The classification of printwheel typestyles by measuring the size of characters with an image processing system. An initial evaluation using Courier 10 and Elite 12 printwheels

Abstract A low-cost image proceesing system for measuring the size of types characters has been developed. The experimental variables have been optimised, and the system has been found to produce reliable measurements of the height, width and number of black pixels of individual typed characters. Measurements have been made on the letters a , e , o and t for a number of Courier 10 and Elite 12 typescripts; the application of cluster analysis and discriminant analysis to these measurements produced complete separation of the Courier samples from the Elite samples, with further separation by manufacturer. The data from single letters produced some separation between the typeface samples; o and t were good discriminators.