Damaged Miehle Press

Broken press

TONY PRESTON sent in this photograph of a press, which he thinks was a Miehle, taken at the Government Printing Office, Perth, Western Australia in 1980.

Says Tony, “The damage is down to the machine minder leaving his quoin key on the bed of the machine, then pressing the start button.” Read the Full Article . . .

Solar Powered Printing Press

Solar Powered Press
Printing press driven by the heat rays of the sun.

Many thanks to Terry Foster for sending in this picture and article he found in a book called “Victorian Inventions.”

Recently, on 6th August 1882, Monsieur Abel Pifre, a French Engineer, demonstrated the solar engine invented by him at a meeting of the Union Francaise de la Jeunesse held at the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris. Read the Full Article . . .

Welcome to Metal Type

METAL TYPE is the place for printers, typesetters and newspaper workers, who fondly remember those letterpress days, to come and reminisce.

The site originally concentrated on the ingenious Linotype mechanical typesetting machine invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler in 1884. Read the Full Article . . .