[GreenKeys] Hell Box... and other stuff...

[dmm at lemur.com]

Randy Guttery wrote:

>Seems when a printer would complete a press run on an old press that 
>used "movable type" he'd break down the type block and dump the individual 
>letters into a box - "hell box" which would then be sorted back into 
>a type drawer, etc. by one of his apprentices, called a printer's devil. 
>As individual (reusable) type was replaced by cast type (Linotype, etc.) - 
>the "hell box" became the receptacle for broken and unused sections from the 
>hot-casting process...

Though I've done very little hand-setting of type, my understanding
is that when a "form" of type is to be "redistributed" back into
the "cases" (or "job cases") from which it was taken, the lines of
type are distributed directly.  This way the typesetter (or the
printer's devil on his way up) can read back the line and know
which character goes where in the case based on the words, rather than 
by identifying a character picked at random from a box.  The brain
works faster this way.

The "hell box" is where things go when distribution isn't possible
(for example, when breaking up a form set a long time ago for which
the shop no longer has the type, or when the type has been modified
with a saw/miterer/mortiser, or when the type is broken or damaged).

Here's a photograph of an actual hell box from a small Wisconsin 
newspaper:

http://www.lemur.com/temp/hellbox.jpg

Regards,
David M.
===
Dr. David M. MacMillan * dmm at lemur.com * www.lemur.com & www.CircuitousRoot.com

   The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.
       - Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915); Aldo Leopold