Sherry wrote:
My mom was a typesetter when she was young too, building up the text
from the individual characters made out of metal. Then she went on to
doing it on computer-like machines, not so computer-like in the
beginning tho, they were loud machines as they operated on pressurized
air, punching holes into a ribbon of paper - that was the text.

YES. Your mom either worked with Compugraphic or Verityper. Back then, setting
up print jobs was a real craft, and took a lot of skill. You couldn't "see"
what you were creating until it was finished, ran the punched tape through the
machine and you developed the film. If you were typing a long legal notice, and
lost your place, it was a nightmare to figure out from the punched tape where
you left off. Imagine doing desktop publishing without a monitor. That's what
it was like. Still I loved it though. I remember when Compugraphic came out
with the Unisetter, and you could see your text one line at a time. I though,
wow, that's for wimps.
Your mom & I *would* have a lot to talk about!

Sherry


I've been racking my brain since this last post and now I remember she
called the noisy machine a Monotype. Then there were also Linotype
machines. In those days she worked for a fairly large printing house
that made most of the calendars in Finland as well as other big printed
items, such as sets of encyclopaedias - still have a set she got cheap
when working there, it's dated in the 1970's. Oh well, the old guys are
still the same, but some of the newer ones may have kicked the bucket
since then...

My parents speak English too, so you actually *could* talk, if you did
happen to meet, however remote that chance is.

--
Christine in Vantaa, Finland
christal63 (at) yahoo (dot) com
photos: http://photos.yahoo.com/christal63