American Type Founders

American Type Founders Company
Company type	Trust
Industry	Type foundry, printing equipment manufacturing
Founded	1892
Headquarters	Jersey City, New Jersey, United States
Area served	United States, Canada (Vancouver office)
Key people	Robert Wickham Nelson (general manager), Morris Fuller Benton (chief designer), Joseph W. Phinney (design leader), Frank Belknap Berry (president), Joseph F. Gillick (president), Thomas Roy Jones (president)
Products	Metal typefaces (News Gothic, Century Schoolbook, Franklin Gothic, Hobo, Bank Gothic), letterpresses (Kelly presses, Golding presses), offset presses (Chief brand)

Adapted from the English Wikipedia article American Type Founders, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 30 November 2025

American Type Founders (ATF) Company originated in 1892 as a trust formed by the merger of 23 type foundries, collectively accounting for approximately 85% of the United States' type production at that period. Established under New Jersey incorporation laws, ATF unified numerous firms nationwide to establish a dominant position in the American type manufacturing sector.

It is important to distinguish ATF Company from the American Type Founders' Association (also abbreviated ATF), which was founded earlier in 1864 and is credited with creating the American point system in 1886. The majority of foundries that became part of ATF Company were affiliated members of this association.

From its founding through at least the 1940s, ATF was the foremost manufacturer of metal type in the U.S., maintaining significant influence well into the 1960s. The company is known for iconic typefaces such as News Gothic, Century Schoolbook, Franklin Gothic, Hobo, and Bank Gothic, many of which remain widely utilized today.

Type founding prior to ATF Company

By the closing decades of the 19th century, type founding confronted new challenges brought on by technological advancements like the Linotype machine, which allowed printers to cast entire lines internally, thereby diminishing reliance on hand-set type. During the 1880s, an informal cartel had kept prices stable; however, an increase in foundry numbers combined with hot metal typesetting innovations led to significant price reductions. Moreover, printers were hindered by inconsistent standards concerning type sizes and baseline alignment. To tackle these problems, industry leaders including Joseph W. Phinney from Boston's Dickinson Type Foundry convened a committee that ultimately recommended merging foundries to resolve these inefficiencies.

Formation and initial period

By the late 1880s, thirty-four foundries operated across the United States. In 1892, twenty-three of these merged to create the American Type Founders Company. A Chicago Tribune article dated February 12, 1892, enumerated these foundries, highlighting prominent firms such as MacKellar, Smiths, & Jordan Co. (Philadelphia), Cincinnati Type Foundry (led by Henry Barth), and Benton, Waldo & Co. (Milwaukee). The incorporation of Barth’s patented Barth Typecaster alongside Linn Boyd Benton’s Benton Pantograph—innovations enabling direct engraving of matrices and optical scaling—positioned ATF as both the largest and most technologically advanced type foundry worldwide.

The company's early years were marked by operational disorder; although twelve foundries ceased independent operations immediately after the merger, most continued functioning separately until 1894 when Robert Wickham Nelson assumed general management. Nelson rationalized operations by divesting unprofitable branches, removing redundancies, and consolidating all units under the ATF brand. Morris Fuller Benton played a key role in standardizing typefaces and sizes while emphasizing display and advertising types as primary revenue sources. Under Joseph W. Phinney’s design leadership, successful typefaces such as Cushing, Howland, Bradley, Satanick, Jenson Oldstyle, and Roycroft were introduced.

While freelance artists including Will H. Bradley, T.M. Cleland, Walter Dorwin Teague, Frederic Goudy, and Oswald Bruce Cooper occasionally contributed designs, most of ATF’s catalog through the 1930s was developed internally under Morris Fuller Benton’s supervision. He led historical revivals like Bodoni and Garamond and created new font families such as Century and Cheltenham—the latter systematically organized by style traits including weight and width.

Advertising manager Henry Lewis Bullen significantly contributed by assembling an extensive collection of historical typography specimens beginning in 1908; this archive later became part of Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

In 1901, Nelson centralized casting activities into a newly built factory in Jersey City while converting other branches into distribution centers. By the 1920s, ATF maintained offices in twenty-seven U.S. cities plus Vancouver, marketing typefaces along with pressroom equipment including their proprietary Kelly printing presses. They published comprehensive specimen books tailored for advertising clients.

In 1923, ATF allocated $300,000 to produce its largest type catalog ever—60,000 copies printed with extensive color usage—now considered exemplary works of letterpress printing. The catalog’s preface highlighted ATF’s leadership role in enhancing print quality and profitability through renowned font families like Cheltenham and Century.

Upon Nelson’s death in 1926, ATF seemed well-positioned for ongoing financial success.

Nelson’s successor Frank Belknap Berry faced board disapproval and was replaced by Joseph F. Gillick. Gillick closed the Chicago-based Barnhard Brothers & Spindler subsidiary to concentrate casting operations in Jersey City. Despite early difficulties following Nelson’s passing, 1929 marked ATF’s peak profitability year.

Letterpress Production

Between 1914 and 1959, ATF manufactured its own letterpresses while also distributing presses from Chandler & Price, Laureate, and Thomson National Company throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

Kelly Press Series

William M. Kelly (1869–1949), who worked in sales, designed an automatic cylinder press that was quickly approved by Nelson. The Kelly Style B Press, featuring a three-roller, two-revolution flat-bed cylinder with an automatic feeder and jogger, debuted in 1914 and achieved significant market acceptance. By 1923, over 2,500 units had been sold, prompting a move of production from Jersey City to a larger facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Subsequent models were introduced, with total sales surpassing 11,000 by 1949.

Kelly Series B, handling 17 × 22" sheets, manufactured from 1914 to 1937
Kelly Model #2, designed for 22 × 34" sheets, launched in 1921
Kelly Automatic Jobber, accommodating 13 × 19.5" sheets, introduced in 1923
Kelly Series A ("Baby Kelly"), for 13.5 × 22" sheets, released in 1925
Kelly Model #1, supporting 22 × 28" sheets, unveiled in 1929
Kelly Series C, producing for 17 × 22" sheets, made between 1937 and 1954 (extended to 1959 in the UK)
Kelly Clipper ("the Pressman's Press"), suited for 14 × 20" sheets, built from 1938 to 1941
Kelly Model #3, handling large sheets of 25 × 38", produced from 1949 to 1954 (until 1959 in the UK)

Production of Kelly presses ended at ATF in 1954; nevertheless, Vickers continued manufacturing two models in England until 1959.

Golding Press Operations

In 1918, ATF acquired Golding & Company, recognized for its Pearl line of letterpresses. The Golding Press Division operated under ATF until it was sold to Thomson National Company in 1927.

Klymax Feeder Device

ATF also developed the Klymax Feeder, which transformed the hand-fed Gordon jobber presses made by Chandler & Price into automatically fed machines. Due to the widespread use of these presses, sales of the Klymax Feeder remained robust during the 1920s.

Little Giant Press

Following World War II, ATF introduced the Little Giant Automatic Cylinder Press—a more compact and modern design with a smaller sheet size of 12" x 18", compared to the larger Kelly presses. Production of this model concluded in 1959.

Economic Downturn and Bankruptcy

Unlike consumables such as paper and ink that require frequent replenishment, typefaces wear gradually and purchases can be deferred during economic slumps; meanwhile, investment in new press equipment tends to decline sharply. ATF suffered significantly during the Depression due to overexpansion during prosperous years, excessive trade credit, inflated inventory levels, and an aging leadership team lacking strategic foresight. After the stock market crash of 1929, financial difficulties worsened: factory hours were reduced in 1931; sales declined by an additional quarter in 1932; and salary cuts were implemented. Discovery of major accounting inaccuracies revealed profitability was far worse than anticipated, leading to Gillick’s resignation.

Thomas Roy Jones, a businessman without prior experience in type founding, succeeded Gillick. By 1933, type sales had plummeted to less than one-third of their peak in 1926, while purchases of Kelly presses fell to only 6.8% of previous levels. Jones filed for bankruptcy protection in October that year. Creditors took over management and consolidated operations: the Jersey City plant was shut down; typecasting was centralized in Elizabeth; sales personnel were switched to commission-based pay; inventories were reduced; certain typefaces were discontinued; production of several Kelly press models and the Klymax Feeder was terminated. ATF emerged from court supervision in 1936. A sales analysis conducted in 1938 determined that the Kelly press was outdated; line-casters dominated body type production; display type required increased attention; nearly half of ATF’s sales consisted of competitors’ products that could be internally manufactured; acquiring or merging with another letterpress manufacturer was recommended; and investment in offset printing technology became critical.

Offset presses

In 1938, ATF took over the Webendorfer-Wills Company and started manufacturing offset presses under the Chief brand, which included the Little Chief, Chief, and Big Chief models. Production of large presses persisted until the late 1970s, ending with the discontinuation of the 25" Profiteer as the original Webendorfer design became obsolete. Similar to its earlier oversight with the Kelly press, ATF neglected to invest in product enhancements, allowing competitors to gain an advantage. From the 1970s onward, ATF licensed large offset presses bearing the Chief name from other manufacturers, initially from MAN Roland and subsequently from Solna.

War work and postwar direction

During World War II, ATF’s Elizabeth facility shifted nearly all operations to military manufacturing, producing firing pins using Barth Casters and managing two ordnance plants located in Newark.

Following the war, ATF pursued diversification by acquiring furniture maker Dystrom Corporation and rival Lanston Monotype in 1969; however, the latter’s holdings were eventually sold to M&H Typefounders without significant assimilation into ATF’s operations.

The waning relevance of foundry type is evident in the reduction of ATF specimen book sizes—from 1148 pages in 1923 down to a mere 14 pages by 1976. Nonetheless, some innovation persisted: lettering artist Charles H. Hughes created Century Nova (1965), a version of Century Type adapted for both offset and letterpress printing. In 1969, ATF launched OCR-A, recognized as the first optically readable typeface still employed on bank checks today.

Photocomposition

ATF ventured into photocomposition with the release of the ATF Typesetter in 1958. The initial "A" model had limited production due to inadequate character fitting. The more widely produced "B" model enhanced character spacing by expanding the Friden Flexowriter "Justowriter" escape mechanism to seven units. The first seven-unit typeface developed was Baskerville, designed by Tommy Thompson. The sophisticated "B-8" model employed an 18-increment system controlled by electro-mechanical relays, delivering accuracy on par with Monotype equipment.

Additionally, ATF acted as the U.S. sales representative for the Dutch-made Hadego film setting machine, licensed from inventor Hans de Goeij since 1951.

The last phototypesetter produced by ATF was the Photocomp 20, named for its capability of producing twenty 11-pica newspaper lines per minute. It utilized four stepper motors to manage film transport, type disk rotation, line advancement, and escapement sizing. Its controller was ATF’s inaugural device featuring integrated circuits based on Motorola DTL technology. Designed by Richard Arbib, only seventeen units were sold worldwide.

ATF manufactured type disks containing widely used fonts—including roman, italic, and bold styles—on transparent plastic rings in negative form. Among these was a disk showcasing the Canadian font "Cartier". The Phototypesetter was distributed internationally—in Canada, Germany, Italy, Denmark, France, Belgium, and England—with Danish newspapers produced by "Reprodan". However, as photocomposition technology evolved rapidly, ATF was unable to maintain competitiveness and ultimately ceased this product line.

Duplicators

During the mid-1950s, the small offset duplicator segment was primarily led by Addressograph-Multilith's Multi-1250. In 1957, Whitin Machine Works, aiming to diversify beyond its declining textile machinery business, purchased ATF and introduced the ATF Chief 15 duplicator from their Whitinsville, Massachusetts plant. Crafted by Louis Mestre incorporating Webendorfer’s patented technology, the Chief delivered the capabilities of a large press within a compact design, quickly gaining popularity among commercial printing firms. The Chief series dominated the small press market until Heidelberg launched its T-Offset model in the late 1980s. The 1960s saw the release of a larger Chief 17, followed in the 1970s by two-color "common blanket" variants. Gestetner Cyclograph marketed these models in Europe, while Itek and Ditto handled their distribution in the United States.

Although the Chief offered superior quality compared to rivals such as the A.B. Dick 350, it demanded highly skilled operators. The quick printing sector preferred machines that prioritized speed over precision, which constrained ATF’s market penetration.

In 1966, Whitin Machine Works was acquired by White Consolidated Industries, bringing ATF under their control.

Subsequently, ATF purchased the Davidson duplicator line and rebranded it as ATF-Davidson. Contrary to earlier trends of minimal investment, ATF enhanced Davidson models to maintain their competitiveness until production ceased. Nevertheless, Davidson’s distinctive two-cylinder mechanism hindered widespread acceptance.

Divestiture of the foundry

By the 1980s, ATF-Davidson’s foundry located in Elizabeth, New Jersey had reduced its workforce to just six employees and concentrated primarily on duplicator production. In 1986, this foundry was sold to Kingsley Machines, a manufacturer specializing in foilstamping equipment, resulting in the formation of Kingsley/ATF. The company ventured into digital typography through a software subsidiary based in Tucson, utilizing ATF’s vast typeface library and patents related to optical scaling. Since original drawings were lost, fonts had to be digitized from brass matrices—a painstaking process that culminated in only four typefaces being released (Wedding Text, Thompson Quill Script, Bernhard Fashion, and border designs by T.M. Cleland). Kingsley/ATF declared bankruptcy in 1993; an auction liquidated assets with many matrices destroyed. Ownership of ATF type designs remains with Kingsley Holding Corporation and licenses are managed via Adobe and Bitstream. The former foundry building has since been converted into residential apartments.

While ATF itself no longer exists, original typecasting machines and matrix engraving tools have been preserved at The Dale Guild Type Foundry in Howell, New Jersey—thanks largely to efforts led by Theo Rehak, who was the last operator trained at ATF’s Elizabeth facility.

ATF-Davidson and successor corporations

By the early 1980s, it became clear that the Chief series needed updating to remain competitive against presses like A.B.Dick’s 9800 line. This led to an expedited development process resulting in the SuperChief launch in 1986; however, this model suffered from numerous defects that were mostly corrected when it was reintroduced as the X-Press line in 1988. Despite these improvements, restoring the Chief series’ reputation proved unsuccessful and the company ceased operations in July 1990. Afterwards, Jim Hughes of Printer's Parts Store acquired company assets and operated under ATF-Graphic Products to continue selling existing presses and parts. The Chief line itself was sold to Jim Wheet who now provides parts through ATF Services Inc., while Printer's Parts’ plans regarding a revival of Davidson presses remain uncertain.

Branches following consolidation

Between the 1892 merger and the 1903 centralization in Jersey City, the foundries were organized into these branches and assigned specific codes:

Subsequent mergers and acquisitions

Farmer, Little & Co. (established 1810; New York, 1892)
Central Type Foundry (founded 1870; St. Louis, 1893)
- Boston Type Foundry, a Central subsidiary (established 1817)
Bruce Type Foundry (originated 1813; New York, 1901)
H. L. Pelouze & Son Type Founders (Boston, 1901)
Barnhart Brothers & Spindler (Chicago, 1911), remained independent until 1929
- Western Type Foundry (St. Louis), acquired by B.B.&S in 1918
  - Advance Type Foundry (Chicago), taken over by Western in 1914
Inland Type Foundry (St. Louis, 1912)
Golding & Company (Boston, 1918), purchased by Thomson National Company in 1927
Keystone Type Foundry (Philadelphia, founded 1883; acquired 1919)
H.C. Hansen Type Foundry (Boston, established 1872; acquired 1922)
Webendorfer-Wills Company (Mount Vernon, NY, 1938), manufacturer of offset presses and the Little Giant letterpress cylinder press
Dystrom Corporation, specialized in furniture manufacturing
Davidson Corporation, producer of offset printing presses
Lanston Monotype (Philadelphia, acquired 1969), with assets later transferred to M&H Typefounders
Additional companies such as Damon and Peets and Pacific States Typefoundry with diverse incorporation backgrounds

External links