Our machine is a geniune, WWII dog tag debossing machine found in a shed in rural North Carolina. It was purchased from a retired gentleman who used it to print collar tags (real dog tags for dogs) for beagles he trained to hunt rabbits.

It is a Graphotype Model 6341 manufactured by the Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation of Cleveland Ohio. The company is no longer in business and records are difficult to find but our research on the serial number indicates that this machine was originally put into service printing G.I. dog tags some time between 1944-1945.

The 6341 models were heavy duty, stationary (non-portable) machines made to meet the high-volume dog tag printing demands of the U.S. military during war time. Experienced operators were said to be able to create between 500 and 800 tags per day on these machines. Built to last out of cast iron and never intended to be portable, the machine weighs nearly 400 lbs and in order to bring it to events we have mounted it in a custom, heavy duty, wheeled cart that requires a winch to move in and out of our truck for each event.

Up until 1980, all U.S. military dog tags were "debossed" - meaning that the letters were indented inward into the metal away from the reader. Current dog tags are now "embossed" meaning the letters are pushed upward toward the reader. Of course our machine uses the orginal, debossing style.

The machine requires a specialized formula of lubricating oil named "Duro-Vis" to stay running properly. The original manufacturer of the oil is no longer in business but we were lucky to find a supplier that's re-created small batched of oil to the same specification just for this purpose.

Nearly 70 years later after some repair, quite a bit of clean up and lubrication the machine is fully running again and still prints dog tags like it was new.