The Little Wonder - Harris E1 Press Restoration

[Dave Hughes]

A beautiful video about the restoration of a long-forgotten press that was so far ahead of its time that printers refused to believe the claims of its manufacturer.

At a time when printers were feeding 25 sheets per minute, the Harris automatically-fed press was able to print 250 per minute, 15,000 per hour.

It was held back a little by the fact that it printed from a stereo, or copper electro. Small jobbing printers in the early 1900s did not have the facilities to make them.

The "wobble gear" has got to be seen to be believed!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1hbwt9OqLk

The press in the video was restored by the Howard Iron Works Museum, here's what they've got to say about it:

"The Little Wonder - Harris E1 Press - The Little Press That Really Could

It all began in Niles, Ohio, in the early 1890s, when two brothers, Alfred and Charles G. Harris, jewelers, started working on a feeding device for a printing press to help out a neighbouring business, the Niles Independent newspaper. Having been bitten by the "inventing" bug, the brothers came back from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, with a mission and determination to not only construct the feeder but also design a brand-new FAST printing press. In December 1895, the Harris Automatic Press Company was incorporated, and by Spring 1896, a group of men watched as Charles threw the drive belt onto a pulley. The damn thing worked! 

And, the rest is history . . . .

Read the full article about The Little Wonder here:

The "Little Wonder": How the two Harris brothers rocked the printing world

[Keri Szafir]

A true thing of beauty and a joy for ever!