Photo of “Betty” from linotyperescue.org
Tech expect Keelan Lightfoot hails from Kelowna, B.C. and splits his passion in fascinating ways. By day, he’s a director at a cloud services data centre, and by night he ”tends to the ancient hulks….the machines that helped people connect and communicate in ways that were never before possible.”
That’s where Lightfoot’s fundraising project comes in – he’s recently come across a 93-year-old Model 8 linotype machine that’s in danger of being thrown in the scrap pile.
Linotypes were used in the printing industry from the late 1890’s until the 1970s and were considered part of the typesetting revolution. The name ”Linotype” comes from its function – it produces a ‘line o’ type’ at once, and at the time this allowed for much faster printing production.
Charmingly, Lightfoot has named this precious machine ”Betty” and is raising funds to transport her from Seattle, house and maintain her until a suitable new owner can be found. The $1,500 goal will go towards fuel and rental of a truck, trailer and fork-lift to bring Betty from Seattle to Lightfoot’s garage.
Perks include t-shirts, personalized postcards and for $25, you can receive an authentic linotype slug and stand from Lightfoot’s own collection.
This project is charmingly written and clearly comes from a place of passion – if you have a bit of extra coin and you understand Lightfoot’s passion for preserving old technologies, flip him some cash and help him preserve a piece of printing history. Visit his IndieGogo page and watch his campaign video below. You can also follow the campaign’s progress on his blog.
If you wipe out the enemies you will advance one sector, retaining any excess supplies you have scavenged.
In his mind, a memory embedded in him, somewhere in his brain cells, forever.
It doesn’t seem to be good for any organism does it?