composing machine (kompozingmashen")

A type-setting machine. The earliest composing machine, invented by William Church in 1821, attempted to make the types as well as set them. This special and instantaneous making of the types is also the basis of more recent inventions; but most composing-machines are constructed to set types previously made. The types are specially grooved or nicked to fit them for being seized automatically. The arrangement of cla ified types in separate channels, and their dislodgment in order into a larger channel by means of levers touched from a fingerboard, are features common to most composing-machines, widely as they may differ in other details of construction. Few of these machines have come into practical use, owing especially to the difficulty of separating or distributing the types by an automatic proce in the special manner required. See linotype. A