Invented in 1887 by Tolbert Lanston of Washington, D.C., the Monotype typesetting system cast individual bronze pieces of type that were set into justified lines. The keyboard was operated to perforate a paper ribbon with the desired characters, which was then placed in a caster. The perforations on the ribbon caused a case of matrices to shift about over a mold so that the proper character of type from a complete font of matrices were cast and justified into lines. This is a view down into the justifying scale, a cylinder that revolves automatically when the end of the line is approached.

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