Adast Grafopress Model GPA Platen Press - former Czechoslovakia
Age: 1958, Serial No. 8504, Platen size 10" x 15"
Made behind the iron curtain, in former Czechoslovakia, the Adast
Grafopress was modelled after the much-beloved, much-copied
Heidelberg Windmill. Among the knock-offs, the Grafopress was
probably the only one that managed to make inroads in the markets
in Western Europe and North America. Marketed as the cheaper
alternative to the Original, and although considered as inferior,
Grafopress did have one feature - the ability to lock out the forme
rollers - which was incorporated into the Heidelberg many years later,
but not until Drupa 1967.
At the HWI museum, the 1958 Grafopress is joined by a 1988 Grafopress Model GPE - showing what a difference 30 years made.