copy press 2

Good luck on that. There were literally hundreds of makers producing copying presses on both sides of the Atlantic, and there are a myriade of styles out there. As a general rule, there is no makers mark or identification on them. There are also a variety of sizes.

I have a collection of ten at home and my largest weighs about 300+ lbs. It has “Rand McNalley & Co, Chicago” written in a backslant italic gold lettering on it, but they were simply the original buyer and not the manufacturer.

Mine come in very handy after I have folded things. I place stacks of folded materials into the copying presses and then put the squeeze on them and leave them overnight. Everything stays remarkably flat after that because the “memory” on the fibers that have been folded is then set to remain in that position.

Rick

Also makes a great nut cracker, and will flatten pizza dough.

I have a copy press that is exactly like the one in the photo, including the gold ornamentation. Before I resored mine, I could see the name “Hoe & Co.” on top of the platen, above the parallel lines, in gold. I use mine in the same way that Rick mentioned.

Dave Greer