Hamilton Cap Case

  *     †     ‡    §    ||    ¶   fists lb 
Per
 
@%a/c/°
1
4
1
2
3
4
1
8
3
8
5
8
7
8
$£ 
{
 
{«« »»
1
3
2
3
 
&
 
ÆŒaeoe---------- ÆŒ
 
A
 
BCDEFGABCDEFG
 
H
 
IKLMNOHIKLMNO
 
P
 
QRSTVWPQRSTVW
 
X
 
YZJU])  X    Y    Z    J    U    &   ffl 

This U.S. lay is that given in American Type Founders, American Line Type Book (1906) and Barnhardt Bros & Spindler, Book of Type Specimens No.9 (1907) and in Hamilton Manufacturing Company, Modern Cabinets, Furniture and Materials for Printers, Catalog 14 (c.1907) for both full-size and two-third cases, and in Selvidge & Witt, Instruction Manual for Young Printers (1926). The same lay is also shown in Henry, Printing for School & Shop (1917) and for the Model 2720 News Cap in Hamilton Manufacturing Co, Modern Printing Office Furniture Catalog 15 (1922), etc., but with the improved case with larger sized rows in the middle. The actual lay remained unchanged, and was still being shown in eg Missouri-Central Type Foundry, Price List (1959).

The case lay differs very slightly from De Vinne, The Practice of Typography - Modern Methods of Book Composition (1904 and 1914) and Updike, Printing Types (2nd ed 1937) as they swap & with the empty box beside AE. This change is also shown in Audin Histoire de l'Imprimerie par l'Image (1929), calling the case American, and in Hostettler, The Printer' Terms (1949 and 4th rev ed 1963), calling the case English. These both also show the em and en rule swapped around.

The ATF lay also differs from Barnhart Bros & Spindler (1890s) as & replaces fl (which is in the Hamilton Lower case), fractions are in a different order, and some signs are different. The fractions and signs match MacKellar (editions 1866-1889), though he reverses large and small caps, and & replaces & and hair replaces &. In Kelsey, Printers Supply Book (1969) a/c is replaced by / in the full-size version, but not in the two-third version.

The boxes with A, etc are small caps. The boxes «, «», » are really bottom, middle and top of a 3 piece brace. The - is an en rule, the -- is an em rule, the --- is a 2em rule and ---- 3em. (In some lays, the en rule is replaced by more em rule). The { is a 2em brace and { a 3em brace.

The empty typecase configuration is that of Moxon and for example, Van Winkle, Printers Guide (1818), Adams, Typographia (1844), MacKellar, American Printer (1866 to 889), Curtis & Mitchell, Price List (1878), Palmer & Rey, Type Specimen (1892), Barnhart Bros & Spindler, Specimen (1893), American Type Founders, Printers Wood Goods (1893) and Blue Book (1895). Even in 1923, ATF show a Hebrew Cap case, with this standard configuration, despite their statement that it is the same as the model 2720 Cap case. De Vinne gives the case size as 16¾ x 32¼ x 1 inches although Hamilton state 16⅝ x 32¼.

Other empty cases
ie with the boxes left blank
Other type layouts
ie with characters assigned to boxes
Full Index of layoutsGlossary of terms usedSources of the layoutsIntroduction
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and Double Cases
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This page was written in 1997 by David Bolton and last updated 18 May 2016.