Monotype

monotype,

type set by the Monotype machine. See printing.

Monotype

 

(in art), a type of print graphics. The technique of monotype consists in the application of inks by hand to the ideally smooth surface of a plate, with subsequent printing on a press; the print produced is always unique. Works executed in monotype are characterized by subtlety of color relations and smoothness and softness of the edges of shapes, which outwardly makes monotype similar to watercolors. The monotype technique has been known since the 17th century but has been in wide use only since the late 19th century. The major figures in Russian and Soviet monotype are E. S. Kruglikova, A. V. Shevchenko, and R. N. Barto.

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Monotype

 

an automatic composing machine used for setting complicated book and journal text in the form of lines consisting of individual characters. The Monotype was invented in 1897 by T. Lanston (USA). The first Monotypes in the USSR were manufactured in 1947 at the Leningrad Printing Machinery Plant.

The executive program for an automatic caster is produced by a specialized MK programmer in the form of a wide punched tape (a combination of one to four holes corresponds to each symbol). During programming, the counter of the device adds the widths of the set symbols and space between words and calculates how much space must be added to make the length of the lines correspond to the predetermined measure. The operator codes the necessary increase in spacing width onto the tape by pressing two keys, based on readings from the scale on the set drum. The MK-5 programmer (Figure 1) has 364 keys and can be used to encode 288 different symbols and spaces and the required commands for controlling the automatic unit.

Figure 1. Diagram of the MK-5 composer-programmer (USSR): (1) keyboard, (2) ducts, (3) perforator, (4) punches, (5) paper tape, (6) set drum, (7) counter, (8) space bar

The MO-5 automatic caster (Figure 2) has a die case, a mold, and a caster. The dies are secured in the die case. The punched tape is decoded in the automatic unit in the sequence opposite to the sequence in which it was set. Upon receiving a command from the punched tape, the die case shifts and the required matrix moves over the casting cavity of the mold, whose width is determined automatically by a command from the punched tape. Then the mold, together with the depression in the matrix, is filled with molten type metal under pressure. As a result the required symbol or space is cast. The cast letters and spaces are pushed into the line channel. The lines of type, which are of identical length, are formed from individual characters and spaces. Galleys are made up from the lines.

Figure 2. Diagram of the MO-5 composing machine (USSR): (1) paper tape; (2) air ducts; (3) air chambers with devices to limit motion of the die case in two directions; (4) pump for feeding alloy into form; (5) die case; (6) receiving tray; (7) line channel, into which cast letters are ejected; (8) mold to which one matrix in the die case is pressed

The rate of preparation of the executive program for the automatic unit is close to the typing speed on an ordinary typewriter. The automatic caster casts up to 180 characters per minute.

REFERENCES

Bushunov, V. T. Monotip (Nabornaia i otlivnaia mashiny). Moscow-Leningrad, 1948.
Shul’meister, M. V. Monotip: Ustroistvo i ekspluatatsiia bukvootlivnykh nabornykh mashin, books 1–2. Moscow, 1961–63.

G. S. ERSHOV

monotype

[′män·ə‚tīp]

(biology)

A single type of organism that constitutes a species or genus.

(graphic arts)

A printing technique in which a picture is painted on a sheet of glass or metal; the picture is transferred to a sheet of paper by pressure; additional copies require that the subject be repainted on the plate.