Last week, we shared the daunting move of this 1,800 pound press (more pix of the move here.) But in case you’re wondering just what is a Gally Universal Press? And why does it look like a Colt’s Armory Press? A bit of history.
Merritt Gally started working for a printer at age 11. And despite starting a career as a minister, he was at heart an inventor. When his voice failed after only three years in the pulpit, he turned his attention back to printing. He patented the Gally Press in 1869, but it was just one of 400-500 patents he received!
According to Fred Williams (Type and Press, 1983), “prior to the invention of Gally's press, most job presses were made with either hinged platens (clam -shells) or beds hinged at the ends of long supporting legs (Gordons) so that when the bed met the platen, the two may not have been exactly parallel.” The Gally, known as a parallel-impression press, gave a finer quality print and had better inking due to using rollers supplied by a fountain instead of a disk. Here are the Depot’s versions of a C&P clamshell, a Gordon Franklin brass sidearm press and our “new” Gally Universal.
Gally did not manufacture his own presses, so farmed that work to other companies. One of those was Colt’s—yes, the maker of the iconic firearm. The division there was run by inventor John Thomson who reportedly hated Gally for decades, and once the patents had expired, put out the press and called it the Colt’s Armory Press and later, after starting his own company, the Colt’s Armory Universal. As for Gally, he pursued new patents and a new manufacturer and sued Thomson. Gally lost and both men went on selling their versions of the press. Gally sold all his interests in the design to the National Company in 1915 and died a year later. Thomson’s company and National merged in 1923. The press, like many other hand-fed presses, lost favor with printers when the automatic cylinder came into vogue. But of course, both the Gally and the Colt’s Armory (loaned by Doug Sorenson) still are celebrated and being repaired at the Depot.
Join us at Cushing Park Neighborhood Nights July 19, 4-8pm to see a smaller press in action!
As seen at Romans Park earlier in July
For more info on Gally and the competing presses, check out my sources: From PrintAction, from Perennial Designs and from the APA reprint of Fred Williams “The Great Colt Armory’s War!”.
