Is there Zinc type

Yes, ATF did make zinc or zinc alloy type for Kingsley for hot stamping, and at the ATF auction Kingsley acquired mats and typecasters to do it themselves. I don’t know if they did much with it.

The type shown is NOT the Kingsley/ATF type for the Kingsley foil-stamping machines. The Kingsley type all have very distinctive half-circle grooves (nicks) in the body so that they will snug-up correctly in the Kinglsey one, two or three-line type-holder/chases.

I don’t understand the “throws a different spark” statement.

It could be cast in zinc for foil stamping useage, but I don’t understand why it wouldn’t have simply incorporated the Kingsley nicks.

Rick

Rick,

When I put one of the letters to a grinder the spark put off is different than tradional lead type. This is a common way metal recyclers determine between different types of metal.
I am a novice and just trying to properly describe what I have. It is definitely different than traditional lead type. Just want some accurate info. Thanks for you input.

Scott

I’ve never seen Kingsley type to compare it with foundry type. These do have a shallow nick. Another possibility is Mazak type, which is another kind of stamping type. Some AWT catalogs show the Mazak faces they sold, perhaps the face itself is a clue that won’t show up in MacGrew.

Hmmm, I bought a box of new type from someone on eBay who was selling many of them, at least 20 as I recall. It’s for making monograms, and it’s supposed to be zinc. Somehow I was thinking that it was the Kingsley type, but now I’m not sure since the nick is a tiny little thing. Here are some photos.

Barbara

Zinc type label.jpg

Zinc type nick.jpg

Zinc type set lr.jpg

Thanks,

Here is another example. I am pretty sure this is typo upright. It is definetely not lead. It is much lighter

Scott

IMG_8168.jpg

IMG_8167.jpg

The small nick which Rick indicated was on Kingsley fonts is actually on the back side of the piece of type, opposite the side which normally has a nick. The extra rear nick fit into a ridge built into the type holder and locked in the letters so they would not fall out of the holder when it is tipped vertically to do the stamping.

As Parallel indicated, there were other suppliers of hard type for hot stamp use, Gane Brothers & Lane and other bindery suppliers had hard foundry and zinc-based type in their catalogs and product lists.

It is possible that the type pictured by Barb H. could be Kingsley, but only if the small nick is on the back side of the characters. If I recall correctly, the Kingsley nick was about 1/2” up from the foot of the type character as well. I don’t have any in front of me to confirm that measure, however.

John H.

Thanks, John. What I have isn’t Kingsley, then. The nick is only about a quarter-inch from the foot, and it’s on the same side as all my other type. What I have is lighter than the typical lead alloy, though. I weighed a 2-inch line of 36-point lead type. It was 128 grams as opposed to 74 grams for the zinc type, if that’s what it is.

Barbara

Thanks for explaining the grinding of metals to determine some of their properties.

I have a whole lot of Kingsley fonts, each in their distinctive wood box cases. For the most part, they have an 18pt. base (body) shaft to fit into the Kingsley type holders. Almost all of these fonts have three nicks; two on the front of the body and one high on the back. The high nick on the back aligns with the higher of the two nicks on the front. The high nick is what secures the type into the type holder so it doesn’t fall out when inserted upside-down into the foil stamper.

On 24 pt. Kingsley faces, the body flairs out near the top to accommodate the larger face on the smaller 18pt. base. Sort of like a Ludlow slug.

Rick

To all: A very enlightening discussion, indeed!

The question of the “nick” intrigues me. Last summer (actually ‘09) I was at the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Amsterdam on a special semianr with mostly American participants. The very cheerful and helpful people at the museum asked for a volunteer from the group to set a line of type. I told the brave woman who volunteeered - she had had no experience with letterpress whatsoever — to make sure that the nick was facing up for each letter. It turned out, though, that the nicks were on the “opposite” side, that is, at the head rather than at the foot of the letter. It was very disconcerting. Does anyone know if this was a common practice in European foundries?

So, I took the fonts I had pictured here that I thought were zinc to a friend of mine that owns a scrap metal recyling center. He took a reading on the type with his assaying gun and low & behold it was 98% zinc. Mine does not have the nick on the back, so I am still curious as to the maker of these fonts. I have about 30 different sets.

Thanks