A mechanical typesetting machine that casts complete lines of text as single metal slugs. It revolutionized newspaper and book printing from the 1880s to 1960s.
From 'line o' type' - invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler in 1884. The name described its key innovation: casting entire lines of text at once rather than setting individual letters by hand.
The linotype machine was the internet of its era - it made information cheap and fast to distribute, transforming newspapers from luxury items to daily necessities. Operators needed to be part musician, part mechanic, their fingers dancing across 90-key keyboards while molten lead flew inches from their faces.
Linotype machines (invented 1884) were operated almost entirely by men in an era when clerical and printing work was being stratified by gender. The skilled male operator role excluded women, despite their previous dominance in hand-typesetting.
Use 'linotype' neutrally as a historical technology, but acknowledge that automation's gendered impact shaped labor markets.
Women were hand-typesetters before linotype; the machine transition eliminated a female-dominated craft and replaced it with male-coded 'skilled operator' roles.
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