Ottmar Mergenthaler

Originally Aired: December 1, 1937 In Cavalcade of America #111, "Ottmar Mergenthaler," a young German immigrant arrives in 1872 Washington, D.C., seeking opportunity in his cousin August Hall's machine shop. Eighteen-year-old Ottmar Mergenthaler, trained in mechanics but limited by Old World traditions, convinces his skeptical cousin to give him a chance to prove his inventive abilities. While repairing a music box for Margaret, daughter of printer Ben Fulton, Ottmar discovers the printing industry's greatest inefficiency: typesetting remains unchanged since Gutenberg's era 400 years earlier, with printers spending a quarter of each day laboriously sorting individual letters by hand. When lawyer James Clafaine and inventor Charles Moore bring their failing printing machine to Hall's shop, Mergenthaler identifies fundamental flaws in their design. Rather than dismissing the project, he sees potential where others see failure, beginning to envision a revolutionary solution. The young mechanic's willingness to challenge conventional thinking and persist through setbacks sets him on a path toward creating the linotype machine, an invention that will transform publishing, make inexpensive books and modern newspapers practical, and dramatically advance the spread of education and knowledge throughout the world.