PRINTING EQUIPMENT

We have a few different types of presses at KBT Press

My studio is quite small so everything in it has to earn it's space and as I combine different printing methods and even make my own paper there are several different presses in my studio, all with different functions.

The Albion Press
The Albion press is a an early form of iron hand printing press designed for letterpress printing. They were originally designed and manufactured in London by Richard Whittaker Cope around 1820 but were prodcued by many other companies with slightly altered designs. Our press was manufactured by Fredk Ullmer (1825-1890) who also made a brief return in the 1980s to produce arts and crafts presses.

The Albion presses were an improvement on earlier presses and worked by a simple toggle action, unlike the complex lever-mechanism of the Columbian press and the Stanhope press. This made them very popular and Albions continued to be manufactured, in a range of different sizes, until the 1930s. They were used for commercial book-printing until the middle of the nineteenth century, and thereafter chiefly for proofing, jobbing work and by private presses.

The Albion is a lot of fun to use so I use it for printing a variety of small letterpress items.



An Albion Press Restoration
This second albion press is free standing and a little larger than the one above. It lived outside, in a garden, amongst the weeds for many year's. When I saw it there rusting away I had an overwhelming desire to save it and restore it to working order.

While the whole drum assembly was missing, it did have the staple with all the internal parts, the rails, both its feet, the platen and bed. This was enough to get it printing so I asked the owner and he very kindly let me take it back to my studio. I have been busy working on the restoration of this press ever since I brought it home and will write up an article about this soon.

It's going to be a long term project but I hope to have it printing before the end of this year.



The Book Press
A book press is a fairly simple affair. It applies pressure directly between two flat heavy plates. They are usually cast iron and operated by turning a screw. I use it mainly for flattening hand made paper but it's also good for bookbinding.

This press was acquired by the previous owner in Amiens, Picardy and had been in storage for some time. The owner remembered it being in his grandfather’s office for at least 60 years. It's a beautifully crafted item made by GODIN, a manufacturer more well known for enamelled cast iron stoves and ovens and it dates to the late 1800s.



The Proofing Press
The proofing press emerged as a method of checking a letterpress job before sending it to the main presses for bulk printing. These were mainly used in newspaper printing.

I originally thought about buying a vintage Vandercook press for the studio but struggled to find one in good enough condition and as I wanted this to be my main press I wanted something that would give me no maintenance issues.

After some consideration I opted for a new proofing press made by Arteina in Barcelona, it was a large heavy item to get shipped but they made the process as easy as possible. This press is designed specifically for letterpress and is precision engineered to operate smoothly. Type is set and placed on the print bed, inked manually and then the heavy roller is dragged over by hand. I use this press for larger work upto A2+.



The Platen Press
I also have a small desktop platen press, an Adana 8x5 from the 1960's. This press is great for repetitive work of longer runs. For example printing the pages of a book or some business cards. The Adana 8x5 was the most popular press for home printing by letterpress and is still manufactured today so parts are easy to get. The rollers are auto inked from the disc but other than that the process is still very manual.



The Duplicator
A recent edition is this antique Neo-Cyclostyle duplicator built around 1880. I still have some work to do cleaning it up and restoring it to a functional machine. The oak box is in good condition and I have replaced some missing parts with original replacements. It has plenty of the origial paper and ink but as these are consumables I will be sourcing fresh supplies. The machine uses a special pen to perforate a wax paper, allowing ink to pass through the perforations. This was used for written notices but I will be using it to create some original artworks.



The Etching Press
Finally I also have a small (A3) etching press which is good for lino cut, wood cut and metal plate etching. It has two rollers; the top one is height adjustable and the print bed passes through them by turning a small wheel which rotates the lower roller. This is a modern press made by Creative Printers of London and I use it for printing anything that is much lower than type high.