One of the earliest self-inking presses in the Kelsey Excelsior line. William A. Kelsey began making inexpensive presses for amateurs in 1872, and his Excelsior became the longest-lasting press on the market. For more information on Kelsey presses, see the Excelsior Model P.
Excelsior Model R
Known also as the Kelsey Junior press, this is another in the line of Kelsey Excelsior presses. It was still being made in 1925 as it is shown in a catalog of that date. William A. Kelsey began making inexpensive presses for amateurs in 1872, and his Excelsior became the longest lasting press on the market. For more information, see the Excelsior Model P entry.
William A. Kelsey began making inexpensive presses for amateurs in 1872 as a calculated challenge to the three existing amateur presses: the Novelty, Cottage, and Lowe. Kelsey later made larger presses, but he became famous as the man who made printing presses for amateurs (preferably young, male amateurs, whom Kelsey targeted with extensive advertising in magazines for boys).
James Moran writes, “Kelsey first advertised in 1872 before it was even known whether his newly built press would work. As it failed to do so there was naturally considerable embarrassment.” Kelsey did build an operational press; he named it the Excelsior, and it became the longest-lasting press on the market, continuing in production for almost one hundred and twenty years (from about 1873 until 1990) from Meriden, Connecticut, home of the Kelsey Press Company.
The Excelsior evolved from a hand-inking trunnion form (1873; see Excelsior Trunnion), to toggle lever with optional foot lever (1874), to various self-inkers (1875; see related presses). The automatic inking system of the rotating disc was incorporated into the design in 1875 and did not change over the course of numerous stylistic alterations to the body of the press. Another long-lasting feature of the early press was a chase with a closed bottom in the form of a tray to spare the amateur the frustrations of pied type. The hand-inkers were discontinued around 1893; the self-inkers took on a leaner look and a modified toggle in the 20th century. The company made some jobbing presses, and also the Star press, with less success.
Kelsey’s success as a maker of presses for amateurs prompted others to imitate his line of small presses. Roughly twenty-five establishments in the United States were producing amateur presses between the years 1880 and 1910, but their numbers declined as Kelsey absorbed his competition. He bought out, among others, the businesses of B.O. Woods (maker of the Novelty), Joseph Watson (Young America), J. Cook and Company, and Curtis and Mitchell (Caxton). The Model P was one of the more popular and modern of the many Excelsior models.
Some Kelsey presses of later manufacture can be dated by means of a serial number, located at the top of the chase bed.
This serial code can be broken down into sections; for example:
There have been reports of occasional transposing of letters and numbers, such as the above being something like: 5B1G. An old Kelsey employee suggested1 that the reason may have been one too many ‘trips out the back door’!
This may be a Gorham Boy’s Press, but it differs from known presses of that type. The Boy’s press shown in an undated catalog from Gorham and Co., Boston, Massachusetts, shows a similar press but the chase size is 3″ x 4 3/4″. It is similar in style to the Boston press.
In 1851, George Phineas Gordon, a New Yorker, patented the first of his platen jobbers, whose now-familiar design formed the basis of almost every floor-model platen jobber to follow. Gordon’s jobbers soon replaced those designed after the Ruggles Card & Billhead, an early platen jobber and the first with a vertical bed. Gordon’s Franklin, an improved version of his early clamshell jobbers, became the single most famous and influential jobbing press of the nineteenth century. The platen jobber speeded the production of large runs, and by 1894 numerous firms were manufacturing Gordon or Gordon-style jobbers, under such names as Baltimore, Challenge, Clipper, Eclipse, Favorite, Jones, Leader, Minerva, Samson, Star, Thorpe, Universal, and Washington. (See also the Damon & Peets 8×12, Golding Jobber, Pearl Improved, and Perfected Prouty.) The Franklin, so named because Gordon claimed that Ben Franklin had described it to him in a dream, should not be confused with the Franklin common press, an early wood hand press from Franklin’s own shop. The primary features of the Franklin were the vertical or slightly sloping bed; inking from from rollers automatically connected with the motions of the platen; and a rotating ink disc that provided a new surface for the rollers every time they reached it, thus distributing the ink more evenly. Gordon added further improvements to his design in 1872, hinging the platen and bed together, and incorporating a throw-off. In 1901, Chandler & Price bought the old Gordon works and the right to use the name “Gordon,” though they had been building a near-copy of the Gordon Franklin since 1886, the Chandler & Price Oldstyle.
This English common press, made around 1720, may have been used by Benjamin Franklin in John Watts’ shop in London around 1726. The common press, a wooden hand press that uses a large wood screw to create an impression on paper, is based closely on Gutenberg’s press, which was designed three hundred years earlier (see Gutenberg). In 1841, the Franklin press was acquired by John B. Murray, an American, who shipped it to the United States. The press was put up for public lottery, and was shown at the Patent Office, the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, and the Smithsonian’s U.S. National Museum before being sold to the Smithsonian in 1901. The elderly Franklin shows evidence of wear and of numerous small changes and fixes made over the years. Overall, it is remarkably complete. It carries two brass labels: the larger, dated June 1833, describes Franklin’s re-visit to the Watts shop, when he ordered a gallon of porter for the printers and toasted his old press. The second, dated November 1841, records the presentation of the press to John Murray by Harrild & Sons of London. This Franklin is not to be confused with George Gordon’s press of the same name (see Gordon Franklin), a platen jobber made about 140 years later.
Another in the line of Kelsey Excelsior presses. William A. Kelsey began making inexpensive presses for amateurs in 1872, and his Excelsior became the longest-lasting press on the market. For more information, see the Excelsior Model P page.
Another in the line of Kelsey Excelsior presses. William A. Kelsey began making inexpensive presses for amateurs in 1872, and his Excelsior became the longest-lasting press on the market. For more information, see the Excelsior Model P page. This Model C has a patent date of 1928.
Excelsior Model 1
“William A. Kelsey began making inexpensive presses for amateurs in 1872, and his Excelsior became the longest-lasting press on the market. For more information, see the Excelsior Model P page. One of the earliest Kelsey Excelsior presses, the hand-inking Model 1 is shown in the National Type Company Catalog of 1878. It is requires inking by brayer rather than by attached rollers. Kelsey made six sizes of this press:
Model 2 with a 3 1/2 x 5″” chase,
Excelsior 2 1/2 with a 4 1/2×7 1/2″” chase,
Excelsior Model 3 1/2 with a 5 1/2×9 1/2 inch chase,
#4 1/2 with a 7 1/4×3 1/4″” chase,
and #5 with a 10 1/2×15 1/2″” chase. “
William A. Kelsey began making inexpensive presses for amateurs in 1872, and his Excelsior became the longest-lasting press on the market. For more information, see the Excelsior Model P. The 3×5 press shown was patented 1893 and is likely a Model D. (Model letters were not given to the earlier presses, lending a certain chaotic appearance to any list of various Excelsior models.)