Columbian press

It was designed to allow large formes, such as a broadsheet newspaper page, to be printed at a single pull.

[3] Wooden presses that were lighter and easier to transport were more attractive to printers outside of major centres.

He filed a patent for his invention in November of that year, and began manufacturing presses in premises at 1 Finsbury Street in 1818.

[4][7] In Britain, Clymer's presses cost between £100 and £125, depending on the paper size they printed.

[4] Among the early adopters were Andrew Strahan, the King's Printer, and Abraham John Valpy, who were both using the presses by 1818.

[11] Meanwhile, other manufacturers made Columbian presses under license, with at least one company in Germany making unlicensed versions.

[14] Mostly, the design saw little modification or improvement although some makers in Continental Europe altered or simplified the ornamentation[15] and some mounted their presses on a wooden base rather than a cast-iron one.

[19][20] The eagle weights around 50 pounds (23 kg) and functions as a counterweight, acting to raise the platen from the paper after a print has been made.

[20] Illustrations of the earliest presses show the eagle also clutching thunderbolts of Jupiter, but these are not present on any examples that survive.

[22] The side columns of the press are decorated with a Caduceus, the symbol of Hermes the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology.

[21][19] The large main lever also carries a cartouche of flowers and fruit around an engraved, brass maker's plate.