Safety guard for Victoria Art Platen

Hello everyone,

I have recently purchased a Victoria platen in very good shape, but unfortunately without the safety guard.
It would be a long shot asking if someone had a spare one:-), but I will have to manufacture one myself, as running this press without it isn’t an option for me.

Please, could someone of you owning this press post pictures of this guard and how it is attached to the press?

Thank you very much.

Martin
Bury St Edmunds

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Here are a couple flikr sets showing the guard in place on various models:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bogtrykkeren/sets/72157632686187705

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smokeproof/sets/72157655247795895

The guard was removed from my Vic long ago, but I can see where the guard would contact a spur on the right of the clutch handle.

In addition to the excellent resume above, and generally, the Main flat belt drive, from the rear mounted motor, being exposed, is also, . . *Heavily Guarded*

In our Museum Print Shop, that guard takes the form of a Clear impact resistant (Perspex or similar) sheet.

A. To protect the operator when tending the Ink Duct, etc., and,

B. In line with H. & S. directive(s), if/when the Public are invited in, to watch all such machinery in operation.

In Translucent Perspex or Similar found to be beneficial, to monitor the clutch and its operation.!! inc. line of sight oiling.!!

Good Luck

Thank you very much for your replies and the pics.

I have fortunately the cover for the engine and pulley, but having seen the pictures, it is also painfully clear to me that making anything like that myself will be extremely hard.

I thought previously that the guard disengages the platen directly via the lever, but it’s more complicated :-)

Can I quickly echo some thanks to Jens (@parallel_imp) for the very detailed photos? I need to do a bit of work on the clutch on my Autovic, and I think your photos will be extremely useful. Thanks for putting them online.

nick

contact Patrick Roe at The Logan Press near Welingborough.

he buys restores such presses occaisionally and may perchance have a spare guard he has removed from a previous machine………might be worth a try.He could probably put you in touch with other autovic users so you could see one directly.

Thanks Jonathan, I will try that.

Jens is a regular participant here (as bogtrykkeren), maybe he’s away at the moment.
I was sent a pdf of a Victoria manual, VICBOOK1.PDF, which includes clutch adjustment, and posted it in the files section of this yahoo group:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/universal_platen/info

The mechanism of the safety is fairly simple but relies on contact with the clutch handle, which stops the press very quickly when pushed. The guard hangs free and there is a small gap between it and the platen as it closes. Anything rising above the top of the platen will push the guard in, and very little pressure is needed to trip the clutch handle. Some of the presses shown above also have guard extensions that protect the sides of the platen.

Another feature of some presses of this type was a curved cross-piece at the top of the frisket that would bend a stray sheet away from being pulled into the roller train.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OpOmeCCxvI

my vid of Amberley Museum autovic with guard working

Hi – I’m here :-) Here a link to a little video showing the safety mechanism https://www.flickr.com/photos/bogtrykkeren/24143262436/in/album-72157632... I have just uploaded a photo from the part list for the Victoria presses showing the safety grate and the clutch handle https://www.flickr.com/photos/bogtrykkeren/26920953261/ & https://www.flickr.com/photos/bogtrykkeren/26385357563/
@Nick I have also uploaded two photos from the part list showing a/some clutch(s) https://www.flickr.com/photos/bogtrykkeren/26920951251/ & https://www.flickr.com/photos/bogtrykkeren/26920950261/ The illustrations are not identical with the clutch on my press but might be useful for you.
As some of you probably know I do from time to time photograph or scan important literature including this Victoria catalogue https://www.flickr.com/photos/bogtrykkeren/21420329933/in/album-72157632... I do have the part list and an instruction and part list to the auto feeder for the Victoria presses on my top wish list. Unfortunately the two books are bound with screws and close to impossible to photograph or scan. I’m working on a solution. Please feel free to ask if any questions and I help best as possible.
A complete list of books can be seen below at www.letterpress.dk - Biblioteket (the site is on Danish, but the links works:-)
Gott grüß die Kunst
Jens

Very interesting video. With that motion, the guard is more complicated than I thought, and cam action controlling it. The three Vics I know all have guards absent. I think mine, pre-WWI, did not come with the option, as the cam assembly isn’t there either, though the pivot holes are there on the frame.

Jens, I have photocopies of two AutoVic manuals in English, one from Rockstroh-Werke and one from Pershke, both for roll-away feeders. I’ll see if I can get adequate scans of them.

Wow, sounds interesting – would love to see a scan :-)
GgdK, Jens

Ooh, @parallel_imp - I’d love to have a look at the AutoVic manuals too. Any chance you could send me a link to your scans, when you manage them?

nick

Thank you Jens, parallel_imp and all for contributing to this thread.
The manuals are tremendous help, although making the guard on my own seems quite daunting now.

Best Wishes
Martin

OK, I did a trial scan of the shortest AutoVic document, which is the “Detailed instructions for re-installing and levelling up Autovic machines” and put it in the Files section of the Universal_platen group mentioned above.
This piece came with the Pershke AutoVic manual (though the original owner also ran the Rockstroh AutoVic here, and had access to all these documents). It has three type-written pages and seven line illustrations.

Thanks, @parallel_imp; very useful. What chance of the AutoVic manual making into the digital domain, would you say? I’d be happy to pay for recorded shipping if you’d like me to scan it, too.

nick

That would be great. I’ll contact off-list.