As a companion to the Glossary, I’ve created a new Maintenance page, which suggests routine maintenance for common Vandercook models. Check it out and let me know what needs correcting and what should be added.

I’ve created a new Glossary page defining mechanical terms for newbies. It doesn’t include common terms covered in operator manuals or letterpress instruction books. Check it out and let me know what needs correcting and what should be added.

While looking for information on proof presses built by Harrild & Sons, better known for its iron hand presses, I asked Stephen O. Saxe, author of American Iron Hand Presses, what he knew about this British firm. In reply he scanned this page from a 1906 Harrild catalog, shown at left. This press features a rigid bed and rolling carriage with cylinder grippers and an inking assembly. This is surprising because it is far more advanced than Vandercook’s first model, the Rocker, built in 1909, and that they didn’t make a comparable machine until the Composing Room Cylinder series in about 1918. Based on this image, it appears that Harrild was the originator of the modern proof press, despite Vandercook’s repeated claim in its advertising.

Having said this, it seems likely that R.O. Vandercook developed his press independently for two reasons. First, because his intent was to make production cylinder presses until a potential customer, after seeing the prototype, suggested he sell it as a proof press. Secondly, there were enough American printing equipment manufacturers in the first decade of the 20th century that foreign firms had little incentive to enter the U.S. market. Therefore it’s doubtful that Vandercook saw a Harrild catalog, let alone this press. Saxe concurs adding that he is unaware of any Harrild advertisements in the Inland Printer.

Revised. David Dodge Vandercook (1901-1975) was the company’s longtime Chief Engineer and the second son of founder R.O. Vandercook. His name appears on 16 U.S. patents, sometimes with his father and brothers or key employees. D.D. Vandercook’s knowledge of engineering was self taught. Too young to serve in WWI, he had to work to help support the family. Granddaughter Joann Moulton-Saunders says “Great grandfather was the dreamer and thought of the ideas, where as grandpa was the worker. There was never a book he did not like and most of his collection were text books that he read like novels.” She also says that during WWII, when the company was engaged in war materials production, Vandercook would come home from the plant with a brief case: “Poppy as we called him sat down in his chair after work and when dinner was ready he went to the table with the brief case. When he went to bed it was always with him. Later we were told that the FBI was outside every time Poppy brought his brief case home. … He was very proud to have served his country.” D.D. Vandercook retired from the company in 1955 after suffering a brain aneurysm. He and his family moved to Fort Myers, Florida where he later died, two days shy of his 74th birthday. See profiles on R.O. Vandercook, E.O. Vandercook and F.R. Vandercook.

This day in 1903 saw the birth of Frederick Robert Vandercook. The youngest son of company founder R.O. Vandercook, he was CFO when it was sold to Illinois Tool Works in 1968. Little is known about F.R. Vandercook, his name appears on nine U.S. patents, but  he seems to have not written for publication. Longtime employee Stanley Metza, who reported to him during WWII and later on the construction of the 1954 plant, said Fred was the most reserved of the brothers. The last to survive, he died in 1987 at age 83. See profiles of R.O. Vandercook, E.O. Vandercook, and D.D. Vandercook.

Bundle contributors Mark Sandham and Kalle Pihlajasaari have organized an exhibition of the Vandercook Centenary Print Bundle at the University of Witwatersrand Library, Johannesburg, South Africa. This is the first exhibition of the bundle outside of the United States. Exhibition details and a catalogue in PDF are available at: www.letterpress.co.za/news/vandercook.

Kartemquin Films would like to offer the Vandercook Press community 15% off the purchase price of the limited-edition Typeface DVD at www.kartemquin.com during the month of July. (I post this message as a supporter of the Hamilton Wood Type Museum.) The DVD includes a free wood type letterpress poster designed by Bill Moran, Artistic Director of the Hamilton Wood Type Museum. To see the Typeface trailer, please visit http://www.youtube.com/user/Kartemquin#p/a/u/2/LX6z9shjeGQ. To buy the DVD and receive the 15% discount, go to http://www.kartemquin.com/store/product/KTQ0124 and enter VANDERCOOK0710 during checkout.

Today I received an email from Kurt Vandercook Osenbaugh, a grandson of Vandercook & Sons President Edward O. Vandercook who shared some interesting family anecdotes. He says his grandfather’s middle name reflects a relation to “the Oatman girls,” two girls who were captured by [Yavapai] Indians in 1851. “One died in captivity, the other escaped, and later lived a relatively normal (non-Indian) life, albeit with facial tattoos.” [An 1857 book about the ordeal sold 30,000 copies. Co-incidentally the University of Nebraska Press just published a new book The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margot Mifflin.]

Mr. Osenbaugh noted that “the Vandercooks were an old-line, wealthy family historically, tracing their ancestors to the Mayflower. But my grandfather was not exactly a pampered fellow, because of various setbacks in their fortune. Unlike his forefathers, he didn’t go to college. He worked in mines in the Rockies as a teenager, and in World War I was an airplane mechanic, I think stationed in France. They first ran the company, I’m told, out of the basement of my great-grandparent’s home.” [This may be R.O. Vandercook's former house that April Sheridan showed to a group us after a visit to the Vandercook family graves in March.]

“I don’t know about the details of the operation of the company as many of the folks posting on this site may, but certainly have heard many stories from my family, who were very proud of not just my grandfather, a thoroughly lovely and generous man, but also the fine Vandercook company and employees. Many former employees attended my grandfather’s funeral in the mid-80s, and we were touched by their kind words. When I was a child, and through my college years, my grandfather helped support my family during difficult times, and a goal of mine is to try to be like him.” [During phone interviews with former employees Stanley Metza and, Mr. Osenbaugh's uncle, Bill Critchlow, I was told that E.O. Vandercook was a gentleman and an effective leader.]

“Another thing in the ‘it’s a small world’ category: My father-in-law, Joe Alden, was a co-founder of a still operating Chicago company, Alden + Ott Inks. After he passed away, my mother-in-law sent my wife the first company checkbook he used to start the company in the 1950s. The first check he wrote was to Vandercook & Sons for a small proof press.”

NA Graphics has added a new page on its website to list presses for sale. This is one more resource for acquiring your own press. See also the Links page on the present site for other companies and individuals selling equipment.

Terry Chouinard sent me this advertisement he saw in the BBS Specimen Book (No. 25) for a “Vandercook Gordon Press Vibrator.” He asked if Vandercook made any other equipment for production presses? Good question. After all, their presses were marketed as pre-press equipment. But nothing in the catalogs I’ve seen references anything like the Gordon Vibrator.

Some time ago Daniel Morris gave me a CD of pdfs of Vandercook patents he found on Google Patents. After reviewing these files it appears that the vibrator and R.O. Vandercook’s first patent “Means for Dissipating Static Electricity” (1902), plus three for offset presses, were the only ones issued to his company for inventions not part of a proof/test press or plate making equipment. Hacker Manufacturing Co., acquired by Vandercook in 1937, held 14 U.S. patents for equipment that later became part of the Vandercook product line, notably their well known plate gauge.

Rather than uploading Daniel’s files, I’ve created a page with tables listing the patents issued to Vandercook and separate pages for Hacker and Challenge. Each feature links to the drawings and descriptions on Google.

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.

Here are some photos from my December visit to the Museum of Printing History in Houston, where I spoke about the Vandercook centenary and consulted on their recently acquired circa 1909 Vandercook Trip Action Proof Press, commonly known as a “rocker.” It had belonged to a company in Cincinnati whose owner said that his grandfather purchased it new. Vandercook’s first model, the rocker was built in four sizes, this one with a 17 × 25½” bed was the second largest. (I’ve seen two others: one in private hands and one at the Museum of Printing in North Andover, Mass.)

I had my first look at this press the day before my presentation. The heavy cylinder was stuck by an odd appliance wedged on the bed labeled “Miller Holdtite.” With some help I pushed the cylinder back to remove it. I didn’t know its purpose but was certain it’s unrelated. I posted a photo on Briar Press where David M. MacMillan says its a “Workholding Vise” and uploaded a pdf of a 1927 Miller catalog.

While there’s rust on the legs, this press is well preserved. I saw planing stripes on the bed telling me it has seen little use. After removing the old packing I found a pristine cylinder face free of rust, grime or any discoloration—astonishing given its age. With assistance from curator Amanda Stevenson and volunteers Gordon Rouze and Steve Sylvester, I cleaned and oiled the rails and bearings, and repacked with a Mylar drawsheet making it ready for a public demo the next day.

After my slide talk most of the audience joined me at the rocker, where I demonstrated its operation and invited them to pull a proof. Printing on a rocker is more akin to using a hand press than it is to cranking a later model Vandercook. The printing form must be inked by a brayer and the paper laid over. An operator needs to lean in over the cylinder, grasp the high side arm handle with the right hand and pull back. The cylinder—actually a curved segment—is heavy, and the operator feels the momentum as it tips forward, and so at the mid point over the form must be ready to grasp a shorter left side handle to help complete the cylinder’s travel until it reaches the end stop. The cylinder will then shift into trip and should be rolled back to the original position before removing the printed sheet. All in all, a vigorous workout. Practice is needed before a fluid motion is obtained

Touted in 1909 as a leap forward in proofing, the rocker is not suited for the kind of production work most Vandercook operators expect. But with its heavy and deep undercut cylinder, it makes an excellent press for hand printing or relief printmaking.

Photos by Amanda Stevenson and Linda Haynes.