The Press Floor 100 Years Ago

The press floor 100 years ago. In the early 20th century, this is what banknote production looked like.

Pressmen worked elbow to elbow on manually-operated flatbed presses. These were called "spider" presses in the US because of the handles that radiated out from the center.

It's hard to capture the sounds, smells, and heat of working in such a room. Plates are being inked, wiped, and moved. Numerous presses are being cranked as quickly as possible. Everyone is sweating, and the smell of ink, machine oil, and turpentine is everywhere.

And, there is no air conditioning. Each printer has a small gas stove warming the plates and the ink so that the ink is more viscous and can be rubbed into the grooves on the plate.

Pressmen and their assistants worked full out all day long to print around 400 sheets. Not exactly the good old days.