Vanderblog

I am missing a 219 OS Feedboard. Specifically the metal lip. I’ve exhausted all the sources I know about and have been unable to find a spare part. If you have one or know of one please email me at jordananne@yahoo.com . I posted something similiar a year ago but this is my last ditch effort to find an original before I have Fritz manufacture one.

Thank you!

During my recent move to Arkansas, apparently the switch on my Vandy 215 was pushed in from the frame, separating it from the metal housing bracket

Today marks two years of Vanderblogging. Thank you everyone. On the run-up to the Vandercook centenary, our forum has continued to enlarge the common store of proof press knowledge. Here are a few stats compared to a year ago: registered users have increased 171% (from 147 to 252), authored posts 190% (from 114 to 217), comments 173% (from 495 to 860), and post views 268% (from 33,984 to 91,138).

Perhaps most surprising is the 124% growth in the Vandercook Census. Last year 994 had been counted, now the number stands at 1240 worldwide. There are still gaps in the data and several members have yet to reply to my personal appeals. So again I ask, how many more are still out there? How many Asberns, Challenges, FAGs, Reprex et al.?

A perusal of the serial number/model record cards, held by NA Graphics, revealed that Vandercook & Sons exported presses via multiple foreign firms beginning in the late 1920s through the 1960s. Most of them are listed in adverts found in The Inland Printer as well as The British Printer. This data is complied on the Erstwhile Dealers page.

A later, separate initiative licensing the manufacture of Vandercooks in Great Britain began in the early 1950s. A number of photos provided by press owners in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel show nameplates stating the licensee. These models differ in cabinet and feed board style from Chicago-built presses, but appear to have the same trip mechanism and inking system. To date, four firms are represented: Hunter-Penrose Ltd. (later Hunter-Penrose-Littlejohn), FAG Equipment Ltd. (the London subsidiary of the Swiss press maker), and Western Manufacturing, which later changed its name to Pre-Press Ltd. Each of these licensees used serial number ranges separate from Chicago-built presses.

While no Vandercook company documents concerning licensing have been found, it is likely that these agreements superseded one another rather than being simultaneously in effect. However, two print references mention British manufacturing: the monograph Story of A Visit to the New Vandercook Plant (1954) and an article on Western Manufacturing/Pre-Press Ltd. in The British Printer (July 1960). British Printer adverts also show that Hunter-Penrose-Littlejohn and Western Manufacturing produced presses independent of Vandercook. It is also widely known that in Switzerland FAG produced a range of hand-cranked and power carriage models. See the Other Brands page For more info.

Thanks to Edward Denovan for providing me the BP article and a photo of his press’s nameplate, and to Alistair Wooton and Donald Kerr for their photos.

After 12 years of being in the same location, NA Graphics and the Vandercook records and parts inventory successfully completed its move to our new building on Wednesday–and in some respects, it was the move from Hell. I had no idea I had accumulated such a mountain of crap, in addition to the good stuff. First to be moved was the ATF type collection, and Alex Brooks spent 2 weeks here reshelving many thousands of packages of type. Next to move were the very precious Vandercook records, blueprints, and related paper material. That collection occupies 19 file cabinets. Then the task of moving 5 Monotypes, 3 Vandercooks, a Miehle Vertical, Model 31 Linotype, Little Giant, Elrod (and Elrod, the resident cat), and C&P to another location took much effort, especially the stuff in our basement print shop, not to mention 450 cases of type. Then all the office stuff, inventory, and employees and getting the business reestablished was made more difficult working without electricity, phone or water for a while. We still have no water or sewer or heat, and we are now seeing frost in the mornings, but all will be in order in due time.

I apologize to anyone who needed something and we didn’t get your call or missed your email. We are now back in action full time and things will get better service wise, once I find what’s in a room full of boxes. The Vandercook parts are readilly accessible. We did take 40 or 50 Vandercook rollers to be recycled today, but it was stock that had been sitting here for 12 years without a single inquiry. We did keep some nifty all steel rider rollers for rolling equipment on. I kept some representative samples in case someone needs rollers for a 30-26 4-color proof press, but I sort of doubt that will ever happen.

My advice to anyone contemplating a basement shop–don’t. We had the advantage of a 5 foot wide concrete stairway with a built in ramp and winch system, but what an ordeal. Gravity was not on our side. Paul Moxon, who has been in the old shop several times, would marvel at a cleanly swept concrete floor with not even a brass or copper space defiling the place. The new owners of our old space were incredulous that we actually pulled it off, but it took the services of about 10 people, not all at once, working from early July until September 3rd. There are not too many more of these moves left in this old body.

Fritz

We have reached our goal of 100 printers for the Centenary Print Bundle. Thank you to everyone who pledged. Thanks to John Christopher who got the ball rolling. As prints are received I will post jpegs on the Print Bundle Gallery page.

I am accepting names for a wait list as it is likely that a few pledges will drop out at some point, but hopefully, in time for alternates to step in. If the wait list continues grow a second bundle invitation may be extended. To sign up use the contact form.

Alot of cutting and creasing in the UK seems to be done on Heidlebergs - I haven’t got one of those, so my question is this: does any one use their Vandercook for cutting and/or creasing and if so what do you use?

For cutting I assume you would pack/protect the cylinder from the die with absorbent material - is there a hard rubber blanket people use?

For creasing I can envisage using brass rule - or are there dedicated creasing ‘widgets’ out there?

Thanks

John Christopher

This post related to Hand gripper lever for a No. 3. –PM:
Here’s a quick sketch. I don’t have a #3 around me, but if the Gripper Trip Lever is anything like a #4 or an SP-20, you can undo the top 2 screws and let it swing free, slide the tube over, and reassemble.

Today I created a new gallery page for images of the prints received for the 2009 Vandercook Print Bundle. First at bat: Casey McGarr!

Here’s an idea for a hand-activated gripper lever to aid sheet feeding on the No. 3 Vandercook. In the drawing at left, a handle attached to the gripper trip lever is pulled toward the operator, thus moving the push rod against the trip bar which forces the gripper stems to rise.

A notable “feature” of the No. 3 (after hand-cranked ink distribution) is its automatic cylinder grippers and the absence of a foot pedal. (Similarly equipped models are the 325A and the 317.) Opening the grippers at the feed board requires rolling the carriage forward. Paper is then placed in position (beyond the feed board lip) and the grippers are closed just before the carriage returns to the feed board. This maneuver is time consuming, makes registration difficult and can damage some papers in the process.

There are two No. 3s at a printmaking studio I’ve been invited to teach next summer, so I hope I can make a modification by then. The question is: should the gripper trip lever (MS-125) be replaced with a longer single steel bar extending up and then at a right angle (A) or should a separate assembly be attached between the first and second screws of the existing lever (B)?

If any No. 3 operators have a successful workaround for this “feature” or a better, simpler method than I’ve described, please share.

The Book Arts Program at the J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah has a Vandercook 15-21 (shown with the top frame assembly removed) that is experiencing difficulties. Within minutes of application, a majority of the ink added migrates to the non-operator side (highlighted in the image) of the ink distributor assembly and form rollers

Any suggestions for correction are much appreciated.

This photo was sent to me by Amanda Stevenson, Curator at the Museum of Printing History in Houston, Texas who asked me to identify the press in the background. I recognized it as a Claybourn hand proof press made in Milwaukee, Wisconsin circa 1926. There should be a nameplate on the operator’s side and the name “Claybourne” cast into the base. Coincidentially, I have been working on an update on the Claybourn page of this website. Thanks to Eric Holub for ending me his splendid Claybourn catalog. From these catalog images one can see that the Claybourn resemble Hacker presses and appear to be as solidly constructed, and like other contemporary Vandercook competitors, they have reciprocating beds and stationary carriages.

Note the green rollers. Amanda says their oozing, so they must be made of polyurethane. Does anyone have a effective non-toxic cleanup solution?

Also, can anyone identify the wooden machine in the foreground?