Here’s a link to a fun take on a Vandercook as pinewood derby car. http://www.jeremyslagle.com/blog/2011/8/11/one-fast-letterpress.html
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A.F. Wanner
Andrew Franklin Wanner (1855–1935) was a typefounder and the proprietor of A.F. Wanner & Co. a printing supplier and press manufacturer in Chicago. Today the company is remembered as the original maker of Potter and Poco proof presses. It was also one of the earliest selling agents for Vandercook. In 1867, Wanner moved to Chicago […]
MoreMore TagFree Vandercook on the French Riviera
Posted for the benefit of our European friends: http://riviera.angloinfo.com/forum/topic.asp?topic_id=215488
MoreMore TagRare No. 119 Proving Machine
Recently, I toured Thornwillow Press in Newburgh, New York where amongst the numerous letterpress equipment on premises is a 1927 Vandercook No. 119 Proving Machine. (The image at left is its entry in one of the early sales record books.) Currently, this press is the only known example of the model in the census.* In […]
MoreMore TagSoldan video
A Vanderblog reader just alerted me to a brief youtube video of a 30 x 24″ Soldan proof press in the UK that appears to be for sale.
MoreMore TagHorace W. Hacker
Horace Wardner Hacker (1879–1968) was the founder of the Hacker Manufacturing Co. in Chicago, which made plate gauges, and test presses that featured reciprocating beds with stationary carriages. Hacker held 14 U.S. Patents for various gauges and press mechanisms (and four later patents unrelated to printing). Like R.O. Vandercook, he was a proponent of pressroom […]
MoreMore TagScrew threads: British vs. American
This will likely be of interest to owners of British-built Vandercooks: Chip Coakley (the Jericho Press) emailed me with the serial number on his No. 4 made by Pre-Press Ltd. and to let me know that its original brass bearing blocks had British Standard Whitworth interior threads. When he bought replacement blocks from NA Graphics, […]
MoreMore TagR.L. Pelland
Raymond Louis Pelland (1893-1977) was a draftsman and design engineer at Vandercook from at least 1935 to 1947. His name appears on many assembly drawings and on four U.S. Patents including the large 4-color 604. (His first was a tie stitching machine for a previous employer). During World War I, Pelland was a private in […]
MoreMore TagNYC circa 1954
Here’s the cover and spreads from an eight page booklet (5×7″) showing Vandercook’s Eastern Office and Demonstration Room. Formerly located at 323 East 44th Street, this aerial photo suggests that it had a view of the distinctive United Nations building (foreground), which was completed in 1952. Posted for New York friends in advance of my […]
MoreMore TagVandercook recruitment flyer
Among the Burt Roozee papers I recently acquired is this employee recruitment flyer. This rare, post-WWII ephemera is letter-folded and printed on both sides on the same coated sheet that Vandercook used for catalogs. The plant on N. Kilpatrick Ave., shown above, was built by the company in 1928, its replacement was built on W. […]
MoreMore TagBurt Roozee
James Burton Roozee (1918-1998) joined Vandercook & Sons in 1940 and eventually became its last Director of Engineering. Self taught and interested in all things mechanical and electronic, his name appears on several U.S. Patents including the “quick change” form rollers, ink monitor and automatic wash up unit for the Universal and SP series presses. […]
MoreMore Tag15-20 at Auction
Another press on Bidspotter.com this month that I’ve been repeatedly asked about is a Vandercook 15-20 Dry Offset press. Dry offset refers to the absence of water in the inking system. The process is used to print plastic containers and lids, cosmetic tubes, aluminum cans, etc. Dry offset ink is cured onto the substrate using […]
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