Robert Oatman Vandercook, (1866-1951), was the founder of the pre-press equipment company that bore his name. His interest in printing began when he was ten years old. It was claimed that in high school he built his first press on which he printed the school paper.* While a student at Northwestern University (class of 1888), he established the first university press. After graduating he managed the Evanston Press, a weekly newspaper known for its scoops regarding the Spanish-American War.

R.O. Vandercook held numerous patents. The first was for a “Means for Dissipating Static Electricity” in the pressroom. It was several years later that he turned his mind to redefining the means for the proving of type composition and photoengraving. In 1909, he began selling his first production model, the Trip Action Proof Press, featuring a geared impression cylinder that “rocks” over a horizontal, stationary press bed. He tirelessly promoted the advantages of his presses as the best method for reducing makeready time in short articles and letters to the editor in the pages of The Inland Printer. The industry welcomed the innovation and his company prospered. His three sons began working with him in 1918 and the company was incorporated as Vandercook & Sons.

After having positioned his flatbed cylinder proof press as essential composing room equipment and eliminating competitors, R.O. Vandercook fully retired by 1940. During WWII, the company, like so many others, retooled its plant to serve the war effort manufacturing parts for the 90 mm AA gun carriage, Norden bombsights and radar assemblies. In appreciation, Vandercook & Sons was awarded the Army-Navy Production Award “E” in 1944. R.O. Vandercook, a proud patriot, attended the ceremony. In a letter to The New York Times that year he railed against the influence of special interest groups as being detrimental to the best interests of democracy. In 1951, he died of pneumonia after a prolonged unknown illness at age 84. He was survived by his wife of 58 years, three sons and a daughter.

Despite numerous photographs showing his gaunt face and ever-present pipe, R.O. Vandercook was athletic in his youth. At college he lettered in football and was also a bicycle enthusiast. In 1892 he rode a 54 in. high wheel bicycle through Yellowstone National Park, a journey heralded as the first made by a horseless vehicle. Twelve years, later he repeated the trek on a “safety” or ordinary bicycle. Vandercook was also headstrong. The Chicago Tribune reported in 1895 that he got into a “row” with members of The Evanston Press board of directors over ownership of the building. One director had the safe combination and door locks changed. Vandercook retaliated by hiring his own locksmith. As the work proceeded, a fight broke out resulting in a weekend spent in jail. However, Vandercook must have prevailed in civil court because he ran the paper until 1904.

Vandercook had a penchant for writing letters to the editor. The headline for a 1928 letter to the The New York Times reads: “SUGGESTION FROM CHICAGO.| Gang Warfare, It is Held, Should Be Placed on a Paying Basis.” Vandercook wrote that he happened to be one of the crowd on the corner of Dearborn and Madison at the very moment when gangland gun-fire erupted. Rather than providing details of the incident, he bemoans the indifference of gangsters to the safety of innocent bystanders. “I do not object at all if the gangsters enjoy killing each other, but do most emphatically object to be an unwilling bleacher spectator at their sport, though I would not object to having a safe ringside seat. Now here is a big idea. Revive the custom of dueling among gangsters. Let the city provide a stadium with bullet-proof seats. The gate receipts would surely be the biggest ever and the split would be large enough to make beer-running look like 30 cents.”

* Stephen O. Saxe, an authority on nineteenth-century presses says that 1876-1885 was the height of the amateur printing craze. And that there were a lot of second-hand amateur presses around at that time. “… if you discard the usual image of a press and instead allow for some kind of contraption that can produce an impression, it’s possible…. think in terms of springs, boards, and hinges.”

See profiles of sons E.O. Vandercook, D.D. Vandercook and F.R. Vandercook.

Edward Oatman Vandercook (1897-1985) was the eldest son of company founder R.O. Vandercook. After discharging from the military in 1918, he along his brothers Fred and Dave began working for their father. The elder Vandercook retired by 1940 and E.O. Vandercook, who was general manager, became president and headed the company until it was sold to Illinois Tools Works in 1968. Like his father He was active in his industry and had been president of the National Printing Equipment Association. E.O. Vandercook died in 1985 at age 88, he was survived by his wife and three daughters, two of whom married men who joined the company: Dick Tower, NYC Sales Manager and Bill Critchlow, VP of Marketing.

Mr. Critchlow adds: “… He and his wife Astrid did travel a great deal, and Ed enjoyed filming those trips. While the SP15 and 20 were being engineered, they had not yet been named. I picked Ed and his wife up at O’Hare, and on the way home he said ‘I have thought up the names of the new presses- the Simple Precision-15 and the Simple Precision-20.’ Since I was involved in the marketing, I told him that I thought using the word “simple” on a Vandercook press would be a tough sell! Thank goodness he agreed, hence SP15 and 20….”

See profiles of R.O. Vandercook, D.D. Vandercook and F.R. Vandercook. See also: Bill Critchlow and Stanley Metza.

Here is a nice illustration of a No. 4 Vandercook, with a split vibrator and riders, featured in a two page ad for ink manufacturer Interchemical Corporation. (The Inland Printer, September 1953, p.24-25, from the library of Fritz Klinke).
Is anyone familar with the pen-stick ink applicator shown?

Advertised in The Inland Printer (September 1953, p.119; it does not appear in previous or subsequent issues). This press features a reciprocating bed and a belt-driven oscillating roller, but does not appear to have an ink reservoir drum. It may not have been put into production. Has anyone seen one of these? The manufacturer was based in Forth Worth, so perhaps one of our Texan friends?

See also Other Brands. Image courtesy F. Klinke.

I recently purchased a Vandercook 219. It’s missing the lockup bar. Does anyone know where I can find one?

As a result of publicizing the gains of the Vandercook census, owners of other brands of cylinder proof presses have volunteered their data and have also alerted me to the existence of additional owners. In particular the Asbern and Challenge censuses have begun to take shape.

The Vandercook Census has reached a milestone: 1011 presses are known to still exist worldwide. Are there another thousand out there? Is your press represented?
How many Asberns, Challenges et al. ?

The globe graphic, one of three similar designs, is from a Universal I operator’s manual dating from the late 1950s.

From left: Fred, Ed, and Dave Vandercook standing next to a lathe, circa 1918. This may be the W. Austin Avenue plant (Nos. 1716-1722). This photo, perhaps taken by R.O. Vandercook, is provided courtesy of Bill and Lynn (Vandercook) Critchlow.

No long ago I interviewed Stanley A. Metza, West coast regional sales manager for Vandercook from 1960 to 1975. Now 94 years old, he spoke of heading a four man sales team selling Vandercook products from the 30-26 four-color proof press to the SP15 which he deemed “a pup.” The son of Polish immigrants, the young Mr. Metza worked as a dental mechanic in Chicago making false teeth for 18 years. In 1944, he joined Vandercook & Sons as an expeditor of war materials, coordinating the procurement of parts for the .30 caliber carbine rifle. He claims 1500 weapons were produced per day. Mr. Metza left Vandercook in 1947 to start a plastics business with fellow employee Roy Diez. The venture lasted only six months, after which Mr. Metza became a tool and diemaker. Being mechanically inclined, he could fix just about anything except watches. After kidney problems forced him to give up this trade, he returned to Vandercook in 1953 and was tapped by CFO Fred Vandercook to oversee the construction progress of the new plant on W. Toohey Blvd. He says he still has a dime he found imbedded in the wet concrete there, and that the building and its machine tools were the main reason ITW acquired Vandercook in 1968.

See also profiles of E.O. Vandercook and Bill Critchlow.
Photo courtesy Fritz Klinke/NA Graphics

There is a Vandercook SP-15 on eBay in Omaha, Nebraska.  It is equipped with a hand wheel to work the ink instead of the lower ink drum.  These presses can’t carry quite as much ink as the motorized SP-15, but if this press is in your neck of the woods it might be worth a look.

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY

Hi,

I recently obtained a vandercook that is in pretty rough shape and missing a lot of parts, although still great for what I need it to do. I have the two inking rollers that are supposed to be mounted together with the oscillating roller (excuse the made up terminology), but they aren’t usable anymore. They have only traces of the black surface that they should have. Instead they consist of a half melted green gelatine of some sort. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about how these rollers could be put to some use—even though it wouldn’t be the use they were designed for.

If they can’t be reworked in any way, does anyone know how they ought to be disposed of so that they don’t cause environmental harm?

Thanks,

Klaudio.

Today marks one year of Vanderblogging. Thank you to all registered users, we now number 147. Together we have generated 114 posts and 495 comments that have been viewed over 33,984 times. These figures are nearly double those reported six months ago. This is a vibrant forum that will continue to grow. New pages and expansion of exiting ones are in the works.

To date, the Vandercook Census has identified 994 presess worldwide. Some of this data is incomplete, so please help me fill in the gaps. Several members have yet to submit their data or reply to my personal appeals. Could there be another thousand vandys out there? And how many Asberns, Challenges, FAGs, Reprex et al. are out there?