A native of Germany, Inventor Ottmar Mergenthaler was born there in 1854. As a young man he was trained in watch and clock making, but was hired in a machine shop in Baltimore after emigrating to the U.S. in 1872.

Through hard work, he eventually became a partner in the business and built his first Linotype machine at age 32. The design allowed two type operations (setting and casting) to be combined. The two applications were performed simultaneously by touching the keys of a board similar to the keyboard of a typewriter.

Mergenthaler's machine was called "the greatest invention in printing since the development of movable type 400 years earlier." A single operator could be a machinist, typesetter, justifier, typefounder and type-distributor.

The Linotype machine was first used in 1886 by the New York Tribune newspaper. Since then, the unit has been modified and improved many times. More than 1,500 separate patents have been taken out in connection with the original design.

Ottmar Mergenthaler died in the United States in 1899.

The above information was supplied by the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, Inc., Room 1D01-Crystal Plaza 3, 2021 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia 22202. Videotapes and printed materials are currently available, including the National Inventors Hall of Fame Book of Inventor Profiles ($3.00).

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