Type Cases emptied – print ad, Ludlow Typograph, Mono-Lino, 1922

A full-page trade ad for Mono-Lino Typesetting in Toronto who at the time were the Ontario agents for the Ludlow Typograph Company of Chicago.* The ad rather demonstrably shows a workman at The Hamilton Herald (Ontario) shovelling a large pile of hand-set foundry type out of the way to make room for a compact Ludlow System – one capable of setting all the shop’s display type, with freshly cast type for each headline.

Founded in 1908 Ludlow began manufacturing in 1912. The Ludlow was a hybrid hot-metal system that used hand-set matrices to cast individual lines of type, much like the Linotype. It was best suited for setting large size display type, typically 14 point and above,  although the company produced matrices as small as 6 point. Ludlow equipment was less expensive than either Monotype or Linotype and easier to use and maintain. After a job had been printed the type would be washed and the metal melted down for reuse. Aside from the savings in not having to keep large quantities of metal foundry type in the shop, the Ludlow system freed-up expensive floor space. The Ludlow system remained in use long after other hot metal devices had disappeared, in part because Ludlow was also used in the making of rubber stamps.

Under the direction of type designer Robert Hunter Middleton, Ludlow produced a number of original typefaces. Among which were the non-joining script Coronet, the classic display face Delphian Open and the popular sans serifs Radiant and Tempo, to name but a few. Today the Ludlow system continues to be used by small and private presses. Anyone who has attended a printers picnics, usually called a Wayzgoose, may have come away with their name cast in a single line of metal type (slug) that were set in one of the Ludlow typefaces. – Rod McDonald

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Typograph