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Thanks to the Linotype machine, which was invented in 1886, ATF’s fortunes began to fade by the 1920s as more and more shops converted to machine-set type. By 1934, ATF went through a bankruptcy reorganization and many of the original managers retired.
But the company continued to produce type and ornaments for decades to come, though by 1986 the firm was down to six employees. In 1993 the doors were shuttered for good.
Several of the original castings machines from ATF are still in use at the Dale Guild Type Foundry in Howell, New Jersey, and some of the original ATF materials are housed at the Columbia University library.
In 1993 an auction was held at the ATF manufacturing plant and, unfortunately, much of the remaining material was sold for its metal scrap value with no consideration of its historic role in American type history.
ATF also manufactured both letterpress and offset printing presses. In fact, my first press was an ATF Chief 20, a workhorse of the offset printing industry and a massive beast. But it was dwarfed by an ATF Kelley B letterpress I briefly owned (though never got working). If something had to do with metal type or letterpress printing, ATF probably sold it at one time.
In addition to many type designs, ATF was well regarded for its assortment of decorations and ornaments, many of which you can see in these ads. These were also cast in metal, of course, as were the borders, corners and, well, everything else you see.
Go to page 3 for even more outstanding examples.
This article was last modified on March 8, 2021
This article was first published on July 16, 2010
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