Grace's Guide To British Industrial History

Registered UK Charity (No. 115342)

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 166,992 pages of information and 246,684 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 147,919 pages of information and 233,587 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Linotype and Machinery

From Graces Guide
August 1911.
Linotype Model 48 linecasting machine, 1935.
1947.
1949.
1951.

of Broadheath, Altrincham, Cheshire.

of 188-9 Fleet Street, London. (1908)

of John Street, London, WC1. - Head Office. (1947)

See Linotype Co for early history.

1903 Public company. The company was registered on 11 August, to amalgamate the Linotype Co and the Machinery Trust. [1]

1914 Listed as printing machinery manufacturers. Specialities: linotype composing machines, Miehle and Centurette two-revolution presses, L and M offset litho rotary, L and M litho rotary, Renaissance press, autoplate, Metropolitan rotary press, Duplex tubular plate press, Duplex press (flatbed web), L and M die press, L and M automatic metal furnace, Rowe roller making machinery, L and M electric motors. Employees 1,550. [2]

WWI. At the outbreak of the First World War, it was estimated that there were 30,000 linotype machines in operation across the world.

Linotype machines were exported early in their history. Linotype and Machinery had branches in Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Borneo. The linotype machine was adapted for printing in many scripts, including Devanagari, Gujarati, Tamil, Telegu, Kanarese, Malay, Hindustani, Uriya, Persian, Sanskrit and Arabic.

1914 Linotype and Machinery were particularly proud of the fact that the Vatican installed four linotype typesetting machines.

During both world wars, Linotype and Machinery made munitions, gun parts, aeroplane engines, and tank parts.

1937 Linotype and Machinery company purchased the outstanding shares in Printing Machinery Co that it did not already own[3]

1947 British Industries Fair Advert as Makers of Precision Machinery for Printers. Machinery includes: Linotype, Miehle, Two-Revolution Press, Perfector, Two-Colour, Centurion, Centurette, Intaglio, Autoplate Machinery, L and M, etc. (Printing Machinery Section - Olympia, Ground Floor, Stands No. B.1467 and B.1471) [4]

1961 Manufacturers of Linotype composing machines, the Miehle and Two-Revolution printing machines, Stereo machinery, etc for printing trade. [5]

During the 1960s, the company started to investigate the use of computers.

1967 Eltra Corporation was the parent of Linotype and Machinery which announced it was diversifying into an industry outside the graphic arts field; Eltra acquired a majority interest in K. S. Paul and Associates[6]

Eltra Corporation was owned by Signal Corporation

1970s/80s Linotype and Machinery suffered from increased competition.

1980 The company was re-incorporated; it was a wholly owned subsidiary of L&M Holdings, which was owned by Allied Corporation of USA[7]

1983 The company was renamed L and M Limited; the American company retained the name 'Linotype'.

The company's ultimate owner was Timewild Ltd

2001 The company still existed, manufacturing machinery such as printing presses and stitching machines. As sales fell, the company structure was altered. The company at Broadheath was divided into separate groups, each responsible for different products, entirely based in Manchester.

2020 Voluntary appointment of liquidator.


N.B. for pictures of the preserved parts of the factory at Broadheath today see [1]

See Also

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Sources of Information

  1. The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
  2. 1914 Whitakers Red Book
  3. The Times Sept. 24, 1937
  4. 1947 British Industries Fair Advert 401; and p169
  5. 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
  6. The Times Sept. 22, 1967
  7. 1980 Annual report
  • [2] Museum of Science and Industry