This press, a product of the Rejafix Company of London, has an aluminum body and, in place of an ink plate, an ink drum (also aluminum) with two rubber rollers. The tympan sits on a plate on two tracks in the base, travelling underneath the chase as the handle is brought down to print. It then slides towards the operator as the handle is raised, easing the removal of the printed material. Strictly speaking, it may fall outside the category of letterpress, as it was used to print on three-dimensional objects (such as small bottles) using right-reading types. The Rejafix is considered by some a precursor of the “pad printers,” used in the electronics industry for part marking. Why build a machine to print directly on a bottle when there were already fine presses for printing labels? This is somewhat of a mystery, though it is rumored that early adhesive labels were prone to peeling off metal and glass, and therefore unreliable.

Contributors

Briar Press, Core contributor