Smith-Style Acorn Presses

The press that introduced the Acorn shape to the United States is known as the Smith Press, named after its inventor Peter Smith (1795-1823) who received a patent for his toggle on December 29, 1821. 

This is a Smith-style Acorn Press. Pay particular attention to the toggle mechanism.

John Wells patented his toggle in February of 1819, and accused Smith of patent infringement, but nothing came of the claims. The Smith press is also very similar to a patent filed in England by David Barclay on July 26, 1821. Barclay stated that the idea was communicated to him “by a certain foreigner residing abroad.” Who exactly this was is unclear, but some believe it may have been Smith. The Smith press was manufactured by R. Hoe & Co. beginning in 1821, and it remained in their catalogues until 1890.

This is a Tufts-style Acorn Press. Note how similar the toggle mechanism is to the Smith press.

After the introduction of the Washington press, R. Hoe & Co., recognizing that the acorn frame was structurally inferior, put the Smith toggle into a Washington frame. However, the acorn frame remained popular.

This is a Washington Press. This press was manufactured by Cincinnati Type Foundry and does not feature the Smith toggle mechanism, but the frame shape would have been the same for those manufactured by R. Hoe & Co.

The Tufts press is another Acorn press. Otis Tufts was granted two patents, on July 30 and November 7, 1831. Tuft’s press was a close copy of Smith’s, except that the knuckle joint was on the left side of the press rather than the right. Isaac Adams manufactured Tufts presses for the latter part of their history. They remained popular in New England as late as 1894. Adams invented some presses, but also made and sold copies of other inventors’ works. The Tufts press is one such example. Adams presses were always in the acorn frame made popular by Smith’s press. 

This is a Tufts-style Acorn Press. Note that the toggle mechanism knuckle faces the opposite way of the Smith Press.