Dear Neil, the "Curious Machine" in MEW, Issue 274, is most probably a manual stitching machine used in securing the pages of publications that are "Stitched and Folded" in like mannerto MEW. Brehmer machines are still used in the printing trade to "finish" magazines. "Stitching" is the industrial term for the staples that are inserted along the fold of the magazine, and they are formed from the roll of wire, cut off, bent and inserted by the machine. The length of the stitch can be adjusted to suit the number of pages being stitched, unlike preformed staples. Dear Neil, to answer Terry Durham's question his 'curious machine' is a Brehmer hand operated wire stitching machine used in the printing industry. I believe they were made in Leipzig and imported. To use it you would bolt it to a table close to the edge so that the operating handle can be pushed fully down. The flat horizontal table on the machine is removable by undoing a wing nut underneath it which will then leave a narrow saddle over which folded sheets of paper can be placed. The handle is then depressed and the wire will be formed into a 'n' shaped stitch (staple) which is forced down through the paper and is then clenched over from underneath making a little booklet. There is an adjustable wire grip at the right hand side which drives the wire from the reel as the machine is operated, the wire being then led through a small hole at the base of the stitching head. If not making a booklet, but simply stabbing flat sheets to make a pad then the table can be refitted and the sheets laid on top. It has a limited capacity determined by the thickness and rigidity of wire being used and the gap left under the stitching head when the handle is fully depressed.
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