United States inventor (born in Germany) of the Linotype machine (1854-1899)

Inventor of the “Linotype” mechanical composition machine, which supplied complete lines of text cast in lead for letterpress printing. Following an apprenticeship as a watchmaker, Mergenthaler emigrated to the U.S. in 1872 where, following many years of experimentation, he patented the Linotype as the first fully functional line composition machine, which would soon replace slow and laborious hand composition.