Monotype Material Caster - Decorative Border/Spacing.

Is there anyone out there, that worked at Bakersfield Press in the 50’s and might know, who bought their Monotype material caster?
I know this is a longshot. This week, I picked up some ludlow specimen books and inside there were letters from the Mergenthaler Linotype Com, dated Jan. 10, 1951. In regards to helping a company find a ludlow, along with a list of
inventory for sale from Bakersfield Press. I would assume that it was located in CA.

Does anyone know of anyone that has one and still casts border material?

Theo Bell
Bell Printing Co.
USA - Ohio.

image: monotype-material-making-machine-adjustments-1936-1947-c-wrz1-0600grey-003-rot0p3cw-crop-1228x1352.jpg

monotype-material-making-machine-adjustments-1936-1947-c-wrz1-0600grey-003-rot0p3cw-crop-1228x1352.jpg

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Theo, It is possible that you may not get as many replies as you might, (possibly) because of your little inadvertant terminology? i.e. Material Caster!!! mostly, we believe, all Monotype Machines are material casters. If you meant Giant Casters (U,S.A.) Super Casters (U.K.) for *border material* your very own Sky Shipley out of Prescot Arizona would be THE MAN to talk to, in my humble opinion***

If you want Monotype strip material, M&H Type still makes strip on both Monotype and Elrod machines.

Hello.. Thanks for your advice. I have two Elrods, I have plenty strip material.
Actually, I have spoken with several people who own one of these material casters. This machine is so rare that some people don’t know they exist.
This Machine is only called a Monotype Material Caster by these people.—Hopkins, Quaker City Type, D. Hartzell, C. Black and Dave Seat, all say the same name. It doesn’t produce any type. Largely used to produce only decorative borders, as many as 40 molds are available. It will do spacing material but, that was usually left to the Elrod after it was introduced. The setting for the borders to be made correctly is very touchy. These machines are out there, and the owners that I’ve talked to “laugh at the fact” that I want to own one. Often stated “Only crazy people want one of these machines”. Bring it on!!
I’ve even seen an advertisement that names it as such.

The machine that Theo seeks was officially called the “Monotype Material Making Machine” by the Lanston Monotype Machine Company. It was introduced in 1923. I don’t know if it was sold much (or at all?) in England. In general form it looks a lot like the Giant Caster (introduced 1925), though as Theo notes it casts no type. (As is the case with all Monotype stripcasting, it is a fusion casting machine. This process is technically completely different from that of the Elrod, which is a true continuous strip-drawing machine.)

I’ve scanned a 16 page brochure/specimen for it:

http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/stripcasters/monoty...

I’ve also got the Operation and Adjustment Manual (1959 edition) and a Parts List (1952). These aren’t yet scanned, but if you manage to land one of these, I’ll certainly bring them to the front of the queue.

Regards,
David M.
www.CircuitousRoot.com

I’ve always heard it called a Material Maker at M&H.
There is a pdf type catalog from M&H which shows all their strip material. They don’t indicate what is cast by Elrod or Monotype, but it is obvious if you think about designs that can or cannot be extruded.

Just thought, I would let everyone know “Number one” has been found. It would take a ton of work to get it clean, many years of grime with a nice coating of roof coating on top of it. I will able to avoid this hopefully. I found a second one, closer to me. Way Less money and cleaner.

Three editions of the manual and one of the parts book for the Monotype Material Making Machine (aka Material maker) are now online:

http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/stripcasters/monoty...

Thanks are due to Raky Press and Skyline Type Foundry for most of this material.

Regards,
David M.
www.CircuitousRoot.com