Ramage foolscap press
date: label: Date made
content: circa 1840
label: date made
content: ca 1840
name: label: maker
content: Ramage, Adam
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This table-top wooden press was made by Adam Ramage of Philadelphia in about 1840. Its tympan is missing and frisket includes a modern table. The press is stamped on the original brass label: “A RAMAGE / PATENT / NO 189.” Its height (without table) measures 38 inches, its width, at cheeks, 20.5 inches, and its length 37 inches. The platen measures 12.5 inches by 16.5 inches.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Adam Ramage built wooden presses in three sizes: a full-size common press, an intermediate free-standing press which he called his “screw press,” and the smallest, the “foolscap,” named for the size of sheet (13.5 x 8.5 inches) that it would print. Foolscap presses, sturdier than the screw presses, were sold in good numbers for about $65. After Ramage’s death in 1850, foolscap presses were made for some years by his successor, Frederick Bronstrup.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Donated by Skip Barnhart, 1986.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Graphic Arts
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content: Communications
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content: Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1986.0890.01
label: accession number
content: 1986.0890
label: catalog number
content: 1986.0890.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Press, Printing
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 38 in x 20 1/2 in x 37 in; 96.52 cm x 52.07 cm x 93.98 cm