Unknown Press
I have this cylinder machine in my late grand fathers print-shop. He was a printer from 1913 to his death in 1992. He called this machine “the American” and apart from a tag saying “the auto press co.” I could find no other indication on it’s origin. Nothing on the internet so far when I Google the name. Any one knows details about this machine they would be willing to share? The shop was left as it was set up in the 30’s and I am already restoring an “Emil Kahle” lever letterpress. Other machines are a couple of “nebiolo” letterpresses, a “nebiolo” hand paper cutter and more.
What country are you in? And do you have any photos?
DGM
Greetings,
The American Autopress was a small cylinder press that appeared on the scene before the more famous Kelly B. Here is an advertisement:
http://alignment2012.com/American-autopress-baby-cylinder.jpg
I don’t know if they made different sizes or they were all 11 x 17 presses. I also have a picture of one being used in a famous print shop in Philadelphia. Where are you located?
Here is a picture of the American Autopress in the Ware Bros. printing shop in Philadelphia. The calendar in the window can be reversed and the month appears to be January of 1912. At the top it says Ware Bros:
http://alignment2012.com/nice-printingpressimage.JPG
Dear Arm NYC and John Jenkins, thank you very much for this information. I live in Nicosia, Cyprus and the print shop is located in the old town of Nicosia. It is actually right on the front line which separates us from the Turkish army which invaded our country in 1974. Unfortunately the location of the shop prevents me from doing any maintenance on the building roof which is collapsing (unless I am willing to risk getting shot in the head by a Turkish soldier). That is why I started removing everything from the shop before it collapses I will preserve everything so if any schematics exist they will be very useful. I am posting a few photos of some of the other machines in the shop.
Photos
The Emil Kahle.JPG
Press 2 a Nebiolo.JPG
Press 1 perhaps a Nebiolo.JPG
The auto press co.jpg
What a sad state of repair those machines look to be in, covered in dust and being displaced; I hope you can get them going again in another place. I wish I could come help clean them off and put them to use again. Some of those presses look to have really neat designs- particularly those Nebiolos.
The machines are just the largest pieces in the shop. All the type is still in it’s drawers, dozens of books and other work done in the shop through the years, a complete collection of a newspaper’s issues from the mid 40’s which was printed there and even the accounting ledger from the mid 30’s onwards. I even found a box file with the forms my grandfather filed to the British government for allowing him to buy paper to print during WWII when all raw materials were controlled by the British.
similar sentiments to Haven ,hope you can preserve/get them set up for some kind of business/museum/anything but scrap………..maybe people would love to study letterpress in a nice sunny climate in the Med…………maybe there are arts foundations that could have some funding…….
I surely hope you can retrieve much of the equipment and type. Please be careful and don’t get shot.
These are all uncommon machines, and definitely worth saving. Even the tabletop platen is far above the Kelseys or Adanas normally discussed here. The first floor-model platen looks like a parallel-impression Victoria, the second mght be a clamshell but still of advanced design.
Type can still be made, but machines like these are the last oif their kind.
The restoration of the “Emil Kahle” is now complete. I will soon start work on one of the “Nebiolos”. Thank you all for the information and encouragement!
emil kahle.jpg
that looks fantastic, well done for perseverance, hope you rescued the rest of the stuff safely