The Photon stored fonts as negative images on a glass disc. In use, the disc was spun at 12,000 rpm. When the desired character was in position, a xenon strobe flashed, exposing photographic paper or film through a lens. The disc held 8 concentric rows of type, each holding two sets of 90 characters for a total of 16 different type styles. Twelve fonts sizes could be generated by directing the image through different lenses (Romano 2014, 82).

The Photon (called Lumitype at the time) was invented by Louis Moyroud and René Higonnet in France in 1946. Moyroud and Higonnet soon moved to the United States to work for the Lithomat Corporation (renamed Photon Inc. in 1950). The justification of lines was one of the more difficult problems they faced. But as Moyroud stated: "We had the advantages of being familiar with telephone relay technology" and the inventors were able to find an electromechanical solution that included binary arithmetic (Romano 2014, 66).

The first prototype was shown in 1949 and the first book was printed in 1953. The first Photon machines were sold in 1954. Photon Inc. manufactured and sold a number of versions until they were forced out of the market by lower-priced competitors. The company went bankrupt in 1975.