Punch Press

I had the opportunity to tour the shops of JL Weiler in Chicago. While there, I was introduced to the punch press, a machine that is used to punch holes in leather. In the case of an organ, there are many gaskets that need holes punched in certain places for screws to pass and wind channeling to function. Primary boxes contain three specialized gaskets with many varying sized holes in each. Although it is possible to punch these out by hand, a punch press greatly speeds things up. Arrangements were made to return with enough leather to punch 66 sets of primary box gaskets (198 total). Thank you Jeff Weiler and Mike Jacklin for making the photo below possible...!