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[REV 25-NOV-2014]
Vintage photos of:
Detroit circa 1901. "Press room, Richmond & Backus Co." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Print shop I worked in had an old Babcock press like those and the few times a year it was used I got to help the old guy who ran it.
I am always interested in the closeup photos showing the overhead power distribution with belts, pulleys, etc. My uncle Samuel Josiah Gaskill had the first Gas Station and Machine Shop in Barnegat, NJ in the early 1900s, for about 50 years. He had a few machines that were powered by this system and I remember being interested in the operation and success of such a system.
I noticed that the men all seem to have their hair in the same style; parted in the middle and pressed down tight. I wonder if that came from getting their heads too far into the printing presses.
What's that guy doing sitting down on the job? GET UP AND GET TO WORK! And you in the back, taking a nap standing up? Really?
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