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Jeremy Norman Collection of Images - Creative CommonsThe schematic drawings in Clymer's 1817 patent for his press include the unusually elaborate ornamentation on the ironwork, confirming that Clymer intended to patent the distinctive ornamentation along with the operational aspects of his press.
A: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
A Columbian press at the International Printing Museum in Carson, California
In 1813 George E. Clymer, mechanic and inventor of Philadelphia, invented the Columbian Press. Inspired to some extent by the Stanhope Press, the Columbian Press was designed to allow a whole newspaper page to be printed in a single pull. The press worked by a lever system, similar to that of the Stanhope press. Because Clymer found a limited market for his press in America, in 1817 he moved to England to compete with the Stanhope Press. In 1817 Clymer received British patent No. 4174 for "Certain Improvements in Printing Presses." His specification described and illustrated the Columbian Press.
Reflecting the slow transition from handpress to mechanized printing in many aspects of the printing trades, Clymer's Columbian Press was manufactured and sold for over a century. Some historians consider it the first great American contribution to printing technology.
