In the 1880's there were a number of candidates for mechanizing typesetting,
and at least one of them would make its backers rich. So the question isn't
so much why Sam invested in a typesetting machine, but rather why Sam went
for the complex Paige machine instead of one of its competitors, and
particularly the linotype, which reconceived the typesetting process. As an
experienced typesetter, Sam admired the way that Paige's machine automated
the typesetter's movements, picking up type, placing it, spreading it, just
as Sam himself had done as a youth. The linotype process, essentially typing
on lead and then casting a plate against the impression, seemed to Sam
ungainly and inhuman. He backed the wrong horse, and with more money than he
should have, but the century of success the linotype had shouldn't blind us
to the fact that in the 1880's no-one could predict which process would win
out.

Andy Hoffman