A (true) Ink Roller Story

With all the problems and discussion surrounding rollers and trucks and sizes and settings, I thought I’d pass this on for what it’s worth; a little holiday light reading if nothing else.

Many years ago I met this fellow and his girlfriend who were trying to eke out a living in a little coastal town way off the beaten path here in Maine (actually, an island) with a letterpress print shop. He wouldn’t let her feed the motorized presses so I gave them a Pilot. (yeah, another story but not important right now) It didn’t have any rollers or trucks so someone else he knew gave him a (one) roller made for some other press. I think it was one of those icky green ones that hadn’t yet gone icky. Anyway, the core diameter was correct but it was too long so he simply cut the covering back on each end far enough for it to fit between the roller arms and just let it ride on the rails with no trucks. A one-roller Pilot and they printed a lot of stuff and some of it was wedding invitations. Of course, most of the type was from his Intertype with an occasional foundry dingbat or ornament but I have some of the work from this press an it’s as good as I’ve ever seen anywhere.

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