The old-time hand press illustrated on our first page, and which was displaced in the parade last Monday by the Norwood Press, has a hallowed history, for over its frame worked the immortal Franklin. The press is in a very good state of preservation and was the first press in the country to have an iron bed and platen. Its history is interesting and from its association with Ben Franklin, it is very much prized as an ancient relic of the art preservative of arts.
The press is well made, and although parts of it have succumbed to the wear and tear of years, it has been put in good order by Welsh, Freeman Co., of Boston, and is now the property of the Norwood Press.
The upright parts of the frame are of solid mahogany, 7×4 inches in size, and the cross-pieces are of the same wood. The lower part, on which the bed runs, is of oak, while all the bolts in the machine are of steel and hand made.
The press was in Lowell about sixty years, and for fifty years was the property of an old printer in that city. It was originally brought from Portsmouth, N. H., by J. P. Norton, who came to Lowell and opened up an office on Central Street, He used the press steadily and turned out good work on it. It was Mr. Norton who changed the bed and platen to iron all previous presses having a bed of stone. The Norwood Press is naturally proud of its ownership of the press and has placed it on permanent exhibition in the lobby of the building.
(The Norwood Advertiser)
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