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EXCELSIOR PRESS HOME
 The Pilot Press, designed & manufactured by Chandler & Price and later produced by both Craftsmen Machinery Company of Boston and American Printing Equipment of New York, is one of the most sought-after presses in the world today. Weighing in at a mere 160 pounds, it is relatively portable and can fit into most home letterpress studios. And, since it was designed as a scaled-down version of the venerable Chandler & Price commercial free-standing platen presses, it embodies many of the same features which lead the company to claim that their presses were "strong, reliable, simple" - and had proved themselves, beginning in 1887 to be the most profilic, and utltimately the last remaining manufacturer of hand-fed commercial platen presses. The Pilot was designed and sold as a press for small job short-run printing in commercial shops as well as for teaching letterpress printing in high school or industrial trade school print shop classes. On it, the student could learn all they would need to know about set up and make ready of a hand-fed platen press, and could do it with a machine that was less expensive, safer and could fit into a classroom. These characteristics serve the letter press community of today. This press has a 6 1/2 x 10" inside chase dimension and can print on a sheet up to 12" wide. The Kelsey Ccompany - the last of the hobbyist press makers, continued on for twenty years after C&P made their last press in 1964, but they, too closed shop twenty years later. Any conversation about the Pilot's place in today's letterpress community, must acknowledge another sought-after press - the Vandercook Flatbed Cylinder 'proofing' press.  Excerpt from essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson, set in 18 point Nicholas Cochin Roman. This printed very nicely on the Pilot.  This feedboard attachment swings out to the right and can be swung back to fit snugly on top of the delivery board when not in use. See how we crate a Pilot for safe shipping See some parts being made for the Pilot See a comparison of the Old Style and New Series Pilots See close-up detail of the Pilot Gripper Arm Assembly. See New Page on the Pilot Feed Board |
