Farewell Etaoin Shrdlu (1980)

[Applause] [Applause] for [Music] [Applause] we are fast approaching press time for the first edition of tomorrow morning's paper this printer has just finished makeup of a page in the next 56 minutes all pages must be finished and recorded to meet the addition deadline of 900 p.m. but tonight's deadline is special this New York Times mirror image and lead of tomorrow's dat line reads backwards as Sunday July 2nd 1978 it marks the last day of an age-old method of printing in this composing room what you are now witnessing will exist after tonight only as a filmed historic record for the century of the linotype machine is nearing its end using 535 de molten lead it sets solid lines of type called hot type cast in newspaper column WIS now cooled a printer hands prepare the lines for insertion into a column of the page one headlines are still set by hand with types stored in traditional California cases and in time worn lllo cabinets by mning relics of the past letter by letter the printer forms the words in his composing stick in the same way that Gutenberg the first printer of the western world did more than 5 centuries ago brass molds of letters are assembled in a different composing stick also for headlines inside this lllo machine which was invented a quarter of a century after the linotype they will be cast from liquid lead to form a solid slug of typ by tomorrow this lllo 2 will be a museum piece these steel tables for page makeup are called printer Stones they have been gradually abandoned over the past months a radical changeover has taken place for a new era of computerized electronic automated and cold type photo technology has begun it started in the brightly lit area Beyond these two dark hulks of discarded linotype machines now lined up for shipment they have been the old reliables here for decades tonight 60 of the once 140 linotypes the largest battery of any newspaper in the world are on their final stint before the rush to addition time a makeup man spoke to us about this machine you know 100 years ago a man named atar Mergenthaler invented a machine called the lype now it's not a machine that's well known by most people but I find that uh it was the automation of its day the only thing is I think it was the machine that made Mass education possible it brought the price of books within the range of the average working person this is the machine over here and it's practically unchanged in 100 years I feel if old man mgol came back he could probably go over to that machine sit down and set up a couple of gall a type without any problems at all if there were any problems as far as fixing machine I'm sure he could get up and fix it but that's how long that machine has lasted 100 years [Applause] [Applause] it all begins with this machine really three machines in one assembly casting and redistribution in this portion of the machine we keep these brass mattresses which have a letter punched into their Edge in this case the letter M when I press a key these mattresses will fall along on this gravity choot and into the assembler if I press this m you'll see that M come down there it is now when I want to space a word I'll drop in a space Band which is a steel wedge it slides up and down and spreads the line to the exact size that I want in a column so that every line is exactly equal to the other in width when we send a line into the casting machine this this is what happens if we take these mattresses they'll come down and face against this steel mold hot metal molten lead will be poured into that steel mold this mattress will be faced against the with the mold of the mattress against the top the lead will harden and pick up the image from the inside of this mold and this mattress it will turn around through here it will harden it will be trimmed and it will be ejected right here now let's watch a line go in this one's just about ready going across now the bands are spreading the line out now it's the line is being pumped in the hot Le is hardening now it's being trimmed and here's your new line of tipe but the real machine is in the back it was a watchmaker who invented it this uniquely shaped eccentric cam is the heart of his entire system as it rotates it programs all the intricate operations of this automatic producer of type for the composing of the paper it makes the linotype machine run like a huge wound up clock ticking with perfect Precision in the meantime these mattresses have been redistributed and transferred into those magazines and we can use them again and again this story is is about finished now we can take it over to the bank get a galley proof send it into the proof room for proof reading and when we finished with that we'll take the type and put it either on a correction bank or maybe directly into the page and wait for the [Applause] corrections these latest machines without keyboards have built-in teletype Setter units instead of fingers on Keys perforated tape does the work like the old music roll in a player piano this enables one person to monitor three machines at once a solid bar or Pig of lead is lowered into the Melting Pot to refill it for Cask sign language is used among the paper's many deaf printers instead of three lines a minute the old manual way each machine now sets 14 lines a minute it's as far as mechanical automation could go in the pre-electronic age lines of type and picture cuts are made up into full page forms Guided by editor's layout sheets what is this thing all right look you want to make a box out of it yeah stick it up in here somewhere uh we all done here yeah that was all I got um you want to push it around or do you want to end here slit the box down here you want to make a box out of it and then turn this yeah the closest cooperation is needed between the page editor and the makeup I got it I got it I got to get it back in together they almost talk the type in to the page form coax it cool it to make it fit as they work against the clock line back on price okay everyone is aware of the time I know if I let this page only 40 minutes are left to the 9:00 first edition deadline Else Bar here from now on a page a minute 40 more pages must be completed locked up in these page forms and ready for the [Applause] presses metal Engravings like [Applause] [Music] these are cut down to size and precisely [Music] [Applause] trimmed the cuts will will print up as the drawings and photos you see in the paper every day the handling of type and cuts is the job of the makeup man while the page editor indicates to him what she wants reading the type upside down in backwards he sees a reverse image of what will be the final printed page and may even catch an Overlook eror look as bad as I thought we let it go and these two are coming so what what does this say many the moaning in pain others you had others in there oh others with an S see how they had an S you know what you do give it out again that's a bad ass it's a bad ass only 14 minutes to go everyone feels the [Applause] [Applause] urgency pages are nearing completion makeups tighten keys to bring typ and cuts closely together this keeps pieces from falling out when forms are moved off the [Applause] stones this page is about done this one is to say uh this one's going to say rescue workers Milling Milling around an ice cream truck after and then it's going to say it exploded in lower Manhattan yesterday almost finished we need is this one the editor sends this one on its way the presses are waiting trucks trains and planes must be met to rush the paper to the city to the country and to the world now this one is on its way and the last one to close is page one [Applause] [Applause] okay I'm won on time and now a work break and also a party for oldtime linotype operator Albert tangu over 49 years uh being in a a member of the composer room a senior member on a priority list the number one man on the priority list how do you feel about this change over Mr well I feel I feel that the they call it progress but as far as I'm concerned it it is not I would like to stay the way it was know keep the old the old machine running how long have you worked here uh one sh of 49 years how old are you 75 and A2 75 and2 are you retiring to tonight yeah this is the last time you'll be up here let's have a drink on it I'm I'm glad I had so many good friends of this worker chalks up his sentiments end of an eror good while it lasted crying won't help I find it very sad very sad I uh I've learned the new stuff the new processes and all but I've been a burning out for 26 years I've been in this place for 20 years 6 years apprenticeship 20 years journeyman and these are words that aren't just tossed around they've always meant something to us printers I hate to see it it's inevitable that we're going to go into computers all the knowledge I've acquired over these 26 years is all locked up in a little box now called a computer and I think probably most jobs are going to end up the same way think computers are a good idea in general oh there's no doubt about it it's going to benefit everybody eventually how long it will take I don't know carefully back on the stone were changes by the news department for the second The Late City Edition a galley of new type for a late breaking story is proofed up to be read for accuracy Corrections are checked lines with errors are replaced by corrected lines okay I won and page one is ready to go again for the new deadline 11:00 p.m. this time we follow it to the making of a stereotype [Applause] mat the mat is a damp sheet and a flexible cardboard a solid steel roller will press it against the hundreds of separate lines and picture Cuts locked together in this page form 5 minutes to the 11:00 [Applause] deadline The Stereotype Taps down a spacing lead so that it won't print the mat will soon be curved and dried into a half cylinder form from it curved solid lead plates will be cast to fit on the rotary presses the pressure of 1 ton per square in is forced upon the cardboard the raised lead TI P presses into the mat forming a mold of recessed letters the mat is now right reading and ready for [Applause] casting all right down into the stereo casting room three stories below street level in The Times building hot lead will now pour into the recessed impressions of typ in this curv the man casting starts [Music] these Mammoth Machines are up for sale some will go under the hammer at auction a few will be cannibalized for spare [Music] parts nine identical page plates to run on nine presses at the same time are cooled in these steel chambers before rolling into the Press Room when is this operation going to when going to close up it's going to close up in the [Music] morning how do you feel about it another Innovation a new new process we're moving into I do do feel about it when I think of these machines costing over $100,000 a piece to be junked it uh kind of leaves me loose you know this is as far as they could go though uh as far as the automation with the hot metal this as far as the times could go how what is it going to mean to you personally means I'll have to learn a new process one after another Into The Press Room warning bells ring when the presses start [Music] up page one splort [Applause] [Music] [Applause] these heavy plates on their snaking and crisscrossing tracks are making their final run to the nine presses tonight will the new technology just a few hours away make a big change down here the Pressman shrugs it off instead of using lead 40 lb plates and locking them up instead of using uh these red plates what we do is use a plastic plate that only weighs a few ounces and it's it just goes on a cylinder it is a magnetic bar that holds it on so you just get the hang of putting it on that's all the rest of the job won't change significantly page one maning reachs the last time that a 40 lb half cylinder plate of lead will ever again be mounted on these [Applause] presses scrap from the previous press ride is cleared from the conveyor they carry the finished papers up to the street level above now the last reversal from wrong reading type to the final in right reading printed page [Music] it all started on the L of type machine upstairs and it ends up here and the presses keep rolling through the [Music] night this this is goodbye generations of linotype operators have often run their fingers down the first two rows of keys releasing mats that read 8 ton shlo this fills out lines that start with keyboard errors the last bad line is discarded at the end of the story motor off a last Touch of your brass mats light out for good it is the End of the Age of hot type mechanical Printing and the beginning of the new to computerized coold type the electronic these seasoned printers retrained have made the transition from the the old to the new the electronic images of letters that I have just set on this video display screen I'll now send to the computer where it is processed stored and brought back when required for Corrections back to the computer when needed a touch of a keep returns it to the editor it is then changed to the design desired column width style size of type and hyphenation followed by further keyboarding of headlines and by lines then to one of five photo type Setters each an electronic Miracle inside a web of components and wiring does the work of 140 liner types generating a vast array of electronic type images on a concealed cathod rate 2 these images are contacted onto photosensitive paper at 1 th000 lines a minute emerging from the do room the photosensitized paper has now been transformed by a developing machine into photographic cold type ready for full page paste up this productivity leap from 14 to 1,000 lines a minute has made possible several flaws above by a battery of computers these units contain magnetized memory discs and electronic digital systems which store and process all the data Sent From Below switches and buttons at a touch bring us into an Ever advancing world of Automation computerization and programmed electron flow humidity and temperature monitored and controlled Around the Clock are critical these cabinets hold layered packs of yellow magnetic discs and others like this the discs in operation spin at 140 mph more than 8 million words can be stored and sent back by each dis pack and cold type on paper keeps on flowing photo technology has conquered hot metal the typ set paper is cut waxed on the back for adhesion and paste it up on full page boards on these tables that'll bring the type down to here going to be new type here yes that's going to go deeper mhm okay cool right that's holding it thank you J right from obituaries to sports to the worlds of business entertainment real estate classified and display advertising and of course the news these color patches will soon be replaced by headlines they are now being cut to exact size no more molten lead he has made it from hot type makeup to co type pasteup the last headline in place ready to go page one will now be transferred electron ically through impulses from this laser scanner machine to the plate room underground in a moment the laser beam within will scan the pasted up page this will result in 14 o flexible plastic plates made and used down below in The Press Room page after page will be run off on the high-speed rotary presses as before and fold it into the finished paper but despite Automation computerization and the continuing advances of electronics the central factor is still the work of the human brain the work of human eyes and the work of human hands in creating that power powerful element of communication a printed word