C&P Treadle

I took delivery this morning of an Old style C&P. It came with a treadle, but not attached. It’s my understanding after some research that the press pretty much needs to be taken apart to attache it.

After looking around the internet, it looks like the new style treadle attaches to the rod with some ‘C’ shaped hooks and a couple of screws.

So my basic questions is can I use a new style treadle with my old style press?

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You should not have to take the press apart. I installed a Hern treadle on an 8x12 OS C&P in about 15 minutes. There is a shaft at thebase of back of the frame which needs to be driven out, then put back through the holes at rear end of the treadle. The hook is placed over the crank, and (in the case of the Hern) bolted to the treadle.

If the shaft is rusted in place, you might have some trouble getting it out, but it should drive fairly easily.

A caveat here: Early 8x12 OS presses were constructed somewhat differently than later OS presses. This difference in construction affects the treadle installation.

If you look at many, perhaps most, 8x12 OS presses you will notice that the two main side castings are held together by another large “spider-type” casting that starts at the lower front of the side frames, goes up and then back towards the rear, and then down to a corresponding position with the front at the lower rear of the side castings. It is an open frame affair but if turned upright would be shaped like a U. This part is so ubiquitous that it’s normally just considered as how these presses were constructed.

Three main functions of this bracket can be discerned: It holds the two side castings at an exact distance from one another, helps keep the two sides from racking, and in general adds a considerable amount of sturdiness to the entire frame.

However, at least on very early models of these 8x12 presses, at least as late as 1893, these internal brace castings were not used. Instead, steel shafts with integrally turned collars were at the lower front and rear of the press. When the two side castings of the press were assembled they would come up against the collars on these shafts and then nuts were screwed to the ends to secure them. It is these collars that provided the spacing for the two sides. At some point the company decided to strengthen the 8x12 the same as the larger sized presses and so these shafts were replaced by the casting described above.

The reason this is important is that the rear frame/spacing shaft was the place where the treadle attached on those older presses. On presses with the “spider” casting, the treadle was attached to a simple straight shaft in place of the collared shaft that was no longer needed. The older shaft has those thick collars and is not removable without disassembling the press. Treadles for these presses were narrower at the point where they attached in order to allow the treadle to fit between the collars. Since there are no collars on the later shafts the treadles for those had the rear casting where it attaches to the shaft made wider to take up the distance between the two side castings to keep the treadle from moving back and forth on the shaft.

What all of this amounts to is that treadles for the later model of OS press are too wide to fit on the earlier type of OS press and that you cannot remove the rear frame shaft on the earlier type without completely taking the frame apart. And even if you did this and replaced the original shaft with a simple straight shaft to accommodate a later model treadle it would weaken the frame by not having those collars. Treadles for the older type of press were designed to fit over the shaft because it could not be removed.

As far as I know, the OS treadles from Hern Ironworks are copied from the later type of 8x12 and will therefore not fit the earlier. This came up once before a year or so ago on this site. So determine what kind of 8x12 OS press you have before you start trying to knock out any shafts or buy any treadles.

It is realatively easy to fabricate a treadle from wood, metal, or a combination of the two. There was a thread about a week ago with photos showing different examples.

Rich

Front Room Press
Milford, NJ
http://frontroompress.com
http://frontroompress.blogspot.com

Based on this info, does anyone know were I can get a replacement treadle if I have an early model of the 8x12 Old Style C&P? The upper left hand corner of my chase bed says 2527, so I’m assuming this is from 1888? Other than that how can I tell which treadle I need? Thanks!

Does your press have the casting holding the two sides together that I described above? Or does it not have the casting but the two shafts with thick collars on the inside at the locations I indicate? That’s the best way to tell, not the date.

Rich

Front Room Press
Milford, NJ
http://frontroompress.com
http://frontroompress.blogspot.com