Galley, Merritt

The Universal Press was invented by Merrit Galley in 1869. It was the first of its type of press, having a stationary bed and a platen that rolled to a vertical position before gliding forward so that right before the impression, the platen was parallel to the bed and moved perpendicularly towards it. The standard disk and roller inking method is also changed, having instead a full-width fountain and distributors that transferred ink to a large drum where it was picked up by form-rollers.