Please help identify

This is an example of an anti-gravitational sign press. You will need to find upside-down type for this.

I’m pretty sure this is for flattening clay.

Would ONE simple test give initial clues to solve the problem? I.E. What clearance goes under the roller, .918 (point nine one eight) or .918 plus the thickness of a standard galley. Is there ANY evidence of eccentric adjustment, (for the roller) around this height????? Perhaps our (U.K.) Antipodean friends can throw some light on it, with an UPLIGHTER of course!!!

Its an Australian proof press,

It looks a lot like a Nolan proof press. Most were used to proof galleys of linotype, there were others that made the same press.

The construction is very different from a Nolan, but looks to be similarly robust.

.918, a galley will not fit under the rollers - no adjustments can be made

sorry about the upside down pics! don’t know why they will not upload properly - good entertainment value though!

Are you sure about the “no adjustment”? A lot of these presses are adjusted by using bearings on the roller or carriage that are not centered, this both allows for quite a bit of wiggle room on the height of the roller, but also makes the press easier to manufacture since the tolerances don’t need to be as exacting.

The only way to know for sure, unless someone can positively identify your press, is to disassemble the carriage and look at the bearings/mounts to see if there is any way to adjust their position or angle, which on something like this is very quick and easy to do.

-Kim

Thank you for having the courtesy to check out my first observational clue but now, perhaps, mark it down as failed observation and ascertain what requires a proof press STYLE action, to give a uniform end result thickness, of LESS than the height of type. Apologies for faliure! but may just prompt WHAT criteria fits the above known specification. What size would the bed accomodate,? Tabloid news paper size,? What actual thickness would it produce,? Depressions inside bearer rails for locking in lugs,? Composition/surface of roller, steel, brass, hard rubber>if it should be hard rubber…..any tell tale marks? Any slightly hidden/obscured identifying marks punched into the BED or the roller stanchions? With extreme care of course (H. & S.) any forging/casting marks on the underside of the bed, for Foundry Archive traces. Just extra stabs in the dark to redeem my failure above.