Grade One Braille embossing plates

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Record 37/143
Copyright Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind
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Date ca. 1917
Description 4 embossing plates, produced from hand set type pressed into foil and mounted on a sheet of tinplate; (a) Braille--Grade One alphabet, signs, punctuation, and numbers and Grade 1.5 word signs and part word signs.
Dimensions H-9.25 W-10.5 inches
Made American Printing House for the Blind
Material Steel, tin
Object ID 1992.314.6a-d
Object Name Plate, Embossing
Place of Origin Louisville, KY
Provenance/History 1885 Annual Report: "The unique method of stereotyping, by which is secured a flexible stereotype plate, made of tin foil, amalgamated to a sheet of ordinary roofing tin, is the quickest, and cheapest, and for embossing work the best method in use." The double-cylinder press, made from special designs, prints four pages at every revolution, and will make thirty or more revolutions a minute. The flexible plates adapt themselves to the cylinders without any planing, and the character of the embossing speaks for itself.
APH printed its first alphabet cards for revised braille in 1918. Revised braille was adopted in America in 1917 following the failure of American and British negotiators to adopt a common English braille, a feat not accomplished until 1932.
Subjects Manufacturing aids, tools, and supplies.
Stereotype machines.
Tactile Printing.
Title Grade One Braille embossing plates
Image Courtesy of the Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind. Note: use of some materials may be restricted, please call before publishing in any format.

For more information contact the museum at 502-899-2365    museum@aph.org
Last modified on: April 02, 2010