Historic press rolls at Old Threshers Reunion

By STEPH TAHTINEN

Mt. Pleasant News

At one time there were thousands of Miehle Model 00 printing presses across the country. Only one remains in original operating condition, and it resides at Printers? Hall at McMillan Park.

Visitors to Printers? Hall during the 2012 Old Threshers reunion got a chance to see the 1907 printing press in action as it printed a section of the hall?s paper, The Threshers Bee, on Saturday afternoon. Printers? Hall volunteer Steve Alt gave a presentation on the hall?s new press and a chance for the audience to ask questions about the large machine.

The nearly 30,000 pound press was delivered to Printers? Hall in August 2011. Through a volunteer effort, the press underwent a year-long restoration process. According to Alt, volunteers spent days adjusting the timing on the gears on the press as well as installing new ink rollers.

The press was first used to print in June when Printers? Hall hosted the Amalgamated Printers? Association?s annual ?Wayzgoose? Convention and made its Old Threshers debut a few months later.

The press prints at a rate of 900 sheets per hour and can print on paper up to 55 inches wide by 38 inches long. However, it only prints on one side of the paper at a time.

Manufactured in 1907, the Miehle Model 00 was first installed in Washington D.C. at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, where it printed money, bonds and other documents for the Federal government.

In 1961, it was sold to the Yellow Springs News, a small town newspaper in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where it printed the news until 1991. Alt told the Old Threshers audience on Saturday afternoon that at the Wayzgoose Convention in June, Printers? Hall volunteers had a chance to talk with some visitors who were familiar with the press that was in Ohio.

In 1991, the Miehle was purchased by John P. Wilcox of Delaware, Ohio, and in 2010, the Wilcox estate donated the press to Printers? Hall.