Linotype Inventor

Profile America -- Wednesday, May 11. Today marks the birthday of a German-American whose name may not be familiar, but whose invention had a profound impact on the reading habits of all Americans and, indeed, the world. His name was Otto Mergenthaler. His invention, the linotype machine, allowed one person to set type for printing by simply pressing keys on a keyboard bypassing four different operations at much greater speeds. Historians say his machine was the greatest advance in printing since the development of moveable type 400 years earlier. The linotype machine was first used in 1886 by the New York Tribune. That year, about 6.5 million Americans read a daily newspaper. Today's papers have a circulation of more than 55 million each day. Find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau on the Web at http://www.census.gov.