Elrod Strip Caster - video

[Dave Hughes]

Now here's something very rarely seen, an Elrod strip caster in operation.

Many thanks to Dave Seat (Hot Metal Services) for posting this on Facebook.

The last time I saw one of these running must have been 1980 at the Yorkshire Evening Press.

The job of running the Elrod usually went to one of the "favoured" compositors, as once you had set things up properly it was a pretty easy job!

[David Page]

It was a real pleasure to see an Elrod in operation! I must have been "the favoured compositor apprentice" as I operated the Elrod at the Kentish Gazette in Canterbury every Saturday morning - excellent means of getting overtime monies in those days!

Once the Gazette's Elrod started (always temperamental - especially when creating 1 1/2pt lead) you could sit back and just feed it with ingots! Very clever machine.