"Jose" wrote in message
t...
As the inking/printing mechanism
moved over the wayward period, the piece could snap off and monkey up the
works.

... except that the last piece of type is also held in place by something.

Not always. The printer that demonstrated this was setting type on an
actual printing press when he showed me, so I saw it first-hand. FWIW, the
printing press was at 15th and Washington in Corvallis, OR., in the spring
of 1991.

-c