| BELL TYPE & RULE COMPANY Type Foundry & Commercial Printing |
FOUNDRY TYPE Spacing:
Spacing materials used in lines of type setting should always be the same body
size as that of the type. In handset type they consist of the standard units of
quads and spaces and some form of additional thin spaces used for letter
spacing, line justification and tightening of lines.
The spaces are to be the same size as the type body being set and are less than
type high so they will not print.
The em quad (also call a "nut") is the unit of spacing material that is a square of
the size of type you are setting. For example an em quad of 18 point type is 18 x
18 points.
The en quad is one-half the width of the em quad or the size of the type your are
setting. In the 18 point example above that would be 9 points wide but still on
an 18 body (18 x 9).
The 3-em space is one third the width of the em space. This is the common
space used between words. So using our 18 point example the 3-em space is 6
points wide and still on an 18 body (18 x 6)
The 4-em space is one forth the width of the nut. And the 5-em space is one
fifth of the em quad. For our example the 18 point 4-em space is 4.5 points wide
and the 5-em space is 3.6 points wide or about 3 1/2 points wide.
Spacing materials used in lines of type setting should always be the same body
size as that of the type. In handset type they consist of the standard units of
quads and spaces and some form of additional thin spaces used for letter
spacing, line justification and tightening of lines.
The spaces are to be the same size as the type body being set and are less than
type high so they will not print.
The em quad (also call a "nut") is the unit of spacing material that is a square of
the size of type you are setting. For example an em quad of 18 point type is 18 x
18 points.
The en quad is one-half the width of the em quad or the size of the type your are
setting. In the 18 point example above that would be 9 points wide but still on
an 18 body (18 x 9).
The 3-em space is one third the width of the em space. This is the common
space used between words. So using our 18 point example the 3-em space is 6
points wide and still on an 18 body (18 x 6)
The 4-em space is one forth the width of the nut. And the 5-em space is one
fifth of the em quad. For our example the 18 point 4-em space is 4.5 points wide
and the 5-em space is 3.6 points wide or about 3 1/2 points wide.
| Leads and Slugs used in spacing ... Leads and slugs are strip spacing material made of metal. They are used for line spacing or anywhere strips of spacing material are required. We cast strip material in several thicknesses ranging from 2 to 36 points. Material that is 6 points or less is called leads, those from 6 to 36 points are called slugs. Contact us for pricing and availability. Special runs of material are available during our manufacturing runs. |
| Cross sections of the bodies on which strip material is formed. |
| Line Spacing |
| Letter Spacing |
| There are three general classes of spacing materials used to compose and make up a type form. They are the same if you are doing letterpress printing or hot stamping. LETTER SPACING WORD SPACING LINE SPACING Letter spacing and word spacing is done within a line of type and line spacing is done between the lines of type. |
| L e t t e r and Line Spacing |
| This is a sample of Letter Spacing, Word Spacing and Line spacing. Note in the line spacing example the spacing material has been printed for demonstration purposes here so you can see the space that was put between the lines but would not show in your work. |
| This is a sample of how spaces and quads are used in the type form. |
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