Writing the history of one of the most interesting machines in Heidelberg’s history is quite a challenge. After all, the Heidelberg GTO is not just a printing press. If you needed a non-standard job that could not be done by conventional means – the Heidelberg GTO is at your service!

A thick book could be written about this printing machine – it has so many interesting features and capabilities. It allowed to produce both postcards with a circulation of 5000 copies and to print a single unique copy, which, due to the complexity of production, can be easily given to a museum.

 

Part 1.

Introduction.

Yes. It is, without exaggeration, a legend. It’s the Volkswagen Beetle of world printing. What other printing press was produced with a circulation of more than 125 thousand printing units and was in production for 42 years? And, according to the company’s report, two thirds of all sections produced are still in service!

The Guinness Book of Records lists the Heidelberg GTO as the best-selling printing press. Although the Heidelberg GTO was indeed in production for a long time (from 1972, with gradual modernisation and newer versions such as the GTO 52 and the Printmaster GTO until 2014), this aspect of its history was not recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.

Pictured here is one of the first machines in the GTO 46 series. The slightly curved table of the self-feeder, which feeds the sheets individually. The dampening device is conventional, equipped with a plush roller. And on the side cover are the then Heidelberg logo and the invariable gold medallion.

This machine was an incredible tool, a brush in the hands of an artist. What was to be printed on it depended solely on the imagination of the printer. Literally, any equipment could be added to the machine to do the most unthinkable jobs.

Let’s look back at the history of this remarkable machine and see how it managed to become the standard in the field of small format machines, so much so that the 36×52 format itself became known as the GTO format.

 

The Story Begins

Launched against the wishes of the company’s CEO Hubert Sternberg in 1962, the first offset machine of the K-offset series became incredibly popular. So popular, in fact, that Heidelberg took care to urgently develop printing presses in other formats. It had only one disadvantage – its horizontal cylinder arrangement in the printing unit did not allow the production of multi-colour versions. That’s why a few years later came the Rotaspeed, which had a vertical printing unit. Of course, it was destined to become the company’s most unsuccessful machine, but many of the ideas tested during its development are still used today. Read our articles about these machines if you missed them:

Heidelberg K-offset: first offset printing machine (1962-1986),

Heidelberg Rotaspeed (1965-1976). The most unsuccessful Heidelberg’s printing machine.

And in 1967 a new S-offset series was introduced, not in one format, but in three formats at once – SORM, SORD and SORS!

Only the small-format market remained untouched, where only letterpress printing machines existed completely and undividedly. Heidelberg reasoned that the new unit build machine would appeal to all print shops producing postcards and leaflets in small print runs.

In those years, the DRUPA exhibition did indeed arouse incredible interest among printers. And Heidelberg did not fail this time. The 32×46 cm GTO 46, which was specially designed for small runs, was introduced to the market. And it differed from the other versions not only in format, but also in features.

 

The design of the printing press Heidelberg GTO

The design of the machine was so clever that it became the main machine in many printing schools around the world.

The sheet was gripped at the leading edge by a special lever and guided along the slightly rounded table to the front stops. The grips were then released and the side stop pushed the sheet into position. The front grapple was then activated and the sheet was fed into the printing section.

The machine was equipped with a 16-roller ink unit with conventional dampening and covers that had to be lined by hand.

The axial movement of the rollers was easily switched off. And when printing a large fill area, the templating could be removed by changing the position of the zero point of the ink rub. This pleased the printers, who learnt how to make a rainbow printing job – a transition from one colour to another in the same ink box. And soon the production of diplomas and certificates became a fairly uncomplicated endeavour.

The machine was light enough to fit in an office or on a floor not designed to accommodate heavy printing equipment. The light weight was achieved, among other things, by lightening the cylinders. They were made hollow and slip rings were placed on either side of them.

Setup was simplified as much as possible. After all, prepress processes were characterised by low clarity and were still manual. So, even if the copy frame operator made a slight mistake with the placement of the image on the printing plate, the image could be moved 360 degrees longitudinally when the machine was set up!

Another unique feature of the machine was the Heidelberg branded bearings – eternal, wear-free and maintenance-free. The plate, offset and printing cylinders were mounted on them. They were the key to the incredible longevity of this printing machine.

 

What is the ‘Plus Version’ on the Heidelberg GTO?

The new machine has taken the printing of small quantities to a whole new level. Moreover, another interesting customer segment has emerged – the printing of cheques and numbered certificates. For this purpose it was possible to order an optional drive of the numerator shaft in the machine. Technically – it is a few gears, driving the shaft in rotation on the receiver.

There are many different devices could be placed on the shaft, which made this machine incredibly versatile. It could be not only numberers, but also devices for creasing or cutting online. I’ll talk more about this next, because it’s a topic that has been developed by a lot of amateur makers and third party manufacturers.

I would say that the numberer shaft drive added the GTO half of its popularity and made it the standard in its class. Many third-party companies offered the most unusual devices to extend the capabilities of this machine. It even went so far that Laco produced an attachable lacquering section with IVT dryer. Another curious device was a segment for attaching a rotary cliché for letterpress printing, which was used for printing another ink.

 

The advent of the GTO 52

But this was only the beginning of success. In 1980, the sheet size of the printing press was increased from 32x46cm to B3 plus – 36x52cm. And it was this generation that became the most famous and popular in the company’s history.

In 1982, Heidelberg launched its own foundry in Amstetten, and managed to significantly reduce the production time of printing presses. Now the company itself began to produce beds and cylinders for all the equipment produced. This enabled the quality and precision of the parts to be dramatically improved.

Of course, the new machine has a more modern look, new electronic boards and control levers. This model was destined to become a classic machine in most printing schools around the world.

Over the next 35 years, the series became a base for experimentation with new models. With minor changes and in this form, the series existed until 2014, when it was finally taken out of production.

At DRUPA 1986, the company once again managed to surprise its customers. This year is marked in the company’s history as the advent of the electronic age. The printing presses were equipped with a status and adjustment system on a separate console. It was called CPTronic and allowed the main functions of the machine to be controlled from one place.

Of course, the mechanical GTO also underwent a remarkable metamorphosis. Imagine a printing press with cascade sheet feeding instead of a sheet feeder. The axial and longitudinal drives were no longer controlled with a key, but with buttons. The model was available in 1, 2, 4 and even 5 colours, including the sheet turning device. Optionally it was possible to choose the Alcolor humidification system with an alcohol additive. No one had the right to call the GTO an old lady from the seventies.

In short, it was no longer just a GTO, but the prototype of the future machine – the Speedmaster SM52. This configuration is worth talking about in more detail…

 

(to be continued…)

Next we’ll talk about the newer versions, the incredible extras on the machine, the homemade improvements, and where and how this wonderful machine can be used.

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