Abstract: A rail mounted carriage supporting a multishelf press loader is reciprocable between a sheet charger, which loads an individual lay-up of sheet material onto each of the loader shelves, and a multiplaten press for processing such lay-ups. After all of the loader shelves are charged with lay-ups, swingable upright lay-up-centering rods slide all of the lay-ups simultaneously farther onto the loader shelves until the leading edges of the lay-ups abut against movable stops supported adjacent to the leading or press end of the loader. The carriage is moved to the press, and the stops are raised out of edgewise registration with the lay-ups, whereupon all of the shelves and their lay-ups are moved past the raised stops and into the open press between its platens. The stops then are lowered behind the trailing edges of the lay-ups and shifted a short distance into the press to slide the lay-ups farther into the press. The stops hold the lay-ups in the press as the shelves are slid out from beneath the lay-ups.