Offset press: Harris model S4L

This single color sheet-fed rotary offset press, series S4L no. 101, was built by Charles and Alfred Harris, and sold to the Republic Bank Note Company of Pittsburgh in July 1906. Its cylinder measures 34 inches in diameter.

The Harris Automatic Press Company, of Dayton, Ohio was the maker of several successful fast, automatic rotary presses, both letterpress and lithographic. Their first offset press, a development of their type press S4, was among several offset presses produced in quick response to Ira Rubel’s press of 1903, described separately. Serial no. 101 was the first production model of the new line.

The Harris S4L was sold for $4,000, and printed about 3,000 22 x 30 inch sheets per hour. Harris presses were soon the most popular offset presses in the United States.

Donated by The Harris Intertype Corp., 1966.

Citations: “With a Chip on my Shoulder,” an unpublished talk by H. A. Porter given to the Detroit Litho Club, 14 December 1950; Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.