Interesting Project

As it is now!

An old friend, Howard, rang the other day to tell me of an interesting project he's working on for a local steam museum. The idea is to get an old platen press (donation) restored so that letterpress can be demonstrated to visitors with perhaps a little hands on activity that could be done by visitors. Its a very solid old press from the 19th century, but it has no makers ID at all. My guess is that many makers simply copied each other to capture a slice of the market. It is a clamshell design, and after a bit of research I think it may be a "New Champion". I have posted here a few old ads and a current photograph taken by Howard. it will look quite striking when completed and it looks pretty solid with three roller coverage. The rollers will be the tough part. Sourcing dimensions will be tricky. So have a good look and if you have one or know someone who does, we would love to hear from you. the blue colour looks just great.

A lovely engraving and Advertisement showing a slightly different press

It could be this little rocket!