Space boxes inconveniently placed
15
hand, for he who sets five thousand ems of solid type in one day has to make his hand travel about six or seven miles.
The hand -travel
about one third more. The more distant boxes on the
tion
in distribu-
is
left side of the
ordinary upper case are nearly thirty inches from the stick in the hand of the compositor, and in a direction in which the right arm has not free play.
To reach
too distant boxes, the compositor of low
stature has to
and
move
his feet, at
some inconvenience
loss in
performance. case that will shorten the travel of the hand should materially increase the performance of the
A
compositor. With this end in view, a smaller case, as the E/ooker. 1 was introduced, which is
known
about one fifth smaller than the ordinary case. It used to some extent in daily newspaper offices, but
is
rarely found in enough for brevier
is
book -houses. It holds letter and all smaller sizes, but not
enough for a day's work with larger types. The accepted form of lower case has many serious defects. Facilities for justification and even spacing have not been considered. The boxes for spaces are too far apart, when they should be clusNor are the space boxes of proper size. In
tered.
every font of letter the f our-to-em spaces furnished same weight as that of the letter i,
are about the
yet i has a full box in easier reach, while the fourto-em space in a quarter-box is not so accessible. 1
Invented by Thomas N. Rooker, of
New
York, about 1858.