ATF

American Type Founders (ATF) was an American typefounding agglomeration formed in 1892, that eventually contained most of the American typefounding industry. ATF owned the rights to one of the world’s greatest libraries of original typefaces, largely directed and created by Morris Fuller Benton. Foundries that were incorporated into ATF included: Barnhart Brothers & Spindler (1911); Binny & Ronaldson (1892); Boston Type Foundry (1892); Bruce Type Foundry (1901); Central Type Foundry (1893); Farmer, Little & Co. (1892); Inland Type Foundry (1912). By the 1920s ATF was the dominant player in the world’s printing equipment market. Not just fonts, but entire printing plants were on offer. This strong position did not continue, due to the ever-changing nature of the printing industry. Kingsley, a manufacturer of imprinting and marking equipment, acquired ATF in 1986, and the type division became Kingsley/ATF Type Corporation. The foundry closed in 1993 with an ignominious bankruptcy auction. Digital type foundries such as Bitstream, Adobe and the ATF Collection have revived many of the famous ATF fonts to make them available for today's users.