Looking for info on these 2 beauties

Well the one “with no shield” has in fact a small shied that reads “imprenta tipográfica, 1924” wwhich I guess needs no translation, it was placed by the previous owner.

if you measure the distance between the journals (that there the Form roller ends rest and turn), you have the length of your Form Roller. Most Roller makers have extensive notes on Roller sizes. And they can usually make also the cores.

www.britishletterpress.co.uk has limited info (platten sizes)on ” The Minerva” printing press made by H S Cropper UK, but looks different…………..so, this is not a too helpful post…………….

The “La Minerve” (pretty obviously French, with a Paris address) is a knock-off of the Chandler & Price Gordon press, which were also, I believe, made by Cropper in England, so one possibility is that it is English-made but sold in France by Berthier. The second one look suspiciously like a Clipper press mechanism on a different base, probably also European or British manufacture, but I don’t know those designs very well.

A simple way to get rollers (assuming you have the trucks) is measure the truck diameter, the outside-to-outside distance across the press of the roller hooks or saddles, and the diameter of the saddle or hook opening, and of the bore of the trucks. The first is the roller diameter, the second is the length of the cores, and the third is the core diameter. If you don’t have the trucks you can wing it on their diameter and have a set made — in that case I would measure the center-to-center distance of two adjacent roller hooks or between the journals of a saddle, subtract a little (1/8 inch or so) for space between the rollers, and then reduce the resulting measurement to an even amount (like 1-1/2, 1-1/4, or 1 inches), and order rollers and trucks that diameter.

Bob

Bear in mind that this being badged as french means it may have a weird bearer (rail) height , this dimension being that of the depth from bed to bearer surface ,this will tell you the figure you need for the roller surface xbearer surface undercut , for instance .918 less bearer (rail) height will give you the difference between the surface of your ink roller and the surface of your roller bearer (trucks ) ,if you have the original truck (bearers ) the hard work is done .
A quick oops …..
check too that the bearers (rails) are not adjustable , if they are then set them middled to allow adjustments before making calculations above .