Something Old / different

[colchester]

New one for me... I found a couple of these the other day They are stereotype plates for a old press. The half cylinder was used to print before the use of aluminum plates. These weigh in at #40 The ingots are a tad over #50
I cant imagine have to hump these into position, pull the old ones and hang the new ones. These guys probably looked like Popeye. I got a couple ingots as well, I have never run across ingots like these Thought I would post so others could get a look

[smithnframe]

Very nice!

[Mitch]

And i thought for sure there was a write up about me.LOL feelijg that way today

I have seen plate posted once before I would imagin most have been melted in the last 40 years.Love the big Imperial ingots i have 2 of the small Imperial plus ingots.

I have allways belived that one day I would find the mother load of tin or typ metal.Now days I am not to sure that will ever happen.Use have 3 scrap yards that would sell to me now 2 of the 3 have closed.

A great find yo got there bet you will get then where you want then quick or lookin like Popeye moveing them all the time.

[facetious]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-Linotype-Only

Here is a link to a post you may like my post is #18

[colchester]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-Linotype-Only

Here is a link to a post you may like my post is #18

I read that post. The plate I have in the picture is similar but does not have the highly embossed image rather it was likely for a picture . I worked in printing for 20 years up until 1999, sheetfed and HS web, no direct hot metal experience. For the past 20 plus years in the course of my job I have been in hundreds of printing plants across the country. I have had the pleasure to meet some of the old timers and discuss at length with them the old printing methods. I have seen all kinds of letterpresses, ludlow machines, linotype machines. slug casters ect. I have a pretty good understanding of how the letterpress stuff worked but hot metal in the newspaper business was quite different. I have never seen any newspaper machines that used hot metal and never had the opportunity to talk to anybody that was around back then. I have seen modern newspaper presses and if I translate the process to change plates with 40# lead units I have to say I would have struggled with that even in my prime. The process the used to make these plates was pretty involved its amazing to think that some big city papers printed two editions a day.

[facetious]

There is a good chance that the plate you have is different . Different press's had different kinds of lockups and could also be for different diameter cylinders. Looking at the one you have I'm going to say it is a black plate, the halftone and text would have been in black, the borders on the other half look like borders for a color adds. If you care it is for a tabloid paper.

I started doing this stuff in the mid 70s after high school. Took some class's at a county trade school and learned to do the darkroom stuff and small sheet feed. Worked a lot of small job shops and even silk screened for a year on a self feed silk screen press. In 1979 I got a apprenticeship in a newspaper pressroom. The first press thy let you neer was a HOE Colormatic letterpress. That is the press the plate I have come from. They had four letter press and two offset. The offsets were GOSS Metro's. Later we we got five GOSS Colorliners then about fifteen year ago they pulled them out and put in five Manroland GeoMan press's .

If you are going to melt it just throw it on the concrete floor thy will brake in half, that is what was called killing the plate so it couldn't get mixed up with good plates.

Even if you don't shoot them you have to cast some so you can see what good casting is like. When I started casting in to early 80s this is all I used for my .357. At the time it was free from guys I worked with that had some at home and wanted to get rid of it. You got to remember type metals were highly engineered metals made to cast perfectly.

[lightman]

Thats a very interesting piece. Type metals and letters are getting more and more scarce all of the time.