Category: Kevin

(Un)Plugging Cooling Water Passages

One of the moulds for my Monotype Composition Caster, specifically the type U Lanston display mould fitted for 36 point body size, had completely blocked cooling water passages. This would seriously limit how fast the caster could run, even more

My Presentation from the 2012 ATF Conference

Someone recently asked about serial number locations on Monotype Composition Casters, and I knew I had a sort of list of where these were located. This information turned out to be in a presentation I gave at the 2012 American

More Marbling—At Last!

After a long hiatus, I’ve had a chance to do some marbling. The driving force was actually the necessity to test a new sample of carragheenan. We’re currently out of stock, and as usual, the last source we bought from

CBBAG Ottawa Book Arts Show and Sale, May 25th, 2024

This year the Ottawa chapter of the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG) will be holding their Book Arts Show and Sale at the recently-opened Carleton University MacOdrum Library Book Arts Lab, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario. The

Looking for a Job…

After almost 43 years with the same employer, my “day job” is coming to an end. Since I graduated from University of Waterloo in 1981, I’ve been working for and with the same people, first at the Math Faculty Computing

Sorting Donated Linotype Matrices

The Mackenzie Printery & Newspaper Museum recently received a donation of type, spacing, and Linotype/Intertype matrices from Steve Ecker, I believe of Smithville, Ontario. While other volunteers at the museum started sorting the type and spacing into appropriate cases, I

Tagged with: ,

Can anyone answer a Whitlock question?

The Mackenzie Printery & Newspaper Museum maintains a print shop at the Wainfleet fairgrounds in Wainfleet, Ontario, and one piece of equipment there is a Whitlock 2-rotation cylinder press. Note that there is a different model of Whitlock press that

Tagged with:

Marshville Heritage Festival, September 2nd-4th 2023 in Wainfleet, Ontario

The Mackenzie Printery & Newspaper Museum maintains a print shop at the Wainfleet fairgrounds in Wainfleet, Ontario, and each Labour Day weekend, the Marshville Heritage Festival takes place there, where the Museum volunteers open up the print shop to demonstrate

Monotype Composition Caster Pot Temperature Controller

Over the past few months, I’ve had to replace the old Partlow temperature controller on the pot of my Monotype Composition Caster. On my caster the old mechanical controller has failed; each time I ran the caster I found that

Progress on the Mackenzie Printery’s Linotype (Lower Reed Comb)

This is yet another repair I had to make on the Linotype at the MacKenzie Printery and Newspaper Museum. The keyboard assembly has a row of 91 short pushrods, known as the Lower Reeds, which push up when a key

Tagged with:
Top