Mystery Machine

It sure looks like an old adana to me.

What Basil didn’t mention, is that this platen press is twice as big as the 8 x 5 Adana. And, as far as I know, Adanas had always a name, model and often serial number on them.

Unless you got a chase that isn’t pictured, that will probably be the hardest to find. Rollers and roller trucks can be made to fit the press without reference to the originals, and the gripper arms likewise. It looks like it is otherwise in working condition.

Thank you very much for these comments.

Following on from Thomas, the machine stands at 60 cm in height, and the roller spindles would need to be 35 cm in length.

Concerning AdLibPress’s comments - it does in fact come with its own chase, which is molded to fit the bed and the chase-holding clips. The chase’s inner dimensions are 27.5 cm by 18.5 cm.

The machine is a pre-war Adana High Speed No. 3 press, launched circa 1937. In some sales literature Adana referred to it as the Quarto Size Adana Automatic High Speed. The advertised chase size was 10” x 7½”. The offset operating handle is the most distinctive feature of this press. Adana made a later copy of the No. 3 from steel pressings and called it the model 3A. Confusingly, they also produced a treadle version of the press (pre-war) from steel pressings, and decided to call their first post-war vertical platen machine by the same name, although it’s a quite different press. Good old Adana.

The post-war press was originally made in cast iron, then the company switched to aluminium alloy, so there are at least 3 or 4 Adana machines which were all called High Speed No. 3 or No. 3 High Speed. Yours is quite definitely the first of the machines, from the late 1930s. Model 3A retailed at £11.7s.6d and an ink duct was available for an extra £3.17s.6d. It was an expensive press.

InkSprite - that’s a wonderfully detailed identification. My press is definitely in cast iron! This will be invaluable in getting rollers for it. Thank you very much indeed.