I just finished completely Dissecting the press and documenting for quick reference. I also received an email from the seller who confirmed it was found in an attic of an estate sale in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Where he, in fact lives.
Notice from the photos, none of the bolts are even close to SAE STANDARDS. Even the three dies are odd. They are not 1” they are slightly over 1” and cut slightly under 1”. I have a 1” die and it is too big for these odd threads. The dies also fit snug into the press. It’s not in the least bit sloppy. It’s machine fit from my experience.
So this is some solid proof it pre-dates the 1910 time frame when SAE WAS STANDARD for nuts and bolts. Even socket sets were introduced in 1907. The Model A was standard using carriage bolts in 1908. So the industry in a large industrial city like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania would have followed the industry’s standards pretty quickly.
Even if this press was manufactured by a talented machinist? Makes absolutely no sense for that machinist to make their own bolts and threading dies.
So I believe it was made before 1910 maybe several years earlier.
Murph
Looking at your measurements I wouldn’t rule out metric. 25mm could look like 31/32.