Galley Proof and Hand Cylinder Presses

A proof is a trial print made in order to check the composition of type while it is in the galley, and before it is sent to press. Until the 1840s, an old press might be set aside as a proof press or—more often—a proof was made by placing a sheet of paper over the type and pressing the back of it with a wooden block or proof planer. Sometimes the type was damaged in the process. A great improvement over the system of planing was the simple galley proof press, or roller proof press, introduced by the Hoe Company in 1844. It consisted of a heavy iron cylinder guided by rails to roll at type height across a bed of type. The press was devised by Stephen Tucker, a Hoe employee, who had watched a Boston printer make proofs by placing two type-high iron bars on each side of the inked type, covering the type with paper, and running a clean roller over it all.

The Hoe proof press was so successful that dozens of different models were made by the Hoe Company and their competitors. By the end of the century, various motorized and automatic forms were available.

The hand cylinder press had a different origin, but nearly the same form as the galley proofer. It was the simplified and hand-powered version of the flatbed cylinder machine and was known in several models from the mid-nineteenth century.