Mergenthaler, Ottmar, << MUR guhn `thaw` luhr, OT mahr >> (1854-1899), invented the Linotype typesetting machine. Mergenthaler made a device with a keyboard that composed matrices (molds) for letters and cast an entire line of type at once. He demonstrated and patented the Linotype in 1884. It was first used in 1886 at the New York Tribune. Mergenthaler was born on May 11, 1854, in Württemberg, Germany, and came to the United States in 1872. He died on Oct. 28, 1899. See also Linotype .
