Rollers & rods

Need more info — and clear photos help a lot! It also helps a lot to know where you are, as presses in UK and USA and Australia, as well as other countries, are different from each other. I assume by “rods” you mean the metal roller cores. If you don’t have them you probably don’t have the little wheels called “trucks” or “runners” that carry the rollers. In the USA there was a press called the “Lightning”, but I don’t know of one in other countries. More info will help identify.

Bob

Hi I’m in Washington State, I found this on the classified adds here last week, so I decided to go see it and bought it and after some research I believe it’s a lighting Jobber? but it has no marking other than a few stamp #s on the shafts of 34,1735 and 35 on the flywheel which is 30” and a decal on the back arm but long gone and unreadable but after cleaning it up there is lots of blue paint so that was the original color, here is some photos of it and a drawing I made of measurements so maybe I can find some info here.thks!

printer drawings.jpg

Lighting2.jpg

Lighting1.jpg

lighting.jpg

The pictures help a lot. You are, I believe, correct — it is a Lightning Jobber, invented by John M. Jones of Palmyra, NY and made by the John M. Jones Co. there from 1896 to 1901 and by the Jones-Gordon Press Works from 1901-1903. The press looks to be missing the rods and roller saddles (the rods you were referring to). Without seeing the press it is hard to say just how the roller rods were made and installed. Are there any springs inside those arms? The slot along the insides would have been where the springs went. There may not have been a provision for aligning the rods except for the rollers themselves hooked into the saddles. You may be able to just get drill rod of the right diameter and attach C&P saddles, but how to size and attach the springs is a problem.

Otherwise the press looks to be in pretty good shape except for the delivery board and missing feed table. And that is clearly not the original treadle.

The attached image is from an ad run by the company around the turn of the century.

Bob

Lightning Jobber.jpg

Thanks for the info

Thanks for the info, I now know what I have to work with and in search for the missing pieces. So any help from fellow printers and collectors would be great ! Thks Bob
Mark

Hey Bob I notice on the photo you supplied and the one that was sold at auction throught high bids wins that they both have double arms which mine only has one, so would mine be earlier?
As from the auction

http://www.highbidswin.com/content/9-x-13-lighting-jobber-letterpress

The auctioned press was a 9x13. What size is the chase of your press? Sometimes the smaller models have fewer rollers. Yours could also be an earlier version. There is not very much information available about most of the 13 different platen jobbers Jones invented and made, and only a very few survivors exist.

And I see where you got the name “Lighting” — they had it spelled wrong in the auction listing. Note the photo of the crossbar for the roller arms.

Bob

I’m still in search for roller holder rods and trucks for my Lightning press any info or suggestions would be great.
Mark