Info wanted on C&P press?

http://greendolphinpress.com/letterpress-faq.html#3.04

On the top left corner of the bed there should be a serial number stamped into the metal. See photo.
In your pictures it looks like the chase is still in the press.
You will need to remove the chase in order to see the number. Then go to the link above to see the Serial number listings. Hope it is there and that this helps.
Steve Varvaro

P1110551.JPG

Lovely press, but not a C&P - it’s an Old Style Gordon, which don’t have throw-offs but look identical to OS C&Ps. Can we see a photo of the counterbalance plate?

And, in addition, this press doesn’t have the internal Side Frame Connecting Bracket — only cast bars for tie-rods. The photos show that the gear side Bed leg has a fracture. A picture of the Name Plate, which connects the Roller Frames, would help greatly in identification.
Frank.

As stated above this isn’t a C&P.

That being said, the earliest C&P models lacked the interior side frame connecting bracket. I have a 7x11 (serial 1149 I believe) and it only has the bars as tie rods.

I am updating info on old press with new photos. The circle is 11 inches inside measurement. No markings on press. The press is a 10 x 15. The previous owner thought it to be 1860 C&P but I think it is older. It might be a Gordon? This press is located at https://www.wcra.org/ and I give demos every Saturday starting July 1st for the summer. I give a spiel when printing a sample and would like to get the year made and name of press as close as I can for my spiel if possible.

IMG_5194.JPG

IMG_5191.JPG

IMG_5181.JPG

IMG_5179.JPG

IMG_5178.JPG

IMG_5175.JPG

IMG_0186.JPG

IMG_0182.JPG

IMG_0175.JPG

IMG_0174.JPG

That press looks almost exactly like the Ben-Franklin Gordon made by Johnson-Peerless Works in Palmyra,NY, one of the 5 press manufacturing companies begun by John M. Jones there. It was apparently made from 1886 to 1898, according to Ralph Green’s “History of the Platen Jobber”. Shipping West from Palmyra could well have been via the Erie Canal to the Great Lakes and West. Jones designed or invented 12 or 13 different platen job presses between 1868 and 1900. The Ben-Franklin Gordon was one of the last. The Toronto Type Foundry may have been the Canadian dealer for Johnson-Peerless Works.

Bob

B17A2C9B-EB8B-4FDB-B214-9AFE4793DF24.jpeg

Contact me via BP if you would like a copy of my recent booklet about John M. Jones and Platen Job Press Manufacturing in Palmyra, NY. I have half a dozen or so left.

Bob

Bob - your BFG illustration shows a throw-off - the press in question does not. Having said that, I’d like a copy of your book on Platen Job Press Manufacturing in Palmyra. Thanks!

There is no evidence to prove it but some manufacturers offered presses with or without the throwoff — the exxentric shaft and linkages added complexity that had to cost more.

You’re in the APA Directory in Ft Collins CO, right?

Bob