Recently the writer entered the printing department of a Philadelphia paper box manufacturing concern, and there were seen three Chandler & Price presses, equipped with Miller automatic feeders, running on large orders of box wrappers. One press was engaged in putting on the final color of a four-color design for a box wrapper; the second machine was running on a form printed in gold ink, and the third press was operating on a plain, black-ink job.
Chandler & Price Press equipped with Miller Feeder. The picture
shows the feeder in operating position.
Two of these Chandler & Price presses were of the 12 × 18 size, and the other machine was of the 10 × 15 size. The three Miller feeders were working at high speed, feeding the blank sheets in the presses with no difficulty whatever. One pressman, assisted by a boy, was keeping these three platen presses continually busy on long runs of the wrappers. His principal work was in taking away the finished work, and in putting up new piles of stock to be printed.
Under the old system of feeding platen presses, it would have required one pressman and three young men, or young women, to keep these three presses in continual operation, but with the Miller feeders, the same amount of work, (or even a larger output of work) was being done by one pressman and one assistant.
Miller Feeders are now being made in three different sizes—8 × 12, 10 × 15, and 12 × 18—by the Miller Saw-Trimmer Co., of Pittsburgh, Pa. At the present time they are made only for Chandler & Price presses of the three sizes mentioned. These automatic feeders will handle all weights of stock, from onion skin paper to heavy cardboard, and they will feed the sheets to close register for color printing.
It should be understood that the Miller Saw-Trimmer Co. will supply the Miller Feeders separately, so that the buyer may have the feeders applied to C. & P. presses, or the company will furnish complete “units,” consisting of the C. & P. press, Miller feeder, ink fountain, counter, speed pulley, motor, etc.
There is another automatic platen press feeder, called the “Humana,” manufactured by The Humana Co., of Newark, N. J.