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