Press 1: Ramage Hand-lever Printing Press, circa 1809.
[Link to all the wooden presses in the Henry Ford Museum.]
Gaskell (1970, p 30, USA13) mentions: “built by Ramage, c. 1805. In use until 1900.”
Frans Janssen (1977, p 59): “Van de 19e-eeuwse Amerikaanse pers (Gaskell USA13) bouwde Andrew Polscher in 1957 een duplicaat, dat in Honolulu, Hawaii, bewaard wordt.” [There is press on Hawaii in the Hale pa‘i Printing Museum in Lahaina but made by Peggie Ehlke and Albertine Loomis in 1966. Not sure if these are the same presses?]
Website: “This hand-operated printing press is one of the oldest remaining in the United States. America’s premier press maker, Adam Ramage, made it in Philadelphia in about 1809. He was the first American to improve printing presses and began a tradition of American innovations in printing press design. With this press, two journeymen printers printed about 250 one-sided sheets per hour.” (Object ID 30.1218.1 | THF126)
It looks as if the photograph of Philip Gaskell (1) is reversed on the Henry Ford Museum website (3).
