Nice little variant on the photosetter. You could do some nice DTP work with those, as they were the fastest method in the days before computer DTP and laser printers to generate printer ready pages. Beat the Linotype and hot metal machines in terms of speed and quality of output, and was a lot faster to set up a page and automatically align the text columns and flow automatically around pictures. Then you print onto a photosensitive plate direct and develop and then put on the offset printer to run off the copies.
Large, could be cranky and definitely had no undo after you pressed line feed which wrote to the film plate.
Printing is becoming a lost art, though you can pick up a used offset press quite cheaply, but to get it running well you will spend a lot. Wonder if Dave will ever get one for teardown, they actually do have a lot of electronics inside those covers, even if the user interface consists of a few LED's and switches, and a great big handle to select each operation step. The smaller ones do fit inside a lift, and only weigh 300kg. The big ones come in a few containers along with a need for a 10 ton forklift to move the parts. Some are totally digital, think a colour laser but using cans of ink, and being able to change jobs in under 5 minutes, then 3000 pages per hour in 4 colour with a UV overvarnish. All at the touch of a soft button on a screen. POA and any sportscar is way cheaper.
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