In 1818, or soon after, a type and stereotype foundry was established in Boston, and another in Cincinnati, principally through the enterprise of the late Elihu White, who, having the means of multiplying matrices with facility, took this method for the extension of his business. Others followed his example, and type-foundries were established in Albany, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Louisville, and St. Louis, with several additional in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. The business, in fact, was overdone, and failures and suppressions took place, as competition reduced the prices of types. The mode of type-founding has within forty years undergone important changes, which must no doubt be considered improvements. First among them is the introduction of machine-casting, in which a pump forces the fluid metal into the mould and matrix, and gives a sharper outline to the letter than was formerly given by the most violent throw of the caster. The old practice of casting a single type only at a time remains. The first idea of this machine originated with William M. Johnson, who obtained a patent for it in 1828. Elihu White put it into use in his type-foundry, and persevered in using and trying to improve it as long as he lived; but he did not succeed in removing the greatest fault, which was a hollowness in the body of the types cast by it, that inclined them to sink under the pressure of the printing-press. The first successful type-casting machine was invented by David Bruce, Jr., of New York, and was patented March 17, 1838. The patent was sold to George Bruce, and the machines were used by him until 1845. David Bruce meanwhile patented another machine in 1843, which, with new improvements, patented two years later, gave entire satisfaction, and is now in general use in American foundries. By Bruce’s machine, three times the quantity of type that was cast by Binny & Ronaldson’s improved mould is now cast in a given time, and nearly five times the quantity that was cast by the common hand-mould eighty years ago. This improvement has passed into Europe, and been adopted by most of the German type-founders; but in Great Britain for some time it found little favour. A so-called “automatic machine,” for casting and finishing type, invented by Johnson & Atkinson, is in operation in London; but its rate of production seems to be less than that of the American machine, while, from its multiform operations, the proportion of imperfect type turned out must of necessity be considerably more. The protection now afforded by the patent laws having checked the piratical production of matrices by electrotyping, (except in plain faces, a practice still pursued by unprincipled type-founders,) the leading founders in this country have been encouraged to produce types of new styles which in beauty and ingenuity surpass those of foreign origin.