Today I spoke by telephone with former Vandercook and Sons employee Bill Critchlow who worked for there from 1961 to 1971. While a student at the University of Arizona, Mr. Critchlow met his future wife Lynn, daughter of company president E.O. Vandercook. After marrying, he attended dental school at the University of Pittsburgh. Afterward he [...]

I’ve posted six additional “photos”:http://vandercookpress.info/vanderblog/employee/photos/ of Vandercook & Sons employee gatherings. Once you view them you will agree that Lowenbrau was the offical company beer.

I was recently asked about a homemade photopolymer base I use at The Arm and thought it would be of value to post the reply here where it might be of use to others. “The base you saw at The Arm was an acrylic base with an aluminum surface laminated to it. It works okay, [...]

  Here is the drawing for the form roller pins on a No. 4, along with a photograph of the pins on my unit. Are the pins supposed to be as round as the drawing shows? In other words, is it time I had my pins replaced? Thanks, Barbara

Hello. I am a newbie restoring a No. 4. I have cleaned all of the moving parts and am putting everything back in place. When I turned on the motor for the first time and lowered the oscillating and form roller assemblies, I noticed a faint clacking sound that didn’t seem right. I turned off [...]

I understand that there is an option for the powered Universal series presses in which the powered grippers would raise and close without having to press on the foot pedal. How is it activated? Where can I find blueprints or technical operating manuals (more detailed) of the Uni presses? Thank you once again!

Has anyone had experience using a split roller that allows for two different inks to be used on a single print run?  Is it worth retrofitting a Uni to cut the printing time in half?  Thank you for your thoughts!

I am trying to figure out what press this tympan clamp bar comes from. It doesn’t fint my SP-15, the Uni I has a slotted bar, and it is too short for the Uni III. Any ideas? It is 14 inches long, the outer pins are 11 1/2 inches on center, and the innermost two [...]

I have posted several new PDFs of Vandercook brochures and catalogs on the “Bibliography”:http://vandercookpress.info/bib.html page. Also posted is a reprint of an interesting talk given in 1954 by Vandercook marketing manager O.F. Duensing entitled “Minimum Makeready Through Form Preparation“:http://vandercookpress.info/downloads/articles/duensingMM.pdf.

 Hello. I am a newbie in the process of restoring a Vandercook No. 4, SN 18794. My husband, who was in aerospace mechanical engineering for many years, is providing advice and much moral support. He was surprised when I told him that the procedure for lubricating the impression cylinder gear teeth was to apply a [...]