Proof Press?

i don’t know the name of it, but its an old proof press, the cylinder had a felt or rubber blanket on it, used to proof galleys of type, on the excelsior press web site alan has posted pictures of one of these he just acquired.

Miles Nervine Proof Press?

Cylinder proof press, yes; Miles Nervine press, no, I don’t think so. I believe if it were one of Dr. Miles’ presses it would have words advertising ‘Miles Nervine’ cast on one end and either ‘Miles Pain Pills’ or ‘Miles Heart Cure’ on the other end. Also, the Miles press and very similar Challenge and Chandler & Price presses that I’ve seen all have a bit more graceful ends. I’d guess this is some other brand.

Galley proofing presses made by R. Hoe & Co. had similar pointed stops at the end of the bed, but they were pretty good at putting their name on their equipment. It is missing the wooden box that had a drop down door Between the supporting legs, and the thick felt that covered the cylinder. It was primarily used to proof metal galleys filled with type, but creative printers have figured other ways of using them for books, &c. I have owned Challenge and Miles Nervine and it is not either. You would have to construct some method to register paper, but it is possible to use for simple printing.

Paul

Thanks for the info!

Its a R. Hoe press which was first mfg. in 1850 and superceded in 1895 with a press that had a smaller bed and lighter cylinder, which is being incorrectly referred to as a “Miles Nervine” press. Dr. Miles sold “Nervine” and R. Hoe made these for him, which he then distributed to newspapers in exchange for advertising space.

Where the Hoe reference was picked up is due to a poorly worded sentence in an article which, when read thoroughly only says that Hoe originated that style of press in the 1850s.

On page 79 of the book The Heritage of the Printer, by Dr. James Eckman, after a simple description of a galley proofing press reads: “Tucker took this idea back to Hoe, and that firm made many hundreds of simple galley-proof presses built on this arrangement. One of them [note it doesn’t say one made by Hoe], made for the Dr. Miles patent-medicine firm of Elkhart, Indiana, for many years was given by that firm to country publishers in exchange for advertising space for Dr. Miles’ remedies.”

Every company that manufactured presses made their own version of the galley proofing press, it was not a technology that was exclusive to R. Hoe & Company. I used to own a Challenge proofing press, and when I acquired the the Miles’ Nervine press I currently have I noticed there were a lot of similarities to not only to how the cylinder operated on the machine, but the cylinder rests, and the rounded nature of the ears, which you can see in the image you sent me. Plus, they cast the Challenge name into the end in a manner identical to the Miles’ Nervine, with a lettering that is nearly identical. Schneidewend & Lee was in full operation by this time, and located only 112 miles from Elkhart. Why in the world would Dr. Miles purchase a machine to give away for advertising if he had to ship it halfway across across the country, thus adding to the initial cost of each machine? Common sense dictates that a quality product from a known company in the area, a company that could produce them as he needed them would suffice. I don’t know of any instance of Hoe producing a product to which they did not attach their name, that is not how they did business.

Paul