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Press ModelsThe earliest advertisements for Liberty presses list three models: 2, 3, and 4. By 1886, two additional sizes (2A and 3A) had been added. An 1889 ad listed model number 5.Model numbers 3X and 4X are the same size as 3 and 4, but are built for extra heavy work such as printing boxes. The sizes are the inside dimensions of the standard chase. |
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One of the oldest surviving Liberty presses lists only the inventor, Frederick Otto Degener.
Degener took on a partner, F. M. Weiler, and manufactured the press under the name Degener & Weiler in New York City.
Degener died in 1873, and in 1877 Weiler bought the business and ran it under the name "F. M. Weiler's Liberty Machine Works."
Weiler opened a Berlin office to sell presses in 1881, but it is not clear whether they started manufacturing there until about 1890.
Around May 1886 the business name changed to "Liberty Machine Works".
In 1886, a throw-off mechanism for the Liberty was patented.
Manufacturing in New York was discontinued in 1890, but continued in Berlin for more than 20 years longer.
Scans of the three patents related to the Liberty platen press are available on-line.
The earliest Liberty presses show only the April 24, 1860, patent, and it appears on the counterweight below the ink disk. One of these presses is found in Darmstadt, Germany.
Liberty presses manufactured from the mid-1870s list all three patents and the extension of the original patent in a shield surrounding the serial number on the crank shaft. The dates are:
I have read that patents were often not listed after they expired, in order to make it harder for copycats to look them up. When you see a patent date on a piece of machinery, you know it was manufactured after the patent date and probably not long after the expiration date. By this logic, Liberty presses listing all three patents and the extension should have been manufactured between 1874 (the latest date) and 1881 (7 years after the extension). However, there are some Liberty presses with a throw-off, patented in 1886, that also list all the older patents. The manufacturer either continued to list expired patents after 1881, or started including the throw-off before it was patented in 1886.
On the earliest Liberty presses, only the serial number is present. Later, it was surrounded by a shield with the word "LIBERTY" at the top. The cities of manufacture are inside or beside the shield. New York & London appear on some early presses, later replaced by just New York. New York and Berlin appear on the newest presses.
Here are images from the Liberty presses in Darmstadt, Doswell, San Jose, Brussels, and Belgium:
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The earliest Liberty presses did not have a throw-off, but it was a featured as an option on the "improved" Liberty in 1886. Note: the First Congregational Church press, is the earliest known example of a Liberty that has a throw-off.
The lever is centered on a shaft immediately behind the platen. When in the upper position, the press makes an impression, but pulling the lever down into the lower position keeps the press from printing.
Liberty presses without a throw-off lever usually have a delivery board that fits closely behind the platen when the press is open. In order to make room for the lever, the delivery board on a Liberty press with a throw-off had to change. On early presses, the segment behind the platen was removed. Later (perhaps by the late 1880s), the delivery board is not rectangular but has a roundish cutout on the side toward the press.
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The Liberty at History San Jose (left) does not have a throw-off, while the throw-off lever can be seen on a press in Boston (center) and Herwig Kempenaers' Liberty (right).
Main Liberty press page.
Page created by
Dave Tribby
Last modified September 28, 2009