Lego Letterpress

The headline peaked my interest. I first thought it might be about a young Iowa letterpress printer named Luke Pruessner. Luke showed at Printer’s Hall in Mt. Pleasant, IA for last year’s Old Threshers Reunion to learn more about letterpress printing. He had brought with him a charming little motorized platen press made entirely of legos!!!!!!! It really didn’t print, but was a realistic representation of a clamshell press opening and closing when the motor was turned on. It delighted many people at Printer’s Hall.

Rick

can you please post some photos? would be happy to see what lego letterpress looks like.

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of it then. It was maybe three inches high and was a pretty good representation of a floor model platen press. It was mounted in a small board so that the motor that ran it could be mounted as well. When the motor turned-on it operated a flywheel which made the clamshell platen open and close. It did not have inking rollers as I recall.

I’ll try to remember to contact Luke and see if he can post a video of it here.

Rick

Jenny Addison took a picture of one of Luke’s presses and posted it to her flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/firebrat/5005641605/

But this is the handpress. Didn’t Luke have two lego presses? They were nicely done, and very clever indeed.

Regards,
David M. MacMillan
www.CircuitousRoot.com

Hi David,

That is indeed another of Lukie’s Lego sculptures, but that is not the motorized platen press outfit that he also had with him.

Rick