THE TACTICS OF TAPESETTING

[Music] This film is the result of a program presented by Mganthaler Linotype Company to the American Newspaper Publishers Association. The presentation was designed to clear up the confusion which has been created by some of the proposals for exotic equipment that may someday be practical for newspaper production. Though directed to newspaper production problems, the basic theme applies to all type setting requirements. We call it the tactics of tape setting. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] The theme of this program is tape. Tape that can be used with semi-automated or computer systems today. Tape that can train your personnel in the skills of tomorrow. For it is by tape that future equipment will be reached. [Music] This diagram represents the classic situation of men at machines. A completely manual preparation of news advertising copy and heads. This type of composing room is rapidly disappearing. More common is the tape preparation center, the stage popular with the industry today. Tape may be processed through a basic computer or fed directly to automatic machines. Manual machines supplement this production. [Music] Here is the stage some of the leaders in the industry have reached. This is the systems concept with an expanded tape preparation and data processing center. The computer system may even be used to process billing information. Here is the system of tomorrow such as Mergan's Linotron, tape preparation, electronic data processing, and cathode ray tube type setting. And you cannot get from here to here or here in one giant step. One thing common to all these systems is tape preparation. Today's hardware must be taped driven to be capable of evolving into future systems and must offer a high return on investment. Our concern then is the tactics of today. What we can do now which will integrate with a later and more elaborate program. The heart of any automated composition system is the tape preparation center. A basic perforator can produce unjustified tape at a rate three times that of a manual loin. This tape can be processed through a computer programmed to operate automatic liner types, linilm quick or the linopilm system. In addition, standard wire service tape can be utilized. The liner perforator is an ideal device for use with the autocontrolled electron when a computer is not utilized. It is the only standard production perforator capable of counting four different magazines. Setting measure is simpler than on any other keyboard and the 45 PA line length indicated by this sliding scale makes it ideal for line of film quick tape preparation. Magazines in use are instantly displayed on the keyboard console. The operator always knows which font he's working with. The design concept of the electron loin was based on the potential automation of all machine functions. Once the basic engineering design was firmly established, it made good sense to proceed to full automation of the electron mixer. The autoc controlled electron of today is a practical reality which is being used effectively by a number of major newspapers throughout the United States. [Music] From tape control, the autoc control electron will change magazine, mold, knife block, and measure. Existing perforators of the type presently employed in most composing rooms may be used to produce the sixle input tape. A single code configuration is used to call out the magazine mold knife block combination and measure is selected by use of direct numeric codes simplifying original keyboarding. Probably the most advantageous application of the autocontrolled electron mixer is classified advertising production. New ads can be produced and collated including display lines and a cutoff rules and blank slugs for spacing are produced in proper sequence. The result is galleys of classified and semiclassified ads with all lines in order ready for proofing. Time-consuming slug collating and hand spacing are held to a minimum. Lofilm quick was developed to meet the need for a machine to produce quality photo composition at relatively high speed and low cost. Operating from standard justified sixle tape, the quick can produce highquality typographic images on film or photographic paper. The single area control panel permits simple machine monitoring. The monitor need only select a line length setting. Body size is pre-selected for each of the four grid positions and film advance is then fully automatic. Point size range is from 5 through 18 points in line lengths up to 45 pers. Controlled by wire service, locally prepared or computerenerated tape, the quick operates at a speed of 20 newspaper lines per minute. Under tape control are as many as 720 characters, the equivalent of four 90 channel loin fonts, including all of the typographic refinements generally not available in simple tape operated equipment. Grids are easily changed in seconds. Each grid has 180 unique characters created from the master pattern plates used to make linotype matrices. Each character is identical to its hot metal counterpart. The width plugs which determine the character width of each font are external to the quick and easily removed. Removal of exposed output is simple and requires a minimum of machine interruption. A new output cassette is readily installed permitting a high percentage of efficiency in machine utilization. LOILM quick handles mixed composition with ease. Heads with text, classified display or sophisticated commercial type setting. All point sizes base a line and it is possible to mix eight type styles in up to four point sizes even on a single line. Mergenthaler has developed an auxiliary tape reader to adapt the line of film quick to composing rooms currently using just a writers. The Just a Rider tape reader is cabled directly into the quick and just a rider or tape processing is straightforward. Experience has shown that substantial economies can be affected through the use of a loofilm system for the production of display advertising in the composing room. The LOILM keyboard with LOMix is in reality a specialurpose computer keyboard. It produces a tape containing all instructions required to perform every typographic function. It can call out any or all 1,584 characters available and space them in size and position through the lofilm photo unit. The photo unit produces properly spaced natural copy blocks of multiple sizes and styles thereby greatly simplifying ad assembly. [Music] The lofilm systems proven speed and reliability have been further increased with the introduction of Mgenthaler's high-speed photo unit. Mechanical and electronic modifications and the addition of a function analyzer have resulted in an increase in speed of up to 60% over the earlier lofilm models. A high-speed photo unit has proven to be more than twice as fast as any competitive photo unit with comparable typographic flexibility. The function analyzer simplifies troubleshooting and maintenance by providing a visual reference to key functions as they occur. Every lofilm photo unit is capable of being made computer compatible through the addition of the computer tape reader. With this computer interface device online with a photo unit, the lofilm system is capable of producing the same variety of composition under computer control. Newspapers are now in a position to proceed into photo composition with the lofilm system, knowing that it can be brought under computer control when the computer system and the skills to operate it have been obtained. These are the tactics of tape setting. The utilization of today's skills and equipment to prepare for tomorrow's technology. [Applause] [Music]