Bob Presses On

Robert Keith Davis was at WBTS during 1951‑1955 and fell in love with printing. Bob's patience has paid off as he has just completed a 1/12 scale model of a 6'6" tall 1760 Common Wooden Press. Every piece (618) in all of the fully working model have been made by Bob, including some of the tools needed to make some of the tiny intricate parts. He even made the paper on which the first test print was made.

The project took 1,500 hours and is believed to be the smallest working, printing press in the country ‑ the model winning a bronze medal at the International Model Engineering Exhibition at Olympia. The model is on permanent display at the Beacon Press where Bob works. The project was commissioned by his boss who is a print history enthusiast.

Reproduced from The Barnardo Guild Messenger
Summer 1993 front cover