new electric heaters, can they be made anew ?

[John Cornelisse]

Today I got an email from the Association of European Printing Museums

This gathering I joined last year, and attended the meeting in the Gutenberg-Museum in Mainz.

In Germany there is a typefounder (Rainer Gerstenberg !) with Kuco-machines. He assisted the French Impremerie National for intsrictions on the machines.

But.... the machines at the Impremerie National are gas-fired. And this is actually forbidden by law, because this is supposed to be UNSAFE... safety-regulations !

Can these electric heaters still be made, or has somebody a spare hearter ? That can be used as a prototype for producing a new one ? In time this can be a problem for all of us...

I add the Enlish text of the email here:

Request for information about electric Küco typecasters

At Darmstadt M. Rainer Gerstenberg is the last commercial typefounder working with Küco typecasting machines. I recently organised a meeting between him and the Imprimerie nationale so that Rainer could explain the technique of the Küco to one of their younger employees. The Imprimerie nationale has several Küco casters in their Atelier du livre d'art, but there is no longer anyone with the necessary specialist konwledge to operate them. They are now beginning to run out of type (e.g. the historical Garamont types), and absolutely need to cast new type.

But there is a problem: the Küco casters at the Imprimerie nationale are gas fired, and so are no longer in conformity with security regulations. So they need to be electrified. I have been looking for descriptions of the electric version of Küco with photos and plans here in Germany but have been unable to find anything. Does anybody have any documentation about the electrified Küco caster?

I would be extremely pleased to receive any information on the subject.

Philipp Rehage
boucle222@voila.fr

[Mechanic]

 I know this company has mad elements for linecasting machines in Australia. I'm sure you can find their equivalent in Europe. Google is a good place to start

Hotco manufactures a wide array of industrial strength heating elements for both Australian and international markets. The most common type of element are tubular heating elements which are among the most versitile heaters offering a wide range of ratings, sheath materials and forms.

http://www.hotco.com.au/

[John Cornelisse]

A quick search on google revealed a few more addresses in Europe too.

there were a few in France for sure: I got an email from Philipp Rehage too. He had not been aware of this very site. We amateurs might be a big help for all those proffessionals.

I leave some addresses here. That Watlow firm could be a big help whenever we are throug our spares. They sell controls too.

..........................

https://www.watlow.com/contactus/salesloc_intl.cfm?region=4

Watlow France
Tour D'Asnieres
4, Avenue Laurent Cely
92600 Asnieres sur Seine
FRANCE
Phone:  +33 (0) 1 41 32 79 70
Fax:  +33 (0) 1 47 33 36 57
Web:  www.watlow.fr
E-Mail: 

OMICRON
Zone des Ruires
2, rue Henri Papin
38320 EYBENS
FRANCE
Phone:  +33 (0) 476 99 22 60
Fax:  +33 (0) 476 99 22 66
Web:  www.omicron-technologies.com
E-Mail: 
FRANCE

CVH TECHNOLOGIES
CHEZ: ETS AL CLARET
18 RUE DE VERCRUYSSE ZI VAL DARGENT
95100 - ARGENTEUIL
FRANCE
Phone:  +33 1 39 47 77 70
Web:  http://www.cvh-technologies.com
E-Mail: