Email: lockandkeypress@gmail.com
Twitter: @firexbrat (this is also my personal twitter, and while I do update what’s on the press and in the store, if you don’t want to know what I had for breakfast or why I’m pondering getting a perm, don’t follow me!)
flickr: flickr.com/photos/firebrat(also a personal site, but everything is PG and i don’t mind you browsing pictures of my gourmet cooking or my cats.)
Post: Lock and Key Press
J. Elizabeth Addison
3339A Lawn Avenue
Saint Louis, MO 63139
1 comment
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13 November, 2009 at 7:56 am
Joseph Weber
Dear Jenny,
I have been trying to access your website to contact you regarding the Multipress. I have 3 of these and they are very interesting. They came in two sizes, I want to say 9×12 and 10×18. I have one of the smaller ones and two of the larger ones. They were called Werner Multipresses. They were one of the last innovations in letterpress and actually looked like small offset presses if you looked only briefly. They very well-made, have a great history They were used by Post Office to make return addresses on their postal stationery until around 2000 – actually using Intertypes to make the slugs. It was a rapid-fire thing with info going to Intertype operator who sat and made slugs all day and fed them to the Multipress operators. These presses were good for envelopes because you didn’t have to ink up a big press, and they were fast (6000/hr). I have a video of one operating and will make a copy for you if you are interested. Another advantage is that the type is in the “belly” as you put it and does not have to “lift.” The chase (if you choose to use a chase) can be loosened up and new slugs added or the whole form changed in jig-time. In my opinion it offers the advantages of many other presses: the ability to set type flat like a Vandercook or other proof press, the ability to feed like an automatic Kluge or Craftsman, the economic inking like a Windmill with cut-down rollers, and advantages of a small motor just enough to do the job and the economy of space and speed of an offset press. I don’t want to sound like a salesman but I noticed things in my study of the machine, although I have not fired up my three yet. (I do keep them oiled) In summary I like to think of the press as an automatic proof press for long runs of small to medium forms. Either size press could nicely do books with 2 pages up from polymer plates. The result would be a letterpress book that took the same time to produce as it would on an offset press – maybe less time if you were using metal plates on the offset press.
Lastly, I would not even consider scrapping the press. Squirt some oil on it and cover it up for future consideration. I have the books and will be glad to copy for you gratis.
Joe Weber