User:Shreevatsa/Clephane

Found this name while reading a book. There was not a single mention of him on Wikipedia at the time, but in a few minutes of random Googling I found a ton of sources — it's really cool (and scary) how much information can be dug up about a person from 100 years ago. Now made it an article: James O. Clephane. Sources I used are below.

Biography

From Men and Women of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries Published by L.R. Hamersly & Company, 1909, the following:

CLEPHANE, James Ogilvie:

Born in Washington, D. C., Feb. 21, 1842; son of James Clephane, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, and whose family being socially intimate with Sir Walter Scott, had the advantage of his valuable advice in their literary efforts. Mr. James O. Clephane was at an early age admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, and was soon in the enjoyment of a good practice. Being of a progressive nature, however, he sacrificed his promising career at the Bar to take up with what to him appeared to be a more attractive and important field — that of certain inventions which he saw were very much needed. Among them was the development of the Sholes, (now known as the Remington Typewriter;) the Moore Typewriter, succeeded recently by the Planograph. While pursuing this interesting line of activity, he conceived the idea of getting up a machine which should dispense with typesetting by hand. Recognizing the extraordinary genius of Mr. O. Mergenthaler, who at that time was employed by A. Hahl & Co., of Baltimore, he explained to him in a general way his ideas. From that time for about fifteen years he and Mr. Mergenthaler were closely associated, the result being the perfection of the present popular Linotype machine. He is still a director in that successful Company, having among his associates. Whitelaw Reid, D. 0. Mills, and P. T. Dodge. He also organized the Locke Steel Belt Co., the Linomatrix Machine Co., the National Typographic Co., the Aurora Mining Co., the Horton Basket Machine Co., the Fowler-Henkle Printing Press. Co., the Od'dur Machine Co., (about to introduce a new line-casting machine). In all of these companies he has been a Director, and President of several. Mr. Clephane has published interesting accounts of several of his journeys abroad and in this country. Residence: Englewood, N. J. Office: 45 Broadway, New York City.

Obituary

There is an NYT obituary here, dated December 1, 1910. From Google Cache:

JAMES O. CLEPHANE DEAD

Development of Linotype Machine Largely Due to His Efforts.

James Ogilvie Clephane, formerly of Washington, D. C., but for many years a resident of Englewood, N. J., died at his home there yesterday morning, following a stroke or apoplexy which he suffered on Thanksgiving Day. Mr. Clephane had been in his usual health up to Thursday of last week, and the stroke which caused his death came without the slightest warning.

Mr. Clephane has been by many called the father of the linotype machine, which means that it was to him in large measure the great development in the field of mechanical typesetting is due.

Mr. Clephane was born in Washington some seventy years ago. He became interested in the development of the typewriter while secretary to Secretary of State Seward. His exceptional ability brought him early in contact with such men as President Buchanan, President Lincoln, and many other noted men of their day, who became his personal friends. Mr. Clephane was associated through them with many of the most stirring events of the civil war period.

He soon turned his attention to the development of the typewriter and other inventions, and under his direction the first typewriter was built for the use of his own employes. These machines suggested to Mr. Clephane the possibility of a typesetting machine, and he employed C. T. Moore of West Virginia in this connection. Subsequently, upon his suggestion, Ottmar Mergenthaler began the development of the present machine, which bears his name and which has revolutionized the printing industry of the world. The development of the linotype machine was only accomplished after a terrific struggle, the burden of which fell heavily upon Mr. Clephane's shoulders. He never lost his confidence in the value of the device, and it was largely to his courage and patience in overcoming skepticism and financial embarrassments that the world is indebted for the immense progress in the art of mechanical typesetting.

Later Mr. Clephane was joined in advancing the linotype machine by Whitelaw Reid, William C. Whitney, D. O. Mills, and Philip T. Dodge. He was an officer and Director in the Mergenthaler Linotype Company, the American Graphophone Company, the National Typographic Company, and the Oddur Manufacturing Company.

Mr. Clephane leaves a widow, a son, Malcolm W. Clephane, and two daughters, Miss Sadie L. Clephane and Mrs. Peter S. Duryea. Mr. Clephane's funeral will take place on Friday at 2:30 o'clock. He will be buried in Englewood, N. J.

Also appears in the big list (titled "Died" in elaborate font) on the same date. All it says is:

CLEPHANE - James Ogilvie Clephane, on Wednesday, after a brief illness, at his home in Engelwood, N. J. Funeral services will be held at his late residence on Friday at 2:30 o'clock. Please omit flowers. Carriages will meet the Erie train leaving Chambers St. at 1:20 o'clock.

Family

Father

He was the youngest son of James Clephane (Edinburgh 1790-1880 Washington DC). Obituary from the Washington Post, Dec 2 1880 (so it's PD even though it's not freely available on the net):

DEATH OF JAMES CLEPHANE

An Aged Resident and the Oldest Typographer in Washington

James Clephane, a venerable and highly respected citizen, died early yesterday morning at the residence of his son, Lewis Clephane, 1225 K street. He had been confined to his room but a few days, and his death came naturally and peacefully, from old age. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, October 20, 1790, and was therefore over 90 years of age. He learned the trade of a printer in his native city, and assisted in setting up the first edition of Sir Walter Scott's "Waverly", being employed at that time in Messrs. Ballantyne's, St. Paul's Works, Edinburgh. He came to this country in 1817, and was employed for some time on the National Intelligencer. For a companion in that office he had the Hon. Simon Cameron. He joined the Washington artillery, and as a member of that body assisted in firing a salute on the last departure of Lafayette from this country. Mr. Clephane has always been a careful reader, and his collection of scrap-books, numbering over a hundred, are grand mementoes of his industry and taste in literary matters. He was also a frequent contributor the press, and several articles from his pen, in the way of interesting reminiscences of Washington, have appeared from time to time in the public press of this city. He was for a number of years president of the Columbia Typographical union, of this city. He was for a long time an honored member of the Oldest Inhabitant association. His oldest son, Lewis Clephane, is a well known citizen of this city, and has held positions of responsibility, being at one time city postmaster. His youngest son, James O. Clephane, is one of the leading phonographers of the country.

From Historical Sketch of the Columbia Typographical Union Number One Hundred and One (known as Columbia Typographical Society from 1815 to 1867):

In September, 1837, a meeting of what was called a National Typographical Society was held in New York, at which New York, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Mobile, New Orleans and Washington were represented, the last-named by Messrs. Clephane and Handley. The several meetings were very beneficial, and out of them the organization of the National Typographical Union in 1852 at Cincinnati no doubt resulted, although Columbia Typographical Society did not then become a member.

In the light of the wonderful development of the typesetting machine, a letter from J. D. Hill, of Warrenton, Va., in 1840, requesting the Society to lend its assistance in promoting a machine for setting and distributing type by acquiring the patent right for the District, is prophetic. Just what the printers of that day thought of the idea is shown by the action on the request, the secretary being directed to promptly inform Mr. Hill of their declination.

From LITERARY NOTES, NYT June 28, 1880:

James Clephane, a compositor now living in Washington, is said to have assisted in setting up the first edition of Scott's "Waverley." He was born in 1790, and emigrated to America in 1817. He was employed for many years on the National Intelligencer.

Genealogy, although this is certainly too far.

Brother

His older brother was Lewis Clephane.

Stenographer

"James O. Clephane, one of the leading stenographers during the eventful days of the civil war and subsequently."

Stuff he had typed (pointless) blah blah blah Trial of Mary Harris Navy of the United States

Typewriter

Donald Norman, The Design of Everyday Things, Chapter 6: The Design Challenge, quotes:

They began work at once, and by the next September the first [typewriter] machine was finished, and letters were written with it. It worked successfully so far as to write rapidly and correctly, but trial and experience showed it to be far short of an acceptable, practicable writing machine....

One device after another was conceived and developed till twenty-five or thirty experimental instruments were made, each succeeding one a little different from and a little better than the one preceding. They were put into the hands of stenographers, practical persons who were presumed to know better than anyone else what would be needed and satisfactory. Of these, James O. Clephane, of Washington, D.C., was one. He tried the instruments as no one else had tried them; he destroyed them, one after another, as fast as they could be made and sent him, till the patience of Mr. Sholes [the inventor] was exhausted. But Mr. Densmore insisted that this was the very salvation of the enterprise; that it showed the weak spots and defects, and that the machine must be made so that anybody could use it, or all efforts might as well be abandoned; that such a test was a blessing and not a misfortune, for which the enterprise should be thankful.

Norman's Citation: "Mares writes about the process used in the development of the first successful typewriter (1909, pp. 42-43). Mares said he was quoting "from an old catalog issued by the Remington company many years back."

From The Wilson Quarterly, by Edward Tenner:

He therefore recommended that manufacturers identify and work with a vanguard of "lead users"--as was done in the past, for example, when 19th-century musicians worked with piano manufacturers, or when the typewri ter entrepreneur James Densmore tested his ideas with the court reporter James O. Clephane in developing the QWERTY layout, an efficient arrangement for the four-finger typing technique that prevailed until the victory of the touch method in the 1890s.

Similarly, from Leading American Inventors by George Iles:

They manfully attacked the defects of their model, and patiently built other models, about thirty in all, each with some change, usually intended to reduce friction and heighten speed. Both Sholes and Densmore expected that stenographers would be among the first and best buyers, so they sent experimental machines to a leading reporter in Washington, James Ogilvie Clcphane, who afterward greatly helped Ottmar Mergenthaler, inventor of the linotype. Clephane was so unsparing in his tests that not seldom he reduced a machine to ruin. His judgments, too, were so caustic that Sholes, forbearing though he was, lost his temper at last. Said he to Densmore: "I am through with Clephane!" Densmore's comment was: "This candid fault-finding is just what we need. We had better have it now than after we begin manufacturing. Where Clephane points out a weak lever or rod let us make it strong. Where a spacer or an inker works stiffly, let us make it work smoothly. Then, depend upon Clephane for all the praise we deserve."

This counsel was heeded, and Sholes further improved his models in the light of objections from Washington. When the total output of machines had risen to fifty or so, produced at an average cost of $250, Sholes and Dcnsmore concluded that they had learned from Clephane as much as he could teach them, for the present at least. They were convinced that the time had come when their typewriter could challenge examination by an expert mechanic of the first rank, who would look at their machine with a fresh eye, and advise them as to its manufacture for the markets of the world. Their choice fell upon George W. N. Yost, whom they at once invited to Milwaukee.

Linotype machine

From Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology by Lance Day, Ian McNeil, entry for Ottmar Mergenthaler (after mentioning Hahl):

Soon after, they were commissioned to remedy the defects in a model of a writing machine devised by James O. Clephane of Washington. It produced print by typewriting, which was then multiplied by lithography. Mergenthaler soon corrected the defects and Clephane ordered a full-size version. This was completed in 1877 but did not work satisfactorily. Nevertheless, Mergenthaler was moved to engage in the long battle to mechanize the typesetting stage of the printing process. Clephane suggested substituting stereotyping for lithography in his device, but in spite of their keen efforts Mergenthaler and Hahl were again unsuccessful and they abandoned the project. In spare moments Mergenthaler continued his search for a typesetting machine. Late in 1883 it occurred to him to stamp matrices into type bars and to cast type metal into them in the same machine. From this idea, the Linotype machine developed and was [...]

Similarly, from American Type Design & Designers By David Consuegra:

After taking up permanent residence in Baltimore, he opened his own shop. James O. Clephane, who collaborated in the preceding work, once again offered financial support to his research. By 1883, after he had obtained perfect [...] Meanwhile, Clephane and his associates had organized The National Typographic Company of West Virginia, for the manufacturing of this machine.

Also, Time Magazine, Monday, July 13, 1936, Linotype at 50:

Genesis of the Linotype was the desire of James O. Clephane, private secretary to Civil War Secretary of State William Henry Seward and later a court stenographer, for a quicker way of publishing legal briefs. In 1876 Clephane and his associates brought their ideas to the Baltimore shop where Mergenthaler, 22, was a watchmaker's handy and clever apprentice.

Clephane's group had been trying to cast type from papier-mâché matrices indented by mechanically assembled characters. First big improvement suggested by Mergenthaler was to cast the type directly from an indented, metal matrix. Then, in an inspired moment, Mergenthaler conceived the idea of a freely circulating matrix which was brought into line to cast its character, returned to a magazine until needed again. To make the lines "justify" (i.e., come out even), wedge-shaped spaces were spread between the words.

From these basic principles the Lino type has never varied, [...]

Another source, a brochure (cover), linked to from Heidelberg's website (dubious WP:RS, I know) has a timeline (p.6, but further references on last page. It has also has photos and pictures!):

* 1876: Mergenthaler has his first brush with the printing industry on August 17, when Charles T. Moore visits the workshop with plans drawn up by James O. Clephane for a typewriter composing machine for lithographic printing. Mergenthaler improves on them over the course of a year. The Hahl company moves to Baltimore.

* 1877: James O. Clephane approaches Mergenthaler in the summer. He wants to have a stereotype-based matrix stamping press built.

* 1878: The stamping press is completed at the end of the year. Mergenthaler becomes a partner of cousin Hahl.

* 1879: Mergenthaler attempts to improve on the stamping press, but gives up. Instead he designs a line casting machine, but then tears up the plans. James O. Clephane encourages him to continue.

Or here:

Ottmar Merganthaler was born on the 11th of May, 1854 in the tiny German village of Hachel. Arriving in Baltimore in 1872, Merganthaler took a job in the Hahn Company machine shop, which produced models for the U.S. Patent office, it was here that he met James O. Clephane. Clephane was a Supreme Court reporter and former secretary to William H. Seward who was part of President Lincoln's cabinet during the Civil War. Clephane was an early developer of shorthand writing systems and a proponent of the first typewriters. Seeking a way to quickly and efficiently reproduce his typewritten documents he recruited Merganthaler. After several years of painstaking work Merganthaler developed a machine which combined the tasks of casting and setting type. First patented in 1884 and used commercially in 1886 at the New York Tribune, Merganthaler's invention became known as the Linotype.

Note what The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman, says:

Merganthaler, Ottmar (1854–99) inventor; born in Hachtel, Germany. After an apprenticeship in watch- and clock-making, he emigrated to the U.S.A. (1872) and began working in a scientific instrument shop in Washington, D.C.; he moved with his employer to Baltimore, Md., in 1876, becoming a full partner in 1880. In 1876 Merganthaler was asked to help improve a new machine that James Clephane had designed to help in the printing process; this led Merganthaler to spend much of his time during the next few years in trying to invent a totally new machine for setting type. After starting his own shop in 1883, he came up with the first machine that could cast type in bars of molten lead—the so-called linotype machine. It was patented in 1884 and Clephane, with whom Merganthaler had been working, helped set up the National Typographic Company to manufacture it, along with the Merganthaler Printing Company. Merganthaler was forced out of the business in 1888 over policy disagreements, but he never ceased to work at improving his machine, taking out over 50 patents and effectively revolutionizing the printing industry. He was recognized in his lifetime for his important contribution but he died prematurely of tuberculosis.

Mergenthaler himself was out of the company and even dead by the time Clephane died!

From Frank J. Romano Will Address A Meeting Of Printing Museum Supporters on June 21, Printing News, June 19, 2000:

...with innovative entrepreneurs, investors, competitors, and lots of intrigue. Attendees should expect to learn how Ottmar Mergenthaler was the Bill Gates of his day, and how James Clephane was the ultimate venture capitalist.

Another biography of Mergenthaler

Intellectual Property Law for Engineers and Scientists by Howard B. Rockman (pretty good biography of Mergenthaler, actually):

[...] In 1878, one of Moore's backers proposed the development of a stereotypic process in which the typing machine would impress characters into papier-mache strips. Mergenthaler devised a rotary impression machine, and obtained his first patent on this machine, but, eventually, this process was not satisfactory, and was abandoned.

In 1883, this backer, one James O. Clephane, financed Mergenthaler’s attempts to develop a new machine that Mergenthaler had first conceived in 1879. [...]

American Planograph Company (It says "History from Linotype website")

Mergenthaler improved the reliability of the typing machine after Hahl had secured financial support from Moore's principal backer, James O. Clephane. A Washington, D.C., court reporter, Clephane had tested early models of Christopher Sholes's typewriters and had envisioned in Moore's invention a machine that would enable the speedy production of court reports and pamphlets. Continuing difficulties in transferring the lithographic images, however, led to abandonment of this process. In about 1878 Clephane proposed using a stereotypic process in which the typing machine would impress characters into papier-mache strips. Mergenthaler now devised his rotary impression machine for which he received his first patent. The difficulties in successfully making metal castings from the strips, though, ended progress in this process. Mergenthaler, meanwhile, became Hahl's partner, and in 1881 he married Emma Lachenmayer, with whom he would have five children.

Clephane, however, continued to experiment with possible composing processes. He supported Mergenthaler's plans to open his own shop in 1883 and backed the inventor's efforts to develop a new machine Mergenthaler had first suggested in 1879. Mergenthaler's first band machine used long, tapered metal bands with raised characters that made impressions of character lines in papier-mache strips. Again, there were difficulties in making satisfactory castings. In 1884 he developed the second band machine; this device used bands of indented characters that were positioned in the machine so that actual lines of type could be cast from molten lead. This was Mergenthaler's first primitive Linotype. Confident of future success, Mergenthaler's backers, principally Clephane, formed the National Typographic Company with a capitalization of $1 million and named Mergenthaler as manager of its Baltimore factory. The company became the Mergenthaler Printing Company in 1885. [...]

The stage was set in early 1888, though, for a confrontation between Reid and Mergenthaler. Reid, who is usually credited with naming the machine, and other syndicate members using the new devices complained that the machines were unreliable and unprofitable. Reid wanted a machine produced quickly; Mergenthaler wanted a perfect one. Because of this unresolved difference, Mergenthaler, then thirty-four, resigned under pressure as factory manager.

Reid moved the factory that year to Brooklyn, New York, but disputes between Reid's New York stockholders and the Washington faction of Clephane and Lemon G. Hine led to Reid's ouster and Hine's selection as president. Mergenthaler, meanwhile, reestablished his own machine shop in Baltimore, developing an improved model built in both shops.

The year 1891 marked the formation of the Mergenthaler Linotype Company, the return of control to the New York directors, the selection of Philip T. Dodge as the company's president, and Mergenthaler's perfection of the newer Model 1 Linotype. This machine overcame the objections of newspaper publishers. In 1895 the company reported that 2,608 machines were installed at 385 locations in almost every state or territory. Publishers at last found that the Linotype produced type much more quickly and at less cost than hand composition in addition to providing a "new dress [type] daily." The Linotype thus became the revolutionary advance over the hand process initiated by Johann Gutenberg in the 1450s.

From Leading American Inventors by George Iles, much much more about its history.

The Ridpath encyclopedia mentioned above says this:

Type-setting Machines. T. M. have been steadily in use in Am. and Europe for about 35 yrs., yet although all the machines have set type for a little time at great speed, and no reason could be assigned why that speed could not be continued, all have fallen short of absolute perfection. The first type-composing machine on the records of the English Patent-Office appears to be that of Mr. W. Church, and the specification of his patent is dated 1822. This, after a lapse of 20 yrs., was followed by a number of others, scarcely л yr. passing 'without one or more being made the subject of a patent. Moreover, some of them, among others those of Young end Delcambre, were for a long time before the public. For at least half a century the construction of a useful typesetting-machine has been a problem which a number of ingenious men have tried to solve, but it is only within the last few yrs. that there has been any thine: more than the mere appearance of success. The problem, although it seemed to be conquered by Delcambre, Mitchel, Alden, and Kastenbein, was not really overcome. There were points neglected or overlooked which have prevented more than a moderate use of the various kinds of apparatus. The successful machine must meet every obstacle. In practice one frequent defect Is In the letters "choking" to the channels. When they are dropped by the displacing finger they fall a certain distance. A font of type Is of 30 different thicknesses and of the same number of weights. Naturally, a heavy letter like an m or a w will reach the bottom more certainly and be less obstructed than an ( or a comma. The grooves are of different length and different inclination ; the dust that would stop an s in one channel would not stop an n in another channel. The letters bound when they reach the bottom ; they twist around, and the last letter struck reaches the line before another struck immediately preceding. In the handling of these channels and the passage of these types is a formidable difficulty. There are a number of machines now before the public— the Burr, the Paige, the Rogers, the Thorne, the McMillan, and the Mergenthaler. it must be understood that a type-setting machine to be perfect must comprise three parts. One is to set the letters, another to distribute them, or throw them back, and the third to " Justify " them, or make the line of type exactly the right length by diminishing or Increasing the distance between the words. The last is one of the most difficult problems In mechanics. No machine In Actual commercial use Justifies, although two type-bar casting machines—the Rogers and the Mergenthaler—do spread apart their words by wedges, so that a mold can be taken from the line. In the McMillan machine composition is done on one machine and distribution on another. When the type has been set It Is taken away and Justified by hand. This machine works very simply and easily, does not clog, and requires very little In the way of repairs. Its chief disadvantage Is its bulkiness. The Thorne machine is very neat and compact and pretty to look upon. The types fall perpendicularly from the place where they are distributed into the line forming from copy. The distributer and composer form but one machine. At the side of the machine sits an operator who justifies the matter Into lines as fast as may be necessary. The Thorne is now employed very largely In the U. S. and In England. The disadvantages attributed to it are breaking type and clogging of channels. The Rogers machine employs the wedge principle. It is small and compact, requiring considerable physical power on the part of the operator. The Mergenthaler is a large and ponderous machine. It displays great mechanical ingenuity. Instead of setting types it sets matrixes. The speed of the manipulator is that of those on other machines, for, of course, a keyboard on one machine can be struck as quickly as that on another. But there are two advantages: no time Is lost on Justification, as the spaces are cast at the same time as the letters, and there Is no necessity of distribution. When the matter Is done with it is melted and used overagaln. One disadvantage is the Irregularity of the face. Some of the matrixes are hot and some are cold when the line Is cast ; therefore the former are low to paper and large, while the latter are high and small. But a decided economy is effected by its employment, and a removal of the defects alluded to in all the various machines may be confidently expected.

More links: Now is the time…, Book excerpt…, another book, Random.

He was a Director of Mergenthaler Linotype Company until October 1910. New York Times, Boston Stock Market: Financial Notes:

At the annual meeting of the Mergenthaler Linotype Company Norman Dodge was elected a Director to succeed James O. Clephane. Other directors were re-elected.

Graphophone

See this reference from graphophone:

In early 1887, the Volta Company investors urged Tainter to make several models to test. "These gentlemen were Mess. Andrew Devine, and John H. White, both official reporters of the National House of Representatives, and James O. Clephane, a former official reporter of the House, but who at that time had a large stenographic business of his own, and was also occupied with the promotion of several important inventions of that day; one of them being the Mergenthaler Linotype machine, and another, the Lanston Monotype machine, both of which came into very extensive use." Tainter gave Andrew Devine one of the new dictation graphophones to take to the Capitol for use in the House of Representatives. "As soon as this was demonstrated the system was adopted by the other House reporters, and later by the Senate reporters as soon as they were able to get the machines to use."

Similarly From Tinfoil to Stereo:

Devine interested a fellow Supreme Court reporter, James O. Clephane, in developing the graphophone as an aid for business purposes. Clephane was the right man to talk to, for he was already involved in financing development work on a typewriter (later to be commercially produced as Remington typewriter), and he was interested in the Mergenthaler linotype. A demonstration was arranged, with one one of the reporters, John H. White from the House of Representatives, in attendance. White, who had considerable inventive ability, later contributed and patented a number of minor improvements to the graphophone. [...]

Andrew Devine, knowing that the Edison patents were basic and that the Bell-Tainter patents had not yet been tested in the courts, proposed that the Bell-Tainter interests should pay a visit to the Edison laboratory with the idea of joining forces. Devine, Clephane, and Tainter thus made arrangements to meet with Edison in Orange, New Jersey. According to an article in the July 1, 1888, Electrical World, because Edison was ill and unable to see them the meeting did not take place. Tainter said that instead he exhibited to several members of the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company in New York a graphophone "on which records were engraved and reproduced from cylinders of wax, in substantially the same manner as the so-called Improved Phonograph of Mr. Edison."

He was on Columbia's board of directors.

Other

Was called to testify in the trial of Andrew Johnson: Trial of Andrew Johnson (it seems his testimony was not necessary).

More: Archivesearch, Booksearch.

Books?

• Clephane, James Ogilvie By Thomas William Herringshaw
• Clephane, James Ogilvie Biographical Sketch