Abstract: An Extended Nip-type press has a blanket which passes over a shoe which is urged against a backing roll to form a press nip. A hydraulic system and controller provides for automatic continuous oscillation of the blanket in the cross machine direction. The oscillation results in a region of high fatigue continuously moving over the blanket surface so that the amount of time any particular region sees wear is minimized. Positioning of the heads to which the blanket ends are mounted is controlled by hydraulic pistons mounted between a support beam and the heads. A controller operates a valve to reverse the direction of motion of the blanket when sensors indicate one end of the blanket has reached a stop. A throttle valve controls the rate at which hydraulic fluid is supplied to the cylinders which urge the head away from the shoe.