50% OT - Printing Press
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>Last weekend, we picked up my father's printing press (my older son's getting it), and this weekend finally got around to moving it to storage. I thought this group might appreciate a picture of it. The post is 50% off topic because it's not a woodworking tool, but I think it qualifies as a hand tool.
My father bought it when he had a paper route in the 1930's, to print receipts; must have been a big route, because he delivered on a motorcycle. When I was little, he printed the family Christmas cards on it every year, and I did a little printing in high school.
It's one of those Goldbergian designs that somehow works anyway. The spring loaded arms sticking up at 45 degrees to the right hold rollers. When you push down on the printer driver (sorry, couldn't resist), also known as the handle, at the left, the rollers pivot up, across the chase holding the type or linoleum block, then across the plate at the top holding the ink. Simultaneously, the platen (leaning back at 45 degrees to the left, kind of at the base of the handle), on which you've set your paper (little clips hold it in place), pivots up and presses against the chase. The first time through, obviously, is dry - no ink; however, when you let up on the handle, the rollers, now covered with ink, pivot down and across the chase, inking up the type/graphics, so the next time you push the handle, you get an impression. As the rollers go down, a little pawl behind the ink plate (not sure that's the term) pushes on some teeth and causes the plate to turn 90 degrees, so that you get even inking.
Multi-color printing is done by printing one color at a time, fussing around with the paper location to get proper registration. Needless to say, you can't get great precision, but with care, you can get some pretty nifty effects.