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PFSard

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

Definitely a thing of beauty. Where did you happen to encounter it?
 
J

JeffDM

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

They look like a cabinet for storing movable type print press blocks.
 
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leftyz

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

I found something similar in the basement, turns out it was my sisters, it was an old typesetter's cabinet, used to hold all the different print letters and graphics.

I made sure she got the drawers back but the cabinet was trashed.
 
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Ryan

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

Yeah. I'd bet anything that this unit served the same purpose. Would be a perfect wiring station.

I found it at an arched turbo salvage place online.
 
R

rexer

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

JeffDM said:
They look like a cabinet for storing movable type print press blocks.
Click to expand...

My father was a offset printer for over 40 yrs and that looks like a old type setting cabinet.

Very Cool..
 
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rick carpenter

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

Looks like a Caps & Small Caps type case, but I cannot find an image of this one online giving the name of it. Most common kind is the California Job Case, which I memorized in 30 minutes working for my grandfather in his shop in '75.
 
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A_Pmech

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

I have been looking for a couple of type cases for storing machining consumables for years. Everybody who has one is either loathe to sell it or wants too much. I did help a printer in Florida buy 24 cases of type for her shop out of an old print shop / newspaper. Unfortunately, they didn't have any empty cases.

Maybe one day I'll build a few... They're just classy!
 
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nicksnothereman

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

Ryan said:
small.jpg


Not mine, but boy do I wish it was... I was told this small parts organizer is from the early 1900's, but there is no way to be certain. All I can really say is that it's g...
To read the rest of this blog entry from The Garage Journal, click here.
Click to expand...

Beautiful.:bowdown:
 
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Banjorear

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

I love it. Really like the book stand part between the top and bottom. Well thought out design
 
K

Kevin54

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

That's exactly what it is, a Typesetters cabinet. Normally you can find the drawers but not the complete cabinet. A lot of people buy the drawers, hang them on the wall, then put miniature collections in them.

That one on Ebay is in beautiful shape. I wouldn't mind having that myself.
 
S

Stephenw

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

A couple pictures I took, including the printing press...

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rick carpenter

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

I can’t find the same exact case in Ryan’s pic online, but it looks very similar to woody610nb’s ebay pic as well as some of alembicpress.co.uk’s Dutch examples on their website. There are some differences though. My Grandfather had some Caps & Small Caps cases in his shop, I never messed with them but ryans’ pic was similar to them if I can recall 39 years ago. Grampa’s shop was filled with California Job Case cabinets like bl00’s and stephenw's pics.

And banjorear, the “bookcase part” was used by the compositor in his compositing work, placing metal type into composing sticks after pulling the case(s) out. A compositor had to learn how to read type upside down and backwards. And Lord have mercy on your soul if you ever dropped a case and spilled all the type, that was called pied type. Even if you went on to become someone who hires Matt Damon as your yardboy's assistant you were still known as the one who pied that type way back when!

Any images of metal or wood type you see where you can read them normally have been flipped in photoshop or the negative was flipped and printed.
 
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RCStocker

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

Having dealt with antiques for the past 50 years I am here to say I think you are all wrong about the age of the cabinet. If it were 100 yeas old the oak would have a much deeper tone to it and it would look richer. The grain of the wood tells me it is newer growth. Also the drawers are not oxidized. Any wood that old without a finish on it would have a lot of oxidization. When you can take your nail and scrape it across the surface and have a lighter area where you scratched the wood you know it is 100 years old or more. It takes a long time.

Then you need to consider the style. 100 years a go the cabinets were all wood. The case would have been wood. I have sold a dozen or so cabinets form printers through the years. The gray color is a shade after WWII. The casters on the bottom are very modern. The stain color in of the wood tells me it is mid 20th century and so does the style and design.

This does not take away from the fact that it is a nice cabinet.

What makes me think it is not a printers cabinet there is no ink in the drawer. It is not stained. Second it has a desk like it is to be moved around. One could not use the slanted top desk to lay out the letters. You would always be side stepping the drawer.

I know I would not have any use for it.
 
R

rick carpenter

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

RCStocker, I didn't see anywhere where it was claimed this was 100 years old. The metal carcass of the cabinet may well place it mid-20th century. As far as ink stains go, a printer cleaned the type before putting it away. I did in Grampa's shop and at the shop I worked at for 30 years, although after years of working in an environment of ink and solvent, cases did get stained… see Stephenw's pics. Grampa's cases and those at my former work were the motley colors of Stephenw's but I have seen plenty of working cases not stained (like in Ryan’s pic, Woody610nb’s pics, and the cleaner ones in Stephenw’s pics). You didn't work at the cabinet with the cases like how Ryan's pic shows, you worked out of the cases after they were lifted out and placed on the slanted top of the cabinet. Print shop cabinets didn't need to be movable, so the casters must have been added by someone who was trying to repurpose it or didn't know any better.

BTW, thanks for the good pics Stephenw!
 
A

Adam McLaughlin

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

RCStocker said:
Having dealt with antiques for the past 50 years I am here to say I think you are all wrong about the age of the cabinet. If it were 100 yeas old the oak would have a much deeper tone to it and it would look richer. The grain of the wood tells me it is newer growth. Also the drawers are not oxidized. Any wood that old without a finish on it would have a lot of oxidization. When you can take your nail and scrape it across the surface and have a lighter area where you scratched the wood you know it is 100 years old or more. It takes a long time.

Then you need to consider the style. 100 years a go the cabinets were all wood. The case would have been wood. I have sold a dozen or so cabinets form printers through the years. The gray color is a shade after WWII. The casters on the bottom are very modern. The stain color in of the wood tells me it is mid 20th century and so does the style and design.

This does not take away from the fact that it is a nice cabinet.

What makes me think it is not a printers cabinet there is no ink in the drawer. It is not stained. Second it has a desk like it is to be moved around. One could not use the slanted top desk to lay out the letters. You would always be side stepping the drawer.

I know I would not have any use for it.
Click to expand...

RCStocker... I would love to hang out with you for a few and learn some of your knowledge in regards to furniture and construction methods.
Very well written BTW!

Adam
 
B

-Brent-

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

RCStocker said:
The casters on the bottom are very modern.
Click to expand...

I'd bet a buck that's a stationary unit that was placed on a platform with casters. It does look like a post-war unit, I agree.

It may be a watchmaker's stock cabinet.
 
T

tcianci

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

It's for sure a type cabinet and as mentioned the layout of the movable type in each drawer and the size of the individual compartments are indeed the California Job Case. Although I never printed professionally, I did my time in front of that very style of cabinet setting movable type when I was a kid in school. To the younger guys here on the forum, the training was called "Graphic Arts" and it was part of nearly every guy's education back in the 60's. It was more than just an education, all the school systems' publications and forms were printed by us kids back then.
 
I

ihrescue

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Olney, MD
Re: Small Parts & Supplies

RCStocker said:
Having dealt with antiques for the past 50 years I am here to say I think you are all wrong about the age of the cabinet.
Click to expand...

I would agree with this statement. In fact that typesetter's cabinet looks pretty modern, say post 1950s. Looking at that I am wondering if the casters weren't added later.

That reminds me of when I first was exposed to those cabinets and that was Junior High School industrial arts class. I think that was the beauty of that program because a kid did get exposed to all levels of industrial processes.

Many may recall that those type drawers got caught up in the shadow box craze in the 1980s. Many were cut in half so they could sell two. After that craze died down people probably just threw them away. This complete setup of type font drawers and the cabinet is a great collectors piece, now all you need is a Heidelberg motorized letter press. Nice piece.
 
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Roverbo

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

ihrescue said:
I would agree with this statement. In fact that typesetter's cabinet looks pretty modern, say post 1950s. Looking at that I am wondering if the casters weren't added later.

That reminds me of when I first was exposed to those cabinets and that was Junior High School industrial arts class. I think that was the beauty of that program because a kid did get exposed to all levels of industrial processes.

Many may recall that those type drawers got caught up in the shadow box craze in the 1980s. Many were cut in half so they could sell two. After that craze died down people probably just threw them away. This complete setup of type font drawers and the cabinet is a great collectors piece, now all you need is a Heidelberg motorized letter press. Nice piece.
Click to expand...

:) Yep, the shadow box craze in the 80´s... Many of the boxes sold then were not "the real letterset boxes" but cheap stuff from Asia (at least here in Denmark). Letterset was in use longer than most people think, i worked at a graphic arts company, and one of my colleagues was schooled as a "hand typesetter" as late as the 70´s. :shocking: Before she got her first job, she was re-trained as a photo-typesetter. But that´s all history now. But the expressions "upper case"/"lower case" remains.
 
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Richard Cranium

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

I just today stopped at a 2nd hand store and they have a 12 drawer unit (with type still in it) for 400.00, Wow you were right quite the price they want for these...
 
B

-Brent-

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

I love weird shaped stuff, like that one, 94. What kind of place is it coming out of?
 
C

colt zantop

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

Richard Cranium said:
I just today stopped at a 2nd hand store and they have a 12 drawer unit (with type still in it) for 400.00, Wow you were right quite the price they want for these...
Click to expand...



Thats actually a good buy. The drawers themselves go for 35 to 40 each by themselves.

I picked up 44 of these last summer,all with an inspection date on the back of 1922. :) still have 15 that I plan on building a custom box for.

 
C

colterkittrick

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Re: Small Parts & Supplies

JeffDM said:
They look like a cabinet for storing movable type print press blocks.[/

That`s exactly what it is and we run across them 2,3,4 times a year at garage sales, estate sales, 2nd hand stores etc.. I Shouldn`t think you would have to pay more than $10 or $15 for 1 drawer but my brother says more like $20 to $30 a drawer, he`s the professional .
Click to expand...
 
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