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| HISTORY OF PRINTING PRESS |
A printing
press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface
resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth),
thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier
printing methods in which the cloth, paper, or other medium was brushed or
rubbed repeatedly to achieve the transfer of ink, and accelerated the process.
Typically used for texts, the invention and global spread of the printing
press was one of the most influential events in the second millennium.
In Germany,
around 1440, goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the
movable-type printing press, which started the Printing Revolution.
Modeled on the design of existing screw presses, a single Renaissance movable-type
printing press could produce up to 3,600 pages per workday, compared to
forty by hand-printing and a few by hand-copying. Gutenberg's
newly devised hand mold made possible the precise and rapid creation
of metal movable type in large quantities. His two inventions, the
hand mold, and the movable-type printing press, together drastically reduced the
cost of printing books and other documents in Europe, particularly for shorter
print runs.
From Mainz, the
movable-type printing press spread within several decades to over two hundred
cities in a dozen European countries. By 1500, printing presses in
operation throughout Western Europe had already produced more than
twenty million volumes. In the 16th century, with presses spreading
further afield, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million
copies. By the mid-17th century, the first printing presses arrived in
colonial America in response to the increasing demand for Bibles and
other religious literature. The operation of a press became synonymous
with the enterprise of printing, and lent its name to a new medium of
expression and communication, "the press".
The arrival of
mechanical movable type printing in Europe in the Renaissance introduced
the era of mass communication, which permanently altered the structure of
society. The relatively unrestricted circulation of information and
(revolutionary) ideas transcended borders, captured the masses in the Reformation, and
threatened the power of political and religious authorities. The sharp increase
in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and
learning and bolstered the emerging middle class. Across Europe, the
increasing cultural self-awareness of its peoples led to the rise of proto-nationalism,
and accelerated the development of European vernaculars, to the detriment
of Latin's status as lingua franca. In the 19th century, the
replacement of the hand-operated Gutenberg-style press with steam-powered rotary
presses allowed printing on an industrial scale.
HISTORY
OLD MACHINE
Medieval university class (the 1350s)
The rapid
economic and socio-cultural development of late medieval society in
Europe created favorable intellectual and technological conditions for
Gutenberg's improved version of the printing press: the entrepreneurial spirit
of emerging capitalism increasingly made its impact on medieval modes
of production, fostering economic thinking and improving the efficiency of traditional
work processes. The sharp rise of medieval learning and literacy
amongst the middle class led to an increased demand for books which
the time-consuming hand-copying method fell far short of accommodating.
TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS
Technologies preceding the press that led to the press's invention included: the manufacturing of paper, the development of ink, woodblock printing, and the distribution of eyeglasses. At the same time, a number of medieval products and technological processes had reached a level of maturity that allowed their potential use for printing purposes. Gutenberg took up these far-flung strands, combined them into one complete and functioning system, and perfected the printing process through all its stages by adding a number of inventions and innovations of his own:
Early modern wine press. Such screw presses were applied in Europe to a wide range of uses and provided Gutenberg with the model for his printing press.
The screw press which
allowed direct pressure to be applied on a flat plane was already of great
antiquity in Gutenberg's time and was used for a wide range of
tasks. Introduced in the 1st century AD by the Romans, it was
commonly employed in agricultural production for pressing wine grapes and olives (for olive
oil), both of which formed an integral part of the Mediterranean and medieval
diet. The device was also used from very early on in urban contexts as
a cloth press for printing patterns. Gutenberg may have also
been inspired by the paper presses which had spread through the German
lands since the late 14th century and which worked on the same mechanical
principles.
During the Islamic
Golden Age, Arab Muslims were printing texts, including passages from the Qur’an,
embracing the Chinese craft of paper making, developing it, and adopting it widely
in the Muslim world, which led to a major increase in the production of
manuscript texts. In Egypt during the Fatimid era, the
printing technique was adopted by reproducing texts on paper strips by hand and
supplying them in various copies to meet the demand.
Gutenberg adopted
the basic design, thereby mechanizing the printing process. Printing,
however, put a demand on the machine quite different from pressing. Gutenberg
adapted the construction so that the pressing power exerted by the platen on
the paper was now applied both evenly and with the required sudden elasticity.
To speed up the printing process, he introduced a movable under the table with a
plane surface on which the sheets could be swiftly changed.
Movable type sorted in a letter case and loaded in a composing stick on top
The concept of
movable type existed prior to 15th century Europe; sporadic evidence that
the typographical principle, the idea of creating a text by reusing
individual characters, was known and had been cropping up since the
12th century and possibly before (the oldest known application dating back
as far as the Phaistos disc). The known examples range from movable-type printing in China during the Song Dynasty; in Korea during
the Goryeo Dynasty, where metal movable-type printing technology
was developed in 1234; to Germany (Prüfening inscription) and England (letter
tiles) and Italy (Altarpiece of Pellegrino II). However, the various
techniques employed (imprinting, punching, and assembling individual letters)
did not have the refinement and efficiency needed to become widely accepted.
Tsuen-Hsuin and Needham, and Briggs and Burke suggest that movable-type
printing in China and Korea was rarely employed.
Gutenberg greatly
improved the process by treating typesetting and printing as
two separate work steps. A goldsmith by profession, he created his type pieces
from a lead-based alloy which suited printing purposes so well
that it is still used today. The mass production of metal letters was
achieved by his key invention of a special hand mold, the matrix. The Latin
alphabet proved to be an enormous advantage in the process because, in
contrast to logographic writing systems, it allowed the type-setter to
represent any text with a theoretical minimum of only around two dozen
different letters.
Another factor
conducive to printing arose from the book existing in the format of the codex,
which had originated in the Roman period. Considered the most important
advance in the history of the book prior to printing itself, the codex had
completely replaced the ancient scroll at the onset of the Middle
Ages (AD 500). The codex holds considerable practical advantages over
the scroll format: it is more convenient to read (by turning pages), more
compact, and less costly, and both recto and verso sides could be
used for writing or printing, unlike the scroll.
A paper codex of the acclaimed 42-line Bible, Gutenberg's major work
A fourth
development was the early success of medieval papermakers at mechanizing paper manufacture.
The introduction of water-powered paper mills, the first certain evidence
of which dates to 1282, allowed for a massive expansion of production and
replaced the laborious handcraft characteristic of both Chinese and Muslim
papermaking. Papermaking centers began to multiply in the late 13th
century in Italy, reducing the price of paper to one-sixth of parchment and
then falling further; papermaking centers reached Germany a century later.
Despite this, it
appears that the final breakthrough of paper depended just as much on the rapid
spread of movable-type printing. It is notable that codices of parchment,
which in terms of quality is superior to any other writing material, still
had a substantial share in Gutenberg's edition of the 42-line Bible. After
much experimentation, Gutenberg managed to overcome the difficulties which
traditional water-based inks caused by soaking the paper, and found the formula
for an oil-based ink suitable for high-quality printing with metal type.
FUNCTION AND APPROACH
Early Press, etching from Early Typography by William Skeen
This woodcut from 1568 shows the left printer removing a page from the press while the one on the right inks the text blocks. Such a duo could reach 14,000 hand movements per working day, printing ca. 3,600 pages in the process.
A printing press,
in its classical form, is a standing mechanism, ranging from 5 to 7 feet (1.5
to 2.1 m) long, 3 feet (0.91 m) wide, and 7 feet (2.1 m) tall.
The small individual metal letters known as type would be set up by a
compositor into the desired lines of text. Several lines of text would be
arranged at once and placed in a wooden frame known as a galley. Once
the correct number of pages were composed, the galleys would be laid face up in
a frame, also known as a form, which itself is placed onto a flat stone,
'bed,' or 'coffin.' The text is inked using two balls, and pads mounted on handles.
The balls were made of dog skin leather because it has no pores, stuffed
with sheep's wool, and were inked. This ink was then applied to the text evenly.
One damp piece of paper was then taken from a heap of paper and placed on the
tympan. The paper was damp as this lets the type 'bite' into the paper better.
Small pins hold the paper in place. The paper is now held between a frisket and tympan (two
frames covered with paper or parchment).
These are folded
down so that the paper lies on the surface of the inked type. The bed is
rolled under the platen, using a windlass mechanism. A small
rotating handle called the 'rounce' is used to do this, and the impression is
made with a screw that transmits pressure through the platen. To turn the screw
the long handle attached to it is turned. This is known as the bar or 'Devil's
Tail.' In a well-set-up press, the springiness of the paper, frisket, and
tympan caused the bar to spring back and raise the platen, the windlass turned
again to move the bed back to its original position, the tympan and frisket
raised and opened, and the printed sheet removed. Such presses were always
worked by hand. After around 1800, iron presses were developed, some of which
could be operated by steam power.
The function of
the press in the image on the left was described by William Skeen in 1872,
this
sketch represents a press in its completed form, with tympans attached to the
end of the carriage, and with the frisket above the tympans. The tympans, inner
and outer, are thin iron frames, one fitting into the other, on each of which
is stretched a skin of parchment or a breadth of fine cloth. A woolen blanket
or two with a few sheets of paper are placed between these, the whole thus
forming a thin elastic pad, on which the sheet to be printed is laid. The
frisket is a slender framework, covered with coarse paper, on which an
impression is first taken; the whole of the printed part is then cut out,
leaving apertures exactly corresponding with the pages of type on the carriage
of the press. The frisket when folded onto the tympans, and both turned down over
the form of types and run in under the platen, preserves the sheet from contact
with anything but the inked surface of the types, when the pull, which brings
down the screw and forces the platen to produce the impression, is made by the
pressman who works the lever, - to whom is facetiously given the title of “the
practitioner at the bar.”.
GUTENBERG'S PRESS
Johannes Gutenberg, 1904 reconstruction
Johannes
Gutenberg's work on the printing press began in approximately 1436 when he
partnered with Andreas Dritzehn-a man who had previously instructed in gem-cutting
and Andreas Heilmann, owner of a paper mill. However, it was not until a
1439 lawsuit against Gutenberg that an official record existed;
witnesses' testimony discussed Gutenberg's types, an inventory of metals
(including lead), and his type molds.
Having previously
worked as a professional goldsmith, Gutenberg made skillful use of the
knowledge of metals he had learned as a craftsman. He was the first to make
type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, which
was critical for producing durable types that produced high-quality printed
books and proved to be much better suited for printing than all other known materials.
To create these lead types, Gutenberg used what is considered one of his most
ingenious inventions, a special matrix enabling the quick and
precise molding of new type blocks from a uniform template. His type case is
estimated to have contained around 290 separate letter boxes, most of which
were required for special characters, ligatures, punctuation marks,
and so forth.
Gutenberg is also
credited with the introduction of an oil-based ink that was more
durable than the previously used water-based inks. As printing material, he used
both paper and vellum (high-quality parchment). In the Gutenberg
Bible, Gutenberg made a trial of color printing for a few of the page
headings, present only in some copies. A later work, the Mainz
Psalter of 1453, presumably designed by Gutenberg but published under the
imprint of his successors Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer, had
elaborate red and blue printed initials.
THE PRINTING REVOLUTION
The Printing Revolution occurred when the spread of the printing press facilitated the wide circulation of information and ideas, acting as an "agent of change" through the societies that it reached. The need for Bibles and other religious literature, especially in the new world, was one of the principal factors that brought printing into the common world. Printing presses also played a major role in rallying support, and opposition, during the American and French Revolutions through newspapers, pamphlets, and bulletins. The advent of the printing press brought with it issues involving censorship and freedom of the press.
INDUSTRIAL PRINTING PRESSES
At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the mechanics of the hand-operated Gutenberg-style press were still essentially unchanged, although new materials in its construction, amongst other innovations, had gradually improved its printing efficiency. By 1800, Lord Stanhope had built a press completely from cast iron which reduced the force required by 90%, while doubling the size of the printed area. With a capacity of 480 pages per hour, the Stanhope press doubled the output of the old-style press. Nonetheless, the limitations inherent to the traditional method of printing became obvious.
Koenig's 1814 steam-powered printing press
Two ideas altered
the design of the printing press radically: First, the use of steam power for
running the machinery, and second the replacement of the printing flatbed with
the rotary motion of cylinders. Both elements were for the first time
successfully implemented by the German printer Friedrich Koenig in a
series of press designs devised between 1802 and 1818. Having moved to
London in 1804, Koenig soon met Thomas Bensley and secured financial
support for his project in 1807. Patented in 1810, Koenig had designed a
steam press "much like a hand press connected to a steam engine." The
first production trial of this model occurred in April 1811. He produced his
machine with assistance from German engineer Andreas Friedrich Bauer.
Koenig and Bauer
sold two of their first models to The Times in London in
1814, capable of 1,100 impressions per hour. The first edition so printed was
on 28 November 1814. They went on to perfect the early model so that it could
print on both sides of a sheet at once. This began the long process of
making newspapers available to a mass audience (which in turn helped
spread literacy), and from the 1820s changed the nature of book production,
forcing a greater standardization in titles and other metadata. Their
company Koenig & Bauer AG is still one of the world's largest
manufacturers of printing presses today.
ROTARY PRESS
The steam-powered rotary printing press, invented in 1843 in the United States by Richard M. Hoe, ultimately allowed millions of copies of a page in a single day. Mass production of printed works flourished after the transition to rolled paper, as continuous feed allowed the presses to run at a much faster pace. Hoe's original design operated at up to 2,000 revolutions per hour where each revolution deposited 4-page images, giving the press a throughput of 8,000 pages per hour. By 1891, The New York World and Philadelphia Items were operating presses producing either 90,000 4-page sheets per hour or 48,000 8-page sheets.
Also, in the middle
of the 19th century, there was a separate development of jobbing presses,
small presses capable of printing small-format pieces such as billheads,
letterheads, business cards, and envelopes. Jobbing presses were capable of
quick setup (average setup time for a small job was under 15 minutes) and quick
production (even on treadle-powered jobbing presses it was considered normal to
get 1,000 impressions per hour [iph] with one pressman, with speeds of 1,500
iph often attained on simple envelope work). Job printing emerged as a
reasonably cost-effective duplicating solution for commerce at this time.
GALLERY
Model of the Common Press, used from 1650 to 1850
Printing press from 1811
Stanhope press from 1842
Reliance Printing Press from the 1890s
Toledo Blade newspaper printing press
A Miehle flat-bed cylinder press in operation
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