The Secunderabad club is probably the only club in the world that owns and operates its antique printing press and associated machines.

Our press was manufactured in 1885 in the USA. We still use these relics from a bygone era to print our daily menus as well as other stationery for the administration of the club. This proud tradition reaches back over a hundred years!

Founded probably at the turn of the Century, it was run manually where each page was composed of “Typeface” made out of lead and printed on a machine with a small sprinkling of water on the paper! This was done to ensure that the paper does not tear. The “Bed” moves out when a Wheel is turned attached to a belt. After placing the paper on the Type Face it is wheeled back into position. Then a huge metal plate attached to a wooden handle which acts as a “Weight” is pulled to ensure that the “Weight” comes down with force to leave an impression on

the paper – Presto !… there’s your printed paper.

It is interesting to note that though we were a British-run Club, with much equipment from England, at some point in time we seem to have added a printing machine from the USA !! This was manufactured on the 26th of May 1885 – it’s that precise

This machine was manufactured by Chandler & Price, which was founded in 1881 in Cleveland, Ohio by Harrison T Chandler and William H Price. They were manufacturers of hand-fed platen jobbing presses, which were probably motorized later. The Company ceased production of Presses in 1964.

This machine was exchanged by the Club by giving away an existing Press for this one. This is from the city of Amritsar, Punjab. This also is hand-fed, and runs on a one HP, single-phase motor wondering what this machine is? It’s a Ruling Machine. It is what you see in school notebooks. The threads you see are adjusted to decide if it’s a single-ruled or double-ruled book. This little gem is a Perforation Machine which is foot operated. This is a standard Binding Machine – which requires strength to bind the books.

It is a pleasure to see Wooden and Lead Typefaces reproduced above which are more than 100 years old! Probably used to print advertisement posters or calendars.

Lastly, all the above machines are still actively in use to print our daily menus twice a day and other stationery for the administration of the Club. We should rejoice and take great

pride that we probably are the only Club in the WORLD, still having and using our own Printing Press. All of us should endeavour to continue this great tradition of our Club and continue to support them.