platten press that looks like Gietz

Unfortunately my crystal ball is broken, would you add a picture please.

As P.P. implies just one shot would help, but it would seem that the published name *Gietz* appears to put it, (Your Proposed M/c.) in the same class as Parallel approach, heavy duty art Platen,s e.g Victoria, Vickobold, Auto Vic, Colt,s Armourey, etc.

At a guess and by implication, a good proposition for Fine Printing and /or Die-cutting and creasing.

With a little luck and a fair wind, Thomas Gravemaker, will look in and quote >Chapter and verse,!!< a good resume` of the M/c. if it can be identified , initially.?

T.G. is based in Belgium, (Usually) and is regarded as an excellent authority on Continental l/press, equipment.

Please forgive me but for some reason my pictures can’t be aploaded. I will keep trying.

Here they are…

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T.G. Looks good, my humble efforts, as above still apply (basically) but one important point before you commit, unless it is too late already, try to establish (as it is already Die cutting ??) is it now equipped with a cutting jacket, or has it (the Platen proper) been harmed by Die cutting WITHOUT a jacket/cutting plate.

Die cutting is more forgiving, with or without a jacket, but Good Printing will/can be effected by score marks, in/on the Platen.

This has become more relevant in recent times, with the newcomers, (being less than well informed) sourcing Cutting rule and Cutting formes, with incorrect HEIGHT rules, *** Generally Platen & Cylinder need different requirements

*** This also applies to perforating rule as well, it is like driving a saw blade into the Platen, without a Jacket, one method from way back (in the absence of a Cutting plate etc.) was to position strips of brass on the platen to take the main brunt of the *perfing* rule. Especially relevant when Perfing 2/3 part, N.C.R. sets, pre printed, pre collated stock.

Well documented on B.P. previously.!!!
Good Luck.

Hello Mick, how are you? I’m trying to help Aristotle with the identification of his press. By the way, it’s the Netherlands is where I’m based…

Thomas, Here in sleepy Downtown Sussex all looking good,

Slightly premature but Seasons greetings, including the same from our mutual acqaintances in Edinburgh, inc. Harry Mac!. Edingal, and Jim, C. . . >Monotye, Tabletop And Stitchers,<

Apologies for getting your current location wrong, but it is not easy keeping track of THE roving ambassador.

Don`t bother about the *Cheque* in the Post, may well drop in for a Cuppa & a slice of *Honey Breakfast Cake*???

Possibly En Route to the New Museum of Print in Hilversum.!!!. . Hopefully to give them a little Monotype info.
Regards Mick.

Hello Mick,

thanks a lot for your guidance, you have been really lelpful! The same has Thomas who has given me some more info on French presses. I my self have to get a closer look on a label or some sort of a name written on it.

The press is luckily equipped with a cutting jacket which is essential for fine printing. Hopefully if I manage to convince this man on selling it we will have some some good work printed on it.

We at our print shop run a heidlberg windmill which is a good and productive press but has some issues when it comes to thick stock, tight registration and ghosting when printing negative designs and letters (image appears as a shadow on the solid colour). I hope a press like the one I am after will do much better…

Greetings from my small town Patras - Greece.
Hard to get hold of a Victoria here!

Best regards to all
Aristotelis Panayiotopoulos

Aristotelis, I hope my humble efforts have helped a little, Thomas (in my opinion) is still the best guy for Continental L/press, we believe He has a considerable Archive of info.
I have a small archive of literature, but do have access (by arrangement) to a fairly comprehensive library and can often arrange photocopies,

Re your Heidelberg problems, my only comparable info is restricted to our *British Thompson Auto Platen,*
Very similar to the H/berg, slightly Bigger, slightly heavier, BUT only works with/on Lays, but doe`s have one major advantage, the Forme Rollers are chain driven/assisted, which solves a lot of problems, (well documented that H/berg tried to *borrow* the idea, but did not succeed.!!)

However a Buddy of long standing (more than 50 yrs) still operates H/berg, Platen and given the request I could probably relay hints and tips, B.P. Email, Even Landline.

Good Luck, best wishes for the coming season and it is to be hoped that your countrymen may enjoy a little improved situation, in view of the troubles of this year just gone.

Regards Mick.

In English-language sources, we usually hear about the American, English and German makers of these “universal” platens, but the French makers don’t get mentioned.
A nice thing about this particular press is that the mechanism for lay bands is present at the sides of the platen. But I wonder about that stripe around the ink cylinder. It does not look right. Have they fixed the ink carriage in an up position so the die-cutting operator can’t engage it?
The person who seems to have seen more than anybody else is BriarPress member bogtrykkeren. His Flikr pages show many different presses of this style, and there are more each time I look. A good set to start with is this:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bogtrykkeren/sets/72157635790163673
If you study these images you will see the lay bands in use on other presses, and the parts used for the side-lay, and even a parts list of the lays for a Victoria for comparison.
To install the rollers, it may be that roller trucks are specific to roller positions in the carriage. Check the trucks for differing lateral alignments, fitting recesses in the tracks near the ink cylinder. If the six trucks are identical, it isn’t an issue.

Having lived and worked in France for more than 25 years, I’ve collected quite a bit of stuff. But finding documentation on French companies remains very difficult. French printers don’t easily share their knowledge with ‘amateurs’, there has never been a real private press movement, and even nowadays very few people print themselves. Some of the documentation that I have in French, has been scanned and is available on the website of Drukwerk in de Marge, under the heading ‘Techniek’.
Here are some links:

http://drukwerkindemarge.org/downloads/handleidingen/materiel_DP.pdf

http://drukwerkindemarge.org/downloads/handleidingen/margeur.pdf

http://drukwerkindemarge.org/downloads/handleidingen/presses_DP.pdf

I continue my search, right now I’m in the process of scanning the entire catalogue of Etablissements Plantin in Bruxelles, the Belgian subsidiary of Lettergieterij Amsterdam. Not only was LA a type foundry, but supplied most printers in the Netherlands and Belgium with equipment. Soon, this will be available on the website of Drukwerk in de marge as well.

Digging through Flikr, I found another another press with the same logo on the platen:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/phil_masters/9524026300/

The press on Flikr I just mentioned is at a museum in Lyons, and at their website
http://www.imprimerie.lyon.fr/imprimerie/
there is a catalogue of presses that is amazing (even to an Anglophone). From the catalogue, it is clear that the press at top with the Eiffel Tower logo was made by Société française des presses F.L.
The catalog shows their pre-war and post-war platen model lines such as Monéfel and Efelbis, with and without feeders.

Here is a fresh picture taken today when I visited my colleague printer.

It s the cover of the ink duct and says Foulont and Langenhagen Roubaix.

The cominng days the owner will let me know if he sells and how much he is asking. Wonder how much could a logical price be for it.
The stripe on the ink cylinder does not look nice indeed. I ll have a closer look next time I visit.

Thank you all for commenting

Best Regards
Aristotelis Panayiotopoulos

IMG_20151204_100652 (1).jpg

Foulont & Langenhagen, FL, pronounced ‘effel’ in French, which is close to ‘Eiffel’. Hence the Eiffel tower in the logo. Roubaix was an important industrial city in the north of France.