Monotype Information

Monotype Spare Parts Lists

The Alembic Press has a collection of some of the Parts Lists published by Monotype. Mostly these are UK publications, but a few are US. At present, bibliographic detail is minimal. For example the number of pages is simply the numbering used in the manual, if the pages are numbered. The number of plates is shown where they are numbered arithmetically, and thus the alphanumeric numbering (by part number) used in the earlier Lists is omitted. The size of the book is not yet shown. Slightly fuller detail of some items is given at the bottom of this page, and hopefully these details will be expanded as time permits. See Information for other Alembic pages about Monotype.

Note that the machines manufactured by the Monotype Corporation in the U.K. differ in many respects from those manufactured by the Lanston Monotype Machine Company in the U.S.A.

UK Monotype

Composition and Type & Rule Caster
Book of Parts of the Monotype Casting Machine
Lanston Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, 4th ed, n.d.
Book of Parts of Monotype Casting Machines
Monotype Corporation, Lincolns Inn Fields, London, 5th ed, n.d.
Book of Parts of Monotype Casting Machines
179pp, Monotype Corporation, Lincolns Inn Fields, London, 1946
Supplementary Book of Parts of Monotype Casting Machines
35pp, Monotype Corporation, Lincolns Inn Fields, London, 1946
Spare Parts List for Composition and Type & Rule Casters
ring bound, 59 plates, Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, n.d.
Spare Parts List for Composition and Type & Rule Casters
ring bound, 60 plates, Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, all plates dated 1969
Keyboard
The Mechanism of the Monotype Keyboard
94pp, Lanston Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, n.d.
Book of Parts of Monotype Keyboards (Standard and Duplex Patterns)
123pp, (42 plates), Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, 1939
Book of Parts of the Monotype Keyboards (D and DD patterns)
157pp, Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, n.d.
Spare Parts List for Monotype Standard and Duplex Keyboards
ring bound, Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, n.d.
Spare Parts List for Monotype Standard and Duplex Keyboards
ring bound, Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, n.d. (with additional inserts for plates 1,2,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,13,18,19,21,22,23,26,36,37,38,39,42,43)
Monotype Standard and Duplex Keyboards Spare Parts List
ring bound, 54pp, Monotype Corporation, Salfords, England, 1973
Super Caster
Book of Parts of the Monotype Super Caster
44 plates, Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, n.d.
Book of Parts of Monotype Super Caster
46 plates, Monotype Corporation, Lincolns Inn Fields, London, 1952
Spare Parts List for Monotype Super Caster
ring bound, 45 plates, Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, n.d.
Spare Parts List for Monotype Super Caster
ring bound, 45 plates, Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, updated 1967 on some plates.

US Monotype

Detail Plates - The Monotype Casting Machine
Lanston Monotype Machine Co, Philadelphia, 13th ed, 1939
The Mechanism of the Monotype Keyboard
59pp, Lanston Monotype Machine Co, Philadelphia, 1949


Fuller Information

This section is still being compiled

*****

bookBook of Parts of the Monotype Casting Machine
Lanston Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, 4th ed, n.d.
Priced ten shillings. 43pp of Index to parts of the Composing Machine, Attachments, Accessories and Tools, Typecaster, Improvements, Air Compressors, Condensing Tank, Interchangeable Screws. Plates A1-5, B1-4, C1-3, D1-3, E1-8, F1-6, G1-3, H1-7, CU1-15, T1-2, J1-3, CT1. Latest Attachment is 23CU Semitic Galley Attachment. Lists Attachment 21CU Extended Matrix Case, which Lawrence Wallis (in The Monotype Recorder New Series No.10 1997) dates to 1925, and 22CU Dotted Rule Attachment which Wallis dates to 1924, so this Parts Book is dated between 1925 and 1930.

*****

bookBook of Parts of Monotype Casting Machines
Monotype Corporation, Lincolns Inn Fields, London, 5th ed, n.d.
Priced ten shillings. 43 pages of Index, and with Plates A1 to CT1 as above.
Note the slightly different title. The Monotype Corporation name was adopted in 1931 on public flotation (cf L.Wallis) so this Parts List may date from then (the plates and parts lists otherwise being very similar to the 4th edition). However, Monotype did not occupy Lincolns Inn Fields until 1941 (when Fetter Lane was bombed).

*****

1946 bookBook of Parts of Monotype Casting Machines
179pp, Monotype Corporation, Lincolns Inn Fields, London, 1946. Includes plates 1 to 57. Attachments now number up to 65CU (although the numbering is not inclusive, as only 26 different CU numbers are listed). The Lincolns Inn Fields address on the title page has a label stuck over, giving the address as Fetter Lane.

The Supplementary Book of Parts of Monotype Casting Machines is the same format and date, but only 35pp, and with plates 58 to 64 concerning recent improved parts. These relate to the bridge, front and rear air pin blocks, jaw tongs spring box, mould oiler, thermometer, space & transfer wedge operating rods, piston spring, and the ingot feeder.

*****

1969 bookSpare Parts List for Composition and Type & Rule Casters
Ring bound, black plastic cover. 59 plates, Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, n.d.

Updated edition as above, but with 60 plates, all dated 1969. Some of the plates are of different parts, eg plates 36, 37 and 38 in the undated edition show the display attachment (slow speed) gear box, whereas in the 1969 dated edition, they show the varigear attachment, the belt shifter rod, etc., and the microscope alignment gauge. (A list of all the major differences in plates will be added here, in due course)

*****

bookThe Mechanism of the Monotype Keyboard
Soft bound, landscape format. 94pp, Lanston Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, n.d.
Contains a description of how the keyboard works, how to make adjustments, a list of parts, and illustrative plates. Probably dates from c 1917, as eg the most recent attachment is 7KU the 1917 Repeater Attachment, listed as superceding 4KU the 1914 version. The Keyboard Base is listed as part b1KA1.

*****

1939 bookBook of Parts of Monotype Keyboards (Standard and Duplex Patterns)
Landscape format, board covers. 123pp (inc 42 plates), Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, 1939
Priced ten shillings. The Keyboard Base is still listed as part b1KA1. Attachments are listed up to 32KU (Combined Spacing).

*****

bookSpare Parts List for Monotype Standard and Duplex Keyboards
Ring bound (binding on long side), red plastic cover, 39 plates. Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, n.d.
Attachments are listed up to 48KU (1-unit Space for Monophoto Filmsetter).

Updated edition, as above, n.d., extra inserts and additional and replacement plates. Thus plate 1 lists the standard Keyboard Base as d1KA1, and the insert adds g1KA1 as the revised part. There are inserts for plates 1,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,13,18,19,21,22,23,26,36,37,38,39 and a new 42, all for the Key Transfer facility. A later set of additions is also included, for the 41KU (Desk) Base Unit, replacing plates 2 (48KC Paper Punchings Remover)and 38 (41KU Dummy Keyboard), and adding plate 43. There is no plate 41.

*****

1973 bookMonotype Standard and Duplex Keyboards Spare Parts List
Ring bound, landscape format (binding on short side), red plastic cover. 54pp, Monotype Corporation, Salfords, England, 1973
A list of parts, grouped into sections such as Base Unit, Control Boxes, Electrical Equipment, etc. Has no plates as such, but has line drawings on pages 2,4,6,8,10,12 and 14, of certain sections of the keyboard. Part numbers are the new numeric numbers, rather than the traditional alphanumeric ones, eg the Base is listed as (KAAA) 43035 rather than 1KA1. The separate Symbol Conversion List of 1972 shows that 43035 was part g1KA1

*****

bookBook of Parts of the Monotype Super Caster
44 plates, Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, n.d.
Board covers. Priced ten shillings. Pages 1-21 comprise the index of parts, which is then followed by plates 1-44. Lists attachments 1SU (Composition Mould Adaptor Base) to 7SU (Electric Melting Pot and Temperature Regulator).


*****

1952 bookBook of Parts of Monotype Super Caster
46 plates, Monotype Corporation, Lincolns Inn Fields, London, 1952
Board covers. Priced twenty shillings. General Index pages 1-39, followed by illustrations of parts, plates 1-46. Lists attachments 1SU to 6SU, 9SU to 13SU, 15SU to 22SU (Duplex Piston Spring).

*****

1967 bookSpare Parts List for Monotype Super Caster.
Ring bound, green plastic cover, 45 plates, Monotype Corporation, Fetter Lane, London, n.d.

Updated edition, as above, except dated 1967 on index pages and on plates 1 to 13,16,21,24,26 to 40,42,43,45. Lists attachments 1SU to 6SU, 9SU, 11SU to 13SU, 15SU to 26SU, 28SU to 34SU (Display Matrix Head Equipment - as a separate item for casters previously ordered without one).

*****

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This page was written by David Bolton and last updated 18 June 2002.