Goudy said: “The old fellows stole all our best ideas.” Proving it again is this No.4 with a custom-made hand activated gripper bar, similar to the idea for a No.3 discussed on this forum Summer ’08 (archive links here and here). The pedal and chain linkage are still intact, but don’t work, I was curious to see it I could fix it, but this modification suits the new owner. Besides, I had more urgent issues to address: adjusting carriage bearings, installing new clutch pins, and freeing up the cylinder eccentric that shifted with difficulty at each each of the bed. My thought, confirmed by a call to Fritz, was that with lubrication it would work itself out after a couple hundred strokes. The owner reports today that it indeed shifting easier each time.
See also that the crank handle is at 10 o’clock instead of at 4 o’clock. It may have been installed this way because of a crude repair weld near the collar and the hole for the taper pin was drilled out off-center. When correcting the position I was not able to pass the bolt substituting for the taper pin all the way through.
The lever has a smooth action and the knob has a lower profile than my handle grip design, but the horizontal bar should be a bit higher, because the bend nicks the cylinder gear cover when pushed.
It’s still a rough press, but it works and should meet the owner’s needs who’s new to letterpress.
Funny – I was just thinking about this the other day.
This seems really well done, but not really removable as we had discussed (though something tells me that’s not the biggest problem with this press right now…)
The #4 has 2 different designs for operating the cylinder grippers with the foot pedal. Both utilize a chain and linkage under the bed and above the cabinet–virtually impossible to access with out removing the bed. This gripper handle is interesting and was probably devised as an alternative to major press dismantling. But I would think it awkward as both hands are often needed to position a sheet with ease.