The Heidelberg platen press was once the workhorse of print shops all across the world.  The press was introduced in 1914 and was manufactured by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG until 1985.

The Heidelberg platen press is most famous for its windmill-like automatic paper feed mechanism, and it is often referred to as “windmill press”. There are two blades that rotate from the paper feed, where it picks up a sheet of paper; to the platen, where the printing impression is made; to the paper receiver, where the paper is released; followed by the blade pointing straight up ready to start the next cycle.

Two models of the press were manufactured: the 10″ x 15″ and the larger 13″ x 18″.