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 […]
MoreAuthor: Paul Moxon, Moderator
More V&S Employee photos
I’ve posted six additional “photos”:https://vandercookpress.info/vanderblog/employee/photos/ of Vandercook & Sons employee gatherings. Once you view them you will agree that Lowenbrau was the offical company beer.
MoreNew PDFs Available
I have posted several new PDFs of Vandercook brochures and catalogs on the “Bibliography”:https://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“:https://vandercookpress.info/downloads/articles/duensingMM.pdf.
MoreOil: SAE 20 and variants
I received an email from a gentleman who recently acquired a Universal I and is having difficulty finding an SAE 20 wt oil, the grade specified in most operator manuals. Like many printers, I first used 3-in-One oil. Some Vandercooks like, Daniel Morris’s 320, even have a plaque on the carriage reading “Use 3-in-One Oil” […]
MoreSP15 hand gripper lever
Last week I was in New York to teach workshops at the “Center for Book Arts”:http://centerforbookarts.org/, and also visited a couple of printshops including Daniel Morris’s “The Arm Letterpress”:http://www.thearmnyc.com/information/letterpress in Brooklyn. Some readers may know that has several Vandercooks including this rather unusual SP15 that has a hand lever mechanism to raise the paper grippers […]
MoreAsbern for sale in Germany
ADR.1, N° 7927, built 1966. The owner, artist “Thomas H. Cremanns”:http://www.tcart.de, Düsseldorf, Germany is moving his studio and wants to sell the press.
MoreVandercook Employee Photographs
Just added a new page of “Vandercook employee photos”:https://vandercookpress.info/vanderblog/employee/photos/. Take a look at a few of the men who built your presses.
MoreEarly Vandercook Manufacturing
This badge, on a 1919 model 20 (SN 1103, now at the Hamilton Wood Type Museum), begs the question: when did Vandercook & Sons begin manufacturing—or at least assembling—presses in-house? Fritz Klinke says that he has not come across any documents in reference to outsourcing manufacturing for this period. However, he does have information on […]
MoreSP20 Trip Spring Repaired
I recently repaired an SP20 at the University of West Georgia on which the carriage had become stuck during the return travel. The photos above shows that top carriage bearings on the operator’s side had been removed during a previous repair attempt. Typically what happens on SP series presses is that the trip spring inside […]
MoreCensus of other brands
I am now soliciting press data for all brands of flatbed cylinder proofs: Asbern, Challenge, FAG, Hacker, Korrex, Reprex et al. See “complete list”:https://vandercookpress.info/other.html. Censuses will be posted in the side bar next the Vandercook Census.
MoreEnglish-made Hybrid Revisted
Donald Kerr at the University of Otago [New Zeeland], informed me of his institution’s Vandercook made by Pre Press Ltd. of London. His photos show a carriage nameplate stating that it is a No. 4 However, the cabinet and feed board styling (and presumedly the inking system were it present) is that of a 215. […]
MoreHalf-yearling
This blog is six months old. Thank you to all the registered users, you now number 83. Together we have generated 55 posts (viewed over 10,000 times) and 254 comments. While these numbers are small, some good information has been captured and categorized for the common goal of extending the life of these presses. To […]
More