply by touching the keys of a board similar to the keyboard of a typewriter Mergenthaler’s machine enabled one operator to be machinist, type-setter, justifier, type-founder, and type-distributor. His invention was called the ‘Linotype’. Since the machine was first used in 1886 by the New York Tribune, great improvements on its design have been made. Probably more than 1,500 separate patents have been taken out in connection with it!
