Coin cast in slug

When a was a linotype operator at a daily newspaper they would take journalism students on tours, we would set their names on a slug with the penny in it. Recently tried this on my ludlow, it came out pretty good. Dick G.

I remember seeing this years ago but didn’t know how it was done. When and where do you insert the penny? Do you drop the penny in the pot?

Dennis, its been a long time but when your mould lines up with the mouthpiece you stop the machine then open it and we would put the pennie in the mould with a couple of small piecer of paper matches to hold the pennie against the mold. On my ludlow i removed the mold then used double sided tape and stuck the pennie to the side of the mold, then replaced the mold and cast a line, the tape melted and the pennie showed up well. Dick G.

Thanks, I’ll have to give it a try next time it’s hot.

Dick, My father made these for me last week. He too, would make them whenever people came thru the shop on a tour. He taught me how to make them back in the 60s when I was in 5th or 6th grade and I sold them to classmates. Fat chance taking lead to a school these days. We loosen the mold and use a thin lead space behind the coin which melts during casting. What newspaper did you work for?
Dennis, good luck with your attempt.
Victor

Victor, dadstill has a linotype, good for him, not many survived. i worked for the Patriot Ledger in Quincy, MA, from 1969 till 1975 when they stopped using linotypes. i worked part-time for 5 or 6 print shops running their linos on a on call basis, would like to have my own lino some day but moving one scares me to death. Dick G.

Dick,
We have a Model 31 - #577693. Dad thinks it was one of the first ones that came into Florida after WWII. He has operated it in it’s present location since 1988, and for the 18 years prior at Rinaldi Printing in Tampa, FL. He is coming up on 85 next year so we are closing down our type shop. The Lino is going on loan to Cracker Country, a turn of the (20th) century educational exhibit at the Forida State Fair here in Tampa next month. I think 1975 was the last time I moved any linos but dad has done many, including the 1988 move where he pretty much moved the thing himself with the help of a guy with a boom.
I came from a long line of Lino operator’s. My father met my Mother at the Macon Telegraph (GA) where she ran a lino. Her father was a lino operator in Moultry, GA along with her 3 brothers who worked for the paper in Jacksonville, FL.
If you have the space for a lino you should go for it.
Victor

Link to videos of coin being cast in lino slug right before we shut it down to move.
http://letterpressequipment.shutterfly.com/pictures/6
The lino now resides at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa where it will be used to set type for the Cracker Country Chronicle. http://crackercountry.org/
Pics of the move http://letterpressequipment.shutterfly.com/pictures/133
I have video of the move also but the files are to big to post. Does anyone have advise for inexpensive video editing software.

This must surely be an old practice. The coin is dated 1892 and was lost or discarded long before I happened upon it.

IMG.jpg

BLTSFK, Very cool, thanks for the picture.

When I worked at the Government Printing Office in DC, we did that for the tours of school kids. Main Lino was on the 4th floor and usually by the time they got to the elevators the pennies were dug out and the slugs throw on the floor. Bubble Gun was cheap in the late 60’s.

Victor, well i picked up an intertype back at the end of last year, it has sat in an unheated garage since it was pulled from the Boston Globe back in the mid 1970’s, it sure needs a lot of cleaning but i think by this summer i will have it running.

BLTSFK,
if this is the counter image from a coin, why is it right-reading?
maybe you just flipped the image so we could read it