Photograph - Despatch Area of Print Room, Army Survey Regiment, Fortuna, Bendigo, c1985

Historical information

These 10 photographs of the despatch area of Lithographic Squadron’s Print Room were taken at the Army Survey Regiment, Fortuna, Bendigo circa 1985. bulk printed map stock to customers The despatch of printed map products was the final task performed by teams of Printer Technicians. It involved the wrapping of trimmed bulk maps into manageable parcels and sending them by freight to customers or to the Army Map Depot at Bandiana, VIC. The task’s Due date and sensitivity were essential considerations in the planning of production affecting the lead time and method of delivery. Freighting by commercial means was the normal method for routine tasks. The method of despatch for urgent time-critical tasks sometimes meant having to use military freight or safe-handed by Army Survey Regiment personnel. The Wohlenberg MCS-2 guillotine seen in photos .1P & .2P, .4P .8P & .9P was a heavy-duty guillotine that became in 1990 an integrated component of the Map Handling Station, to trim bulk printed map stock. See item 6242.25P for photos of the configuration. See Item 6069.6P for more information and photos of earlier types of guillotine equipment and Item 6070.9P for photos of Printer Technicians working in the despatch area of the Print Room. The two Ultra-MAN-III Printing Presses seen in photos .4P to .7P were made in Germany at a standard map size format and introduced in June 1962 as a two-colour offset press with improved safety features. With an upgrade to a third colour deck in 1968, productivity greatly improved as the two presses could print a five-colour standard topographic map in two passes, rather than the three passes before their upgrade. They were replaced with a single Heidelberg Speedmaster five colour Printing Press in 1990. The Original Heidelberg Printing Press seen in photo .6P was a single colour offset press. It was a robust and well-made lithographic printing press and was in service at the Army Svy Regt for decades. Its primary use was for initial training and rapid response tasks, such as single pass overprints over existing print stock.

Physical description

This is a set of 10 photographs of the despatch area of Lithographic Squadron’s Print Room, taken at the Army Survey Regiment. circa 1985, Fortuna Villa Bendigo. The photographs were printed on photographic paper and are part of the Army Survey Regiment’s Collection. The photographs were scanned at 300 dpi.
.1) & .2) - Photo, black & white, c1985, Map despatch work area and Wohlenberg MCS-2 guillotine.
.3) - Photo, black & white, c1985, Map despatch work area. Unidentified print technician.
.4) - Photo, black & white, c1985, Map despatch work area and Wohlenberg MCS-2 guillotine. Unidentified print technician.
.5) - Photo, black & white, c1985, Ultra-MAN-III Printing Presses in foreground.
.6) - Photo, black & white, c1985, Original Heidelberg Printing Press in foreground, Ultra-MAN-III Printing Presses in background.
.7) - Photo, black & white, c1985, Ultra-MAN-III Printing Presses in foreground.
.8) - Photo, black & white, c1985, Map despatch work area. Pallets of wrapped printed maps in foreground, pallets of paper stock in background.
.9) - Photo, black & white, c1985, Map despatch work area. Pallets of printed maps awaiting wrapping in foreground, Wohlenberg MCS-2 guillotine in background.
.10) - Photo, black & white, c1985, Map despatch work area, pallets of wrapped printed maps in foreground, Pallets of wrapped printed maps in background.

Inscriptions & markings

.1P to .10P – There are no annotations

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