Printing machine Tiegel

About the sound

Tiegel semi-automatic stop-cylinder press manufactured in the late 19th or early 20th century. Prior to its arrival at the Technical Museum of Slovenia in 2006, it was held by Tiskarna Ljudske Pravice (Ljudska Pravica Print Works), Ljubljana. It was last used for printing in 1987.

It is a free-standing press, powered by hand and foot (by flywheel, wheel & pedal) which was later adapted to be driven by an electric motor. The Museum restored it to its original condition.

The printer starts the press by manually rotating the wheel with a lever and afterwards it is powered by steadily pushing the pedal to the ground. The rollers collect the ink from a rotating drum, evenly distribute it and convey it to the type form. At the point of contact of both vertical surfaces, the imprint is transferred to the paper. After each imprint, the printer manually removes the paper and feeds in a new blank sheet for the next print. At the print works, this was performed by another person, usually a woman with fast nimble fingers, a so-called ‘feeder’.

Sound level: 67 dB

Sound recordist: Boštjan Troha
Photographer: Veronika Štampfl
Video recordist: Dušan Oblak