George Phineas Gordon
Businessperson, Inventor
1821 – 1878
Who was George Phineas Gordon?
George Phineas Gordon was an American inventor, printer and businessman who developed the basic design of the most common printing press ever, the Gordon Letterpress.
Born in Salem, New Hampshire, where his family had lived for more than one hundred years, he was educated there and at Boston before deciding to become an actor. Failing to achieve a livelihood at this, he moved to New York where he became an apprentice printer. Upon learning the trade, he opened a job printing shop of his own. Around 1835 he began to experiment in press design. His first patent for a job-press was granted in 1851. While this press had many flaws, he began to manufacture it as the "Yankee" job press. Subsequently he introduced the "Turnover" and the "Firefly," which could produce 10,000 printed cards an hour. About 1858 he produced the "Franklin" press, which has ever since been known as the Gordon Jobber. It was strong, well built, and easy to operate. The Gordon Press solved the problem of clam-shell presses by having the platen open on cams, so that it was flat and lagged for the pressman as he fed the sheet, before closing parallel to the type bed.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- Apr 21, 1821
Salem - Spouses
- Sarah Cornish
(1846 - ) - Lenora May
(1856 - )
- Sarah Cornish
- Profession
- Died
- Jan 27, 1878
Norfolk
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"George Phineas Gordon." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/george_phineas_gordon>.
Discuss this George Phineas Gordon biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In