Printing presses -- History

Overview

Daughaday manufactured jobbing platen presses from 1874 to 1900. Around this time, small platen presses manufactured for the use of amateur printers gained popularity. The Model style of press went in a different direction encouraging amateurs to enter the commercial world with a larger press. The Model was available in seven size variants, four hand-operated and three treadle-operated. The no. 3 is a freestanding model suitable for small booklet and flyer work.

Overview

William A. Kelsey started making inexpensive presses for amateurs in 1872 to challenge the three existing amateur presses (the Lowe, the Cottage, and the Novelty). Kelsey's Excelsior became the longest-lasting press on the market, produced until 1990. The basic for was settled by 1874, although the style of the body changed many times.

Overview

The Golding Tabletop Platen Press...

Overview

The collection consists of 24 paintings illustrating the history methods for illustrating the written word developed between 950 B.C. and the early twentieth century.

Overview

The Höhner Tabletop Press was made by the German company Höhner Maschinenfabrik. They made small presses which bore various names depending on the country in which they were being distributed. Their presses were close copies of Golding presses.

Overview

The Ideal No. 3 Press was manufactured in the 1880s.

Overview Samuel Lowe patented the first American presses marketed to amateur printers in 1856. A Lowe Co. promotional leaflet promised that: “People of all trades and professions will find one of our printing offices very useful in advertising their business,” thereby taking an early step in demystifying the once-guarded trade secrets of printing. A complete set of 2 fonts of type, plus this model press and necessary ancillary printing tools sold in 1859 for $20, ($700 today). Its cheapness and light...

Overview

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.

Overview

The Original Heidelberg Platen Press was manufactured around 1956. The Heidelberg company began experimenting with an automatic platen in 1912. In 1925, thie style of press came to be known as the Heidelberg, later nicknamed the Windmill for its paper feed arm, which moves in a cyclical motion.

Overview

The Poco Proof Press was manufactured by the Hacker Manufacturing Company around 1930. The Poco Proof Press was patented by Walter G. Potter of Chicago in 1910. A.F. Wanner was the first to manufacture them, until 1914 when Hacker Manufacturing started making them. The Challenge Machinery Company aquired the Poco brand from Hacker in 1931, before Vandercook & Sons bought the brand in 1937.