A Buddy L Printing Press

Monday, August 26, 2013

A Buddy L Printing Press

  Yesterday, I was browsing through E-Bay antique toys when I came across a totally different toy from my "usual". The listed item was a Buddy "L" printing press. I didn't even know such an item existed since I don't have a catalogue to research the item. But it does exist, and and it was manufactured from 1932-1937. 

 I've only been to a printer once, and that was in the lagte1980's when Photoshop had already begun to replace all those skilled people who used to print newspapers!  A mature student of mine 

(a printer salesman) took me up on an offer to visit where he worked. We saw the 3 and 4 stage printing presses (Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black) of course, but the biggest shock was what was missing. There used to be people who once upon a time would set up lettering or type (backwards) to add to the photos. They were no longer there. Then the people who would layout the pages of photos for copying to make the 4-colour master ink plates were gone.  What they used to do is cut the photo from the film, but placing it in a liquid to separate the film layer from the plastic backing. They would then compose it on a larger piece of clear plastic (I'm guessing), and  arrange it.   At that time, photographers would have to "shoot to scale". What that meant was that a size of an item for a page would have to be sized to certain dimensions to fit the page layout.  That was no longer needed.

All of the above were replaced by 2 large-sized CRT computer screens, and 2 state-of-the-art Apple Mac Towers (computers).  

For myself, that was a very "eerie" and nostalgic sight! Within a blink of an eye in time, a whole generation of skilled people had been replaced by the computer.

I once purchased a set of type for a friend of ours who is an architect by profession, but is multi-talented. Peggy-Ann is a wonderful cook, and her latest talent has brought her into the field of art. She creates wonderful paintings, and they sell well. I purchased for her a set of type, as I mentioned.

What was surprising was how heavy these pieces of backward lettering were.  Each letter was at the top of a 3 inch (.76mm) rectangular  piece of metal (I think lead). The letters would be arranged backwards, then carefully hammered in place and then secured with metal plates and screws.

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia.com

(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Metal_movable_type.jpg

   What would have been interesting for a child is to be able to work with his/her hands to customize their letters (kids hand wrote in those days!) with letter heads of their addresses. They would have to learn to read backwards, set up the letters in a space, the flatten and press them together. I'm quite sure this toy was not for every child, but those who received one certainly must have spent lots of time just to print out  something.  This was certainly a good learning experience.

   One of the interesting part s about this post today is the store that I found it in.     The person's ebay name is Xrtrading, and his/her store is called  Antique Military Book Jewelry Sign. If I had a blog about collectibles, I'd be at this store very often. There's just so much of all kinds of different collectibles, and it seems there are people who do buy all of these most interesting items.

Antique Military Book Jewelry Sign

Please click here to visit this most-interesting E-Bay seller's store

 This is the printing press in the closed position

The recessed rectangle behind the black rubber roller is where the letters would be position. 

There would also be small pieces of metal spacers to keep all of the letters tightly in the space.

 There are 2 springs, one on each side that would hold a piece of paper over the letters. Once the top yellow part of the press came down, the roller would move over the paper to make an impression of the writing.

You can see that this particular toy is quite large. 

THe 4 holes in the corners (with rubber gaskets) are for nailing or screwing the press into a pirece of wood so that it will be more stable when using it.

There wasn't a photograph of the actual letters. They're in that modern-era plastic bag. That drawer that opens out was probably for storing the letters when not in use. Interestingly-enough, these particular toys do not receive high prices at auction. However, I'm sure that is another 20-40 years, most of the type letters that weren't melted already and sent to the scrapyard will be. By then this particular toy will have been around for 100 years,and I'm sure it will be a true antique and collectible!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always, 

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

(toysearcher@gmail.com)