How many T206s to a row? (revisited I'm sure)

[steve B]

Originally Posted by White Borders

Steve,

Just to clarify, are you saying that ALC probably had an assortment of press sizes, and depending upon the T206 job as well as other jobs they may have had going on, the T206 could have been printed on different size presses, with anywhere from 6 cards wide up to 17 cards wide?

Best Regards,
Craig

They would have had a variety of presses.

Wether the T 206s were printed on different presses would depend on how ATC was ordering them. A big part of profitability in printing is using the right size equipment for the job. I'm sure there's a formula but I don't know it.

Ordering say 1000 book covers might get done on a 24 inch press. But 20,000 of the same item might be better done on a larger press.
There's labor to mount the plates and adjust,
time to print
washdown between colors.
Time to cut.
packing/shipping.

Pretty complex. The only parts of the operation they didn't end up cross training me in was the sales/office stuff and actually doing the cutting.


My comment about 34 wide vs 6 wide sheets was that an 18 card wide sheet with decent margins could either be done as one sheet 18 wide OR done as a large sheet with 3 smaller sheets that after separation could be printed with different backs

Or graphically
18 wide one row
abcdefghijklmnopqr

3x6 one row
abcdef ghijkl mnopqr

Both would fit the image size for a hoe number 2

Actually doing either would depend on what was ordered and when delivery was expected as well as quantity.

I can see 34 southern leaguers with a few double prints being done as one sheet. especially for a fairly small quantity.

I can also see an ongoing need for major league subjects being done a few at a time as the art was approved and done in smaller sheets so they could ship different backs simultaneously and in decent quantity.

I wish there were some records remaining from either company.
For stamps the US postal museum has the actual books the orders were logged in so a nearly exact quantity printed/ordered is know or can be researched.

Steve B