C&P OS Serial # Locations
I’ve read that the serial number on my 10x15 Chandler and Price OS is on the bed behind the chase. Unfortunately, my press is taken apart for cleaning and it’s laying face down on the bed side.
I do have several areas with numbers and I was curious if these, if any, are also a serial #. If not, what are these numbers?
On the arm
back cylinder
back of c&p plate
Most of these are casting numbers for individual parts, but the number stamped on the shaft (second picture from the bottom) is likely a serial number. Some C&P presses were marked that way. Mine wasn’t.
Just stand the bed up on the heavy end. You should be able to lift the light end fairly easily to double check the serial number. In this position it will be upside down in the lower right corner.
The number on the shaft will tell you the number in series of manufacture, but there is an initial on the platen that will tell you the year of manufacture. I have a c&p 8x12 old style that is numbered B112 on the platen, but just 112 on the shaft. If i remember correctly, the B on the 8x12 means 1910.
Archie5370:
The B just means 8x12. A=7x11, C=10x15, D=12x18, etc.
if your press is B112 it was manufactured in 1905, the first year they used these serial number prefixes.
For a complete Serial number list of C&P presses, both OS and NS, see: http://www.greendolphinpress.com/letterpress-faq.html#3.04
evancalkins:
The same list would make your press (14068) date to 1902, probably very late in the year as 14100 is given as the starting number for 1903, before they added the C prefix for the OS 10x15.
Thank you Arie. This is exactly what I needed to know.