probably one of the most beautiful
presses
in all of printing history has to be
this one here
the colombian press certainly one of the
gems at our collection here at the
international printing museum in carson
california
the colombian press dates back to 1813
and it's the first metal printing press
in america
it's not the first metal printing press
ever
that's the stanhope press which was
invented in 1800
in london and that's the start of the
industrial revolution
of course we here in america we're about
15 years behind the
the british in the in the revolution
so as being a metal press
all the presses before this going back
to the days of gutenberg were all made
out of wood
and they also all had a screw whether
first it was a wooden screw or a metal
screw in the middle of the press
and the pressman when they pulled on the
lever would tighten the screw
to squeeze down on the letters and then
loosen back
up that screw to take everything back
out
george climber really had a technical
advancement with this press
he eliminates the screw mechanism in the
center of the press
in favor of a minimal point of contact
so there's very little friction
compound levers with counterweights
and beams so when the pressman pulls on
the bar here it's
so powerful he's actually able instead
of on a wooden press
ben franklin's time you would have to
print half of the page
and then move the press and print the
other half of the page because the
machine could not take the force the
pressure required
george heimer can now print the entire
front and back of a newspaper
two pages in one pull on the bar the
press itself
all the bizarre orientation here was not
typical of the time period
it was simply george climber's american
marketing prowess his sales technique
to make sure you never forgot his
machine and you wouldn't
i mean you'll forget his name george who
george climber you'll forget the name of
his press by next week
the colombian press but how do you
forget this
weird machine so different than every
every other one you've ever seen at that
time with all this bizarre orientation
on here
including an eagle up there at the top
well george climber actually had some
problems selling it in america
the american market really wasn't ready
for this
this much advancement they were happy
with their wooden presses
first of all this thing is very big and
very heavy
it weighs 2500 close to 3 000 pounds
so it's very hard to transport second if
it breaks down in a small town nobody
knows how to work with cast iron
this is this is new uh understanding of
working with metallurgy
second problem or the third problem is
the cost
climber's press cost four times as much
as the wooden presses of ben franklin's
day
and there wasn't that much demand for
printing
things were still picking up in industry
so climber only sold about
17 18 of these presses in america
he packs his bags in 1817
four years after he invented it heads
across the pond
over there to london sets up a
manufacturing site and begins to sell
his press
and he did very well he pretty much
kicked the english press
almost right off the market it was
really seen as
an amazing press but very interesting to
look at
the press itself on the decorations that
you see on here
actually have meaning to it what looks
like to you and i
the medical symbol is actually the
symbol
for hermes the messenger of the gods
this is the regency period in in
decoration
the beginning of the 19th century
this is the cornucopia the nameplate
itself
which is usually shining in brass it
says colombian press
george climber 1824.
the dolphins even though they have
scales they were considered to be
dolphins
or the serpents then the eagle and the
eagle is actually a functioning part of
the press
it's not just decoration that is a
well-fed american eagle
having nibbled on the horn of plenty in
the olive branch a piece
during the printing operation when the
pressman pulls the bar
and squeezes down on the letters with
the platen
with the help of the counterweights and
the levers
he weighs in at about 50 pounds so he's
gonna come back down to the earth
bring the platen back up along that cute
little half-naked lady back there the
other counterweight
columbia gem of the ocean with her
anchor
she helps to focus the president's
attention
pressmen have always seemed to need some
focus there at the press
when the english saw this press they
described it as
the most bizarre press that ever was and
ever will be
and i think it has been and second of
all they describe that as being
the american bald eagle
bearing down on all powers very symbolic
of america's attitude towards the world
at this time and today for the most part
normally to be operating the press one
would be staying on the opposite side
working with the ink rolling the ink
onto the letters
the other one the pressman on this side
is going to be keeping his hands clean
working with the paper
pulling on the lever speed is about
well in his advertising he said this
could do 200 an hour
never believe you're advertising
especially from an american
it's really about 100 120 and i think
that would depend on
having two good operators then of course
what
what hour of the day was what day of the
week and how liquid their lunch was
which does seem to be a problem in the
printing tree
but the press did very well in england
it really took off you could still
it became it really became an amer an
english press versus an
american press you could still buy a
colombian press
100 years later in the first half of the
of the 20th century it's it's really the
showpiece of anybody's collection
to be able to get one of these presses
into your lobby into your home
you just have to pay attention to the
eagle because uh there's been enough
people that brought a press into their
house
and then managed to uh to
inject the eagle into their ceiling not
realizing it
so even here at the printing museum when
somebody does some videoing
uh here at the museum and the eagle
always disappears out of frame
constantly so but george climber the
colombian press this is
a very rare one this is ones from 1824
it is the second oldest uh colombian
that has survived or that's at least
here
in america or north america we do have
an 1822
we have four colombians in the
collection as if you need one we seem to
have four of them
and ernie linder who built the museum's
collection here
over all those years when he had
the opportunity to acquire this one
he noticed that in the auction photos
this one had a linkage
for the lever for the hand lever on this
side and
opposite the pressman all of the
colombians before this point
before 1824 were always positioned on
the opposite side of the pressman
all the colombians after 1824 were
always attached over
on this side closer to the pressman and
the one complaint
early on about the colombians was that
when it was
positioned on the opposite side the
position of that lever
was in an awkward spot for the pressman
so this particular one is that
transition model
it's the only colombian that has
survived that has the casting still on
both sides
so either you could order it at this in
this year
on either side and have it
positioned over there or they just
didn't want to change the mold until
they knew that they had a successful
new design
the colombian is certainly the showpiece
of anybody's collection
certainly one of the showpieces here at
the international printing museum
but it is an exceptional press to print
on prints beautifully
it's very powerful and it testifies to
george climer
and his inventive genius but also
obviously his marketing genius
it's a press that captured the attention
of printers uh
for two centuries now beautiful press
the columbian press
you