Object Record
Images
Additional Images [1]
Metadata
Object ID # |
2005.032.004 |
Object Name |
Typewriter |
Other Name |
Machine, Offset-plate Processing |
Title |
Varityper Composing Machine & Its Attachments |
Lexicon category |
6: T&E For Communication |
Year Range from |
1940 |
Year Range to |
1970 |
Made |
Unknown |
Place of Origin |
Unknown |
Description |
VARITYPER composing machine (and its attachments). One changes the "type-shuttles" on the Varityper to type in different fonts or languages. It is an electric machine. It has a beige-coloured frame and a flexible plastic cover to protect it from dust. |
Provenance |
This item formerly belonged to a Meaford, Grey County printer, Dick Knight (Kenneth Burton Knight). He operated The Knight Press (est. 1929, closed 1990). The finish on this Vari-Typer (Varityper) has a somewhat 1960s look to it, but the date of this machine needs further research to verify what decade it was made. |
Collection |
Printing & Bindery Equipment, 20th-c Collection |
Material |
Metal/Plastic? |
Dimensions |
H-34 W-74.5 L-48.5 cm |
Found |
Meaford, Municipality of Meaford, Grey County |
People |
Knight, Dick |
Subjects |
Printing Industry |
Search Terms |
The Knight Press (Meaford) |
Function |
Not a typewriter, but a composing machine that made camera-ready masters for offset (photo-lithographic) duplication purposes. The Varityper (also known as the Vari-Typer or VariTyper) was a highly ingenious "word processor" of the pre-digital age. This machine could use over 300 different type styles and write in 55 languages; it could adjust the space between characters, and even produce right-justified copy. Even though the Varityper enjoyed a successful career of about 60 years, you may never have seen one, for the machine was not generally adopted as a standard typewriter. Instead, it found a niche as a "cold typesetting" or "office composing" machine: it was generally used to produce neat, camera-ready copy for offset printing, at a cost much lower than that of conventional printer's methods. |