The Washington press differs from the Columbian and Albion in that a very simple toggle joint provides pressure to the platen and on each side of the platen are coil springs which raise it to open position. The Washington hand press is the invention of Samuel Rust, an American who first produced his press in […]

Developed by Joseph Thorne around 1887, this machine was marketed with successive improvements under the names: Thorne, Simplex, and Unitype. From 1894 until its demise around 1906, the American Type Founders Company owned Unitype, undoubtedly to support their declining foundry type market. The Thorne, Simplex and Unitype were the only machines to actually set and […]

The Typograph machine was developed during the same period as Mergenthaler’s and is technically a linotype in that it casts a type slug. The matrices are suspended on wires, and when activated by the keyboard, slide by gravity into casting position. Circular wedge justifiers spread the line before casting. After the slug is cast the […]

Manufactured by D. & J. Greig, Edinburg, this press embodies all the principles of a typical scraper-style press. Early lithograph presses attempted to employ a cylinder for impression such as had been in long use on copperplate presses, but these early cylinder presses had a tendency to break the stones. The scraper press is a […]

This was the first of Merganthaler’s machines to take on the characteristic linotype appearance continued to this day. The largest type this machine can set is 11 point as the magazine is 2 inches narrower at the escapements than the standard width adopted in 1902. This model, serial number 160, is one of 225 machines […]

Hans Petersen and his two brothers began to design an inexpensive line-casting machine using all the important principles of the Linotype. The machine was introduced in 1912 as the “Linograph” and because it cost about half as much as a Model Linotype it quickly became a favorite of country printers. The serial number of this […]

This press has no identification marks and its maker remains unknown. Its large size is uncommon, as presses of this type are generally limited to 6×10 inch capacity. Exceptionally this castings throughout make this press light in weight and readily portable. It was last used on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma to print their newspaper, […]

This table model, hand-operated press is typical of those printing presses popular with amateur as well as small specialty printers. Presses of this type have been manufactured consistently for over a hundred years. This Daughaday Model 2 appears to be an economy model in that the printer has to ink the type for each impression. […]

This Perfected Prouty Press was made by George W. Prouty & Company of Boston who manufactured this style press from 1878 until 1926. This clam-shell jobber is treadle powered. (55 inches high)