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

[Craig M]

NICE Tim!

In the pic of the press, do you see at the bottom - there are two rows - one is max sheet size and max print area?

33 x 17 is not there...

I will dig for black and white pics of ALC presses to see a make and model.

[steve B]

I haven't found a picture of ALC, and few showing Hoe presses other than the large web fed presses used for books and newspapers.

Here's another catalog or ad for Hoe,

http://www.librarycompany.org/pos/ex...images/2.8.jpg

The description says up to about 1000 sheets/hour.

And here's a nice pic of another big litho company from 1905 using a different companys preses, but very similar.

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/...d_Mfg._Co..png

Most lithographic shops have a variety of press sizes. The one I was at had a little one, maybe 10"? Two 35 inch and a 24 inch. They later added a 35 inch two color press.

Most presses can be adjusted to run smaller paper sizes, but it's not usual to do that. For any particular job there's an optimal press size, and that's what's used.

ALC was huge, and the floor layout shows just one floor. They probably had another 2-3 floors with different size presses.

A sheet 17x6 would be an odd arrangement. The image area would be just under 24.43 x 15.75. On the number 1 press it would be too large and on the number 2 size it would fit ok in 22x30, but with huge margins that would probably lead to too much waste. 17x8 would work, but with wide side margins, not bad but still not great. (24.43x21)
18x8 gives 25.86x 21. half inch margins top and bottom, and just over 2 inches on each side.(plus the built in margins of paper size vs image size shown in the ad)
Not bad......And with complex layouts using doubleprints and/or superprints it easily accomodates both the groups that fit well with 6 or 12 subjects as well as those with 17.

Hmmmm......that may make the most sense so far.

Although they could have easily gone to 20x8, the 18x8 layout could conceivably also have been done as 3 small sheets of 6x8, allowing a bit more flexibility with the back printing. That might also explain the cutting guidelines on the reverse where they don't make much sense.

Steve B

[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

[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

[Craig M]

Looking at the Press Gallery Index shows that there were a good number of presses being used in the late 1800's to early 1900's. This site gives perspective and specs on max sheet size and max print area. I am positive there are still more presses not listed. Still digging for photo's of the inside of ALC.

http://letterpressprinting.com.au/page33.htm

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Craig M

Looking at the Press Gallery Index shows that there were a good number of presses being used in the late 1800's to early 1900's. This site gives perspective and specs on max sheet size and max print area. I am positive there are still more presses not listed. Still digging for photo's of the inside of ALC.

http://letterpressprinting.com.au/page33.htm

Only a few of those if any are lithographic presses. All the ones I looked at on that page use type of some sort rather than a plate.

Steve B