Comment by tmoertel

9 months ago

I think you're right.

I also believe that it's more likely that the font was informed by what was commonly taught as good lettering for technical drawings in that era.

For example, consider the one-stroke gothic lettering in 1883's Standard Lettering, published by the Columbia School of Drafting:

https://archive.org/details/standardletterin00claf/page/42/m...

And here's A TEXT-BOOK OF FREE-HAND LETTERING, part of the TECHNICAL DRAWING SERIES, first published in 1895:

https://archive.org/details/textbookoffreeha00daniiala/page/...

Consider the "single-stroke lettering" suggested in that texbook:

https://archive.org/details/textbookoffreeha00daniiala/page/...

Also consider the model forms for pre-penciled gothic lettering:

https://archive.org/details/textbookoffreeha00daniiala/page/...

It seems that such lettering was already common when the machines were introduced to produce similar lettering.

6 comments

tmoertel

card_zero 9 months ago

The 3 with a flat top is a "banker's 3", an anti-forgery measure:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3

Playing cards use this style of lettering. Not sure how far back that goes but I kind of doubt they all derive from Gorton's specific engraving machines.

eCa 9 months ago

And used on eg German license plates, for at least partly that reason (IIUC).
lencastre 9 months ago

Down the rabbit hole I go….
spacechild1 9 months ago

Ah, that makes sense! Thanks for this insight!

zimpenfish 9 months ago

> And here's A TEXT-BOOK OF FREE-HAND LETTERING, part of the TECHNICAL DRAWING SERIES, first published in 1895:

Called out in the article - "but I know simple technical writing standards existed already, and likely influenced the appearance of the newfangled routing font. [photograph captioned: From a 1895 “Free-hand lettering” book by Frank T. Daniels]"

frogpelt 9 months ago

I know it was a long essay and I skimmed most of it myself. But the author definitely mentions this and even has a picture from the 1895 book you linked to.