Lyman did it that way, on purpose. I had a Spartan, then a Spar-t, the old grey finish models (early 70s) before they went to the orange, and judging by the pictures from michaeldarnold, they changed the linkage eliminating the option. The original grey presses did not have the "socket" for the handle that is shown in the pictures. The main block of the linkage had dual sets of holes, for the handle and the ram link pin, and could be assembled either way.
When I got my first press, a Lyman Spartan, I actually "mis-assembled" it, and wound up with it working on the upstroke, not the down stroke of the handle. Driving the (very tight fitting) pin back out, so I could switch it over was simply too much work (because of the fight it took to get in in, in the first place
) so I just left it that way, and it worked fine.
Did tend to lift up the bench sometimes, though!
