This plaque, on a 1919 model 20 (SN 1103, owned by John Horn), begs the question: when did Vandercook & Sons begin manufacturing—-or at least assembling—-presses in-house? Fritz says that he has not come across any documents in reference to outsourcing manufacturing for this period. However, he does have information on later subcontracted production.

An undated sales brochure for Composing Room Cylinders announces that the presses were built by Vandercook & Sons on West Austin Ave in Chicago. In 1928 the company built new plant on North Kilpatrick Street.

Incidentally, Reichel & Drews is still in business as RDI Group providing machinery and engineering consulting for the asphalt & bitumen roofing industries. Unfortunately, RDI has no historical records of Reichel & Drews ever having manufactured equipment for R.O. Vandercook.

I’m having some troubles with a Vandercook #4, and I’m more or less completely inexperienced with it. The trip mechanism is not connecting enough when the foot pedal is depressed. There is about a centimeter of space between the trip assembly and the rod when not engaged, so when you hit the pedal, it just gives it a light tap, not enough to move the grippers. I’ve got a diagram here:

[ Link invalid ]

http://designmedicine.com/junk/no-trip.jpg

I found it in the Vandercook maintenance guide, however I unfortunately am very new at this and I don’t know enough about the parts to really understand what it all means. The guide indicates that this can be fixed by “tightening the clamp bar” but the clamp bar is not labelled in the diagram. Can anyone give me more detail on this? Seems like it shouldn’t be too complicated.

Thanks!

-Matt

As the new owner of a Model 17 (check the Census page) I have a question, maybe two, regarding dead bars and Handy Bars. But first let me say how grateful I am to Fritz Klinke who has been incredibly helpful with providing historical and operational details about my press; to Daniel Morris; and also to all of you who both ask questions and post.

Now the work starts:

1. My press was built in 1926 and has an open bed on both ends with an ink plate at the “bottom” end. There are two holes for steel dowel pins at the other end against which the dead bar registers.

a. In writings and postings about form lockup on the bed of Vandercook presses there is usually only a mention of three “sides” being used: the two bed sides and a Handy Bar or the more modern dead bar which is adjustable along the length of the bed with the two pins on its end engaging notches in the bed walls along the beds’ length. Is this lack of mentioning a fourth side because on most modern presses there is already a closed end that is the fourth side of the lockup “chase”?

b. On my press with the dead bar being limited to one location at the end does this therefore imply the need for a Handy Bar or other make-shift form of cross-bar to act as the forth side?

2. My press did not come with either the pins for the dead bar or the dead bar. The pins are a standard size and I’ve purchased replacements. The dead bar will be easy to make and the length and height are obvious but the width seems to me to be critical because this will not only determine the usable length of the bed but may impact (literally as well as figuratively) the movement of the cylinder. Does anyone have an original dead bar and can let me know the width? Or the width of a non-original they are using that works?

Any other comments related to these issues would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

Rich Polinski
Milford, NJ

Hello, I posted once previously regarding the SP-15 I recently bought and have been cleaning up. This is taking longer than I thought but it is looking better! Meanwhile I’ve been reading and enjoying learning about the press. I am somewhat confused, however, about the maximum sheet size which is listed as 14-3/4×20 inches in the specs chart. Measuring from the end of the deadline at top of the bed to the deadline at the bottom, I come up a space of approx. 17-3/4 inches. I would like to understand the reason for this discrepancy as I’m considering purchasing a boxcar base for photopolymer work and the length recommended to me by the manufacturer is 19 inches. I am concerned about the grippers hitting it as it will extend past the deadline. The manufacturer assures me he’s sold this size to other owners of SP-15’s and has had no reported problems so there must be something I’m not getting here.

Also, I’ve posted a few photos of the press at the below address and would appreciate any general comments about it’s condition you might have, thanks!:
http://www.scdesign.net/press_images.htm

John Barrett at Letterpress Things is trying to find a home for a Vandercook 22 and an HS27. The 22 needs some work and new rollers, but the HS27 is in great shape and probably ready to run. The price is negotiable on both of these. These presses do not have gripper bars so the position of the print on the page can not be consistantly maintained.
These may be useful for someone that needs to proof newly cast type or their collection of print blocks for scanning (to flog ‘em on eBay?) or to make rubber stamps.  Please contact John at letterpressthing@aol.com if you are interested in one of these. The price is negotiable or he will consider letterpress related goods in trade.

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY

Dylan Fareed and I went out to visit John Barrett at Letterpress Things today and he asked me to drag some proof press roller assembly parts back to The Arm to attempt to identify them. I think the second one is a 219 rider roller assembly, but I have no clue on the rest. Anyone have any insight?

Thanks,
Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY

I am now soliciting press data for all brands of flatbed cylinder proofs: Asbern, Challenge, FAG, Hacker, Korrex, Reprex et al. See complete list. Censuses will be posted in the side bar next the Vandercook Census.

I picked up this Vandercook #3 (serial 13165) a few days ago and am interested in tracking down the parts it is missing. The press seems to have been partially disassembled to replace the rollers and the associated parts were lost before it was put back together. Here is a list of what I am looking for and some photos of the press for reference. I have all three roller cores and the oscillating roller assembly. Any leads or advice on finding the rest would be a big help!

Missing Parts:

• M-134 Feed Roller Frame Assembly


• M-125 Bottom Frame Assembly (form rollers assembly)


• MB-112 Paper Guides x 3


• LR-64 Bed Lockup Pins


• Tympan Reel Rod Securing Bar

Thanks!
Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY

Many Vandercook owners remember Gene Wenderski, the last Vandercook trained maintenance person at Vandersons, the predecessor company to NA Graphics. Gene literally disappeared in the summer of 1996 as we were buying NA Graphics and numerous attempts to find him failed. It was a sense of great frustration for me as one of the selling points of buying NA Graphics was the continuation of Gene’s service work and knowledge of the presses, and he did service calls away from the office. So, I had to start from scratch learning the ropes and it was a rough start.

Several weeks ago, Gene’s daughter got in touch with me after surfing the web. It turns out she had been an employee at Vandersons as well, and she reported that Gene was alive and well, and gave me his contact information. Gene is now retired, and is making contact with me and Paul Moxon.  I don’t think Gene has any interest at all for jumping back into Vandercooks, but he has a lot of knowledge and remembrances that we hope to tap into and share with everyone.