1810 STANHOPE HAND LEVER PRESS
The 1810 Stanhope Press is a squat, iron machine that stands near the entrance to the Museum. At our last appraisal, there were only 18 presses like it in the world.
From the time Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450 to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s, the design of the machine had seen very little change. Printers all over the world were still using wooden presses that were more-or-less identical to what Gutenberg had designed 300 years earlier. The mechanics of the press were largely unchanged as well. Wooden printing presses were operated by pulling a handle to turn a large internal screw, similar to what you would find inside a wine or oil press, that would apply pressure to the bed of the press. This changed in the early 1800s when the Stanhope came onto the scene.
The name “Stanhope” refers to the inventor of the press, a British man named Charles Mahon, the Third Earl of Stanhope. Amidst a series of other inventions, Stanhope came up with a design for the very first all metal printing press. This invention was part of a greater trend during the industrial revolution. Handmade wooden technology was rapidly being replaced by more durable, efficient machinery made from metals like iron and steel. While the design of the press is radically different from the wooden presses that predated it, the operational differences are a little more subtle. This hand press is still operated by pulling a handle to apply pressure, but the screw is now aided by a series of levers.
Stanhope was an affluent, forward-thinking scientist who was more interested in advancing technology than profiting from it. He chose not to patent his design so that his invention could spread across the world and improve the field of printing. The press was initially manufactured in Stanhope’s native England by a London ironsmith, Robert Walker. The Museum’s Stanhope, which is numbered 439, is one of these early models. It has an inscription in green paint reading “STANHOPE INVENIT” near the screw and “WALKER Fecit” by the handle, giving credit to both the inventor and the creator. Stanhope presses spread across Europe, where they were produced by numerous manufacturers in many different countries.
