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octagonal | 2 years ago

Linotype machines are marvellous and I'd highly recommend seeing them in action should you ever get the chance. They are the perfect intersection between a rube goldberg machine and a mechanical marvel to excite a part of my brain that I can't even properly put into words.

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actionfromafar|2 years ago

The fact that there's molten lead, and you run your fingers over the cast type, how unhealthy is that in the long run? Genuinely curious.

dreamcompiler|2 years ago

I hand-set a lot of lead type in a previous life, and I'm just fine now. As long as it's not aerosolized and you avoid eating or breathing it, lead is a non-problem. Just wash your hands. Of course, much lead was aerosolized during the era of leaded gas and kids ate leaded paint chips and those are huge problems.

Molten lead in a linotype machine might be an issue iff it creates lead vapor, but I'm not familiar with the literature on that subject.

upofadown|2 years ago

The problem with leaded solders is from the corrosion that builds up on the outside surface of the solder wire. The pure lead is not that bad. Since the lead was recently melted in the Linotype case there might not be much of a health issue there.

Generally, lead poisoning is less of an issue for adults. They can slowly work it out of their system (or at least to a place it is not as harmful). The huge problem is with children. Lead poisoning interferes with brain development.

Anyway, wash your hands after touching lead before eating or smoking. They probably didn't know that they had to do that back in the days when Linotype machines were popular...

SoftTalker|2 years ago

When I was a kid I visited a small-town newspaper that still used a Linotype machine. The typesetter made a slug with my name on it and gave it to me. I thought that was the coolest thing and I kept it for years, I'd use it with a stamp pad to stamp my name in all my books. Sadly it was lost at some point.