Gordon Franklin jobber
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Object Details
- Gordon, George P.
- Description (Brief)
- This old-style platen jobber was made by George P. Gordon, of New York, in about 1863. It was painted green. Its chase measures 6 inches by 10 inches.
- The Gordon Franklin was the single most famous and influential jobbing press of the nineteenth century.
- George Phineas Gordon (1810-1878) was a printer who started building and patenting presses for job printers beginning in 1850. The most celebrated of his many presses was the Franklin, so called because Gordon, a spiritualist, said that Ben Franklin had described it to him in a dream. By 1858 this press was essentially in its final form, but over the next decades Gordon continued to modify and re-patent it. Upon the expiration of his patents, other manufacturers moved in with their own versions of the press.
- This early example of a Gordon Franklin has neither impression throw-off mechanism nor a gate to lock the platen into position at the point of impression, two features used in Gordon’s later presses.
- The press was lent to the Museum in 1968 under the catalog number 22318.
- Donated by Neal Bezoenik, 1994.
- Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- circa 1858
- ca 1863
- circa 1863
- ID Number
- 1994.0380.01
- catalog number
- 1994.0380.01
- accession number
- 1994.0380
- Object Name
- Printing Press, Platen
- press, printing
- Physical Description
- cast iron (overall material)
- steel (overall material)
- wood (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 43 in x 34 1/2 in x 36 in; 109.22 cm x 87.63 cm x 91.44 cm
- place made
- United States: New York, New York
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Graphic Arts
- Communications
- Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_1030657
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a8-ce70-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
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