Heidelberg Printing Machines

The main­stay of UK let­ter­press job­bing work from the 1950s

The Heidel­berg Platen press became the main­stay of UK job­bing let­ter­press print­ing and many machines see ser­vice today work­ing on jobs that litho or digit­al machines simply can­not do: odd shapes of stock; num­ber­ing; creas­ing and per­for­at­ing, for example.

It’s usu­ally the Heidel­berg Platen presses that are work­ing in the UK, but Heidel­berg also pro­duced very high qual­ity cyl­in­der machines.

The firm was estab­lished in 1850 tak­ing the name Heidel­berg in 1905.  While pro­duc­tion ceased dur­ing World War II, by 1957 pub­li­city said machines were made at “…the most mod­ern plant oper­a­tion in the print­ing machinery industry through­out the world.” In 1962 the firm made it’s first litho machines.  By 1958 the firm claimed 58,000 machines had been made.

The machine guide includes sec­tions on full col­our print­ing — pre­ci­sion of Heidel­berg machine is legendary provided they have been looked after.

[you­tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW66IfpJaWI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999]