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 allows for the
mass production of printed matter, mainly text in the form of
books, pamphlets and newspapers.
He adapted the screw mechanism from wine presses,
papermakers' presses and linen presses to develop a system
perfectly suited from printing. HIS INVENTION COMBINED
MOVABLE PIECES OF METAL TYPE THAT COULD BE REUSED
WITH A PRESS and COULD PRODUCE SHARP IMPRESSIONS ON
PAPER OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
BOOKS WERE EXPENSIVE AND RARE DURING THE MIDDLE
AGES. EACH COPY OF A BOOK TYPICALLY HAD TO BE WRITTEN
BY HAND, COPIED PAGE BY PAGE. BEFORE THE PRINTING
PRESs, BOOKS BELONGED PRIMARILY TO THE UPPER CLASSES
only. So, THE PRINTING PRESS MADE IT POSSIBLE TO
PRODUCE BOOKS AND OTHER TEXTS QUICKLY, ACCURATELY,
AND LESS EXPENSIVELY, WHICH ALLOWED THEM TO BE
REPRODUCED IN GREATER NUMBERS. WITH BOOKS CHEAPER
AND MORE AVAILABLE, THE MIDDLE CLASSES COULD ACCESS
THEM AS WELL. THIS LED TO AN INCREASE IN THE LITERACY
AND EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
PRINTING PRESS HAS BEEN CREDITED WITH HELPING TO
USHER IN THE MODERN ERA BY ENABLING THE SPREAD OF
INFORMATION ACROSS ALL LEVELS OF SOCIETY.
Johannes Gutenberg
In Europe, the printing press did not appear until 150 years
after Wang Chen’s innovation. Goldsmith and inventor
Johannes Gutenberg was a political exile from Mainz, Germany
when he began experimenting with printing in Strasbourg,
France in 1440.
Gutenberg Press
Integral to Gutenberg’s design was replacing wood with metal
and printing blocks with each letter, creating the European
version of moveable type. He returned to Mainz several years
later and by 1450, had a printing machine perfected and ready
to use commercially: The Gutenberg press.-
In order to make the type available in large quantities and to
different stages of printing, Gutenberg applied the concept of
replica casting, which saw letters created in reverse in brass
and then replicas made from these molds by pouring molten
lead.
Researchers have wondered that Gutenberg actually used a
sand-casting system that uses carved sand to create the metal
molds. The letters were fashioned to fit together uniformly to
create level lines of letters and consistent columns on flat
media.
Gutenberg’s process would not have worked as seamlessly as it
did if he had not made his own ink, devised to affix to metal
rather than wood. Gutenberg was also able to perfect a method
for flattening printing paper for use by using a winepress,
traditionally used to press grapes for wine and olives for oil,
retrofitted into his printing press design.
Gutenberg Bible Johannes Gutenberg is famous for having
designed and built the first printing press to incorporate
movable type and mechanized inking and for using his
invention to produce the Gutenberg Bible.
He borrowed money from Johannes Fust to fund his project and
in 1452, Fust joined Gutenberg as a partner to create books.
They set about printing calendars, pamphlets and other
ephemera.
In 1452, Gutenberg produced the one book to come out of his
shop: a Bible. he printed 180 copies of the 1,300-paged
Gutenberg Bible, as many as 60 of them on vellum.
Each page of the Bible contained 42 lines of text in Gothic type,
with double columns and featuring some letters in color.
For the Bible, Gutenberg used 300 separate molded letter
blocks and 50,000 sheets of paper. Many fragments of the
books survive. There are 21 complete copies of the Gutenberg
Bible, and four complete copies of the vellum version.
Gutenberg’s Later Years
In 1455, Fust foreclosed on Gutenberg. In an ensuing lawsuit,
all of Gutenberg’s equipment went to Fust and Peter Schoffer
of Gernsheim, Germany, a former calligrapher.
Gutenberg is believed to have continued printing, probably
producing an edition of the Catholicon, a Latin dictionary, in
1460. But Gutenberg ceased any efforts at printing after 1460,
possibly due to impaired vision. He died in 1468.
In Gutenberg's printing press, movable type was arranged over
a flat wooden plate called the lower platen. ink was applied to
the type, and a sheet of paper was laid on top. an upper platen
was brought down to meet the lower platen. the two plates
pressed the paper and type together, creating sharp images on
the paper. this kind of wooden printing press could print about
250 sheets per hour.
The spread of printing as a trade benefited
from workers in Germany who had helped
Gutenberg in his early printing experiments and
then went on to become printers who taught
the trade to others.
This invention extremely reduced the cost to
reproduce printed material, and its creation
was one of the most influential events of the
second millennium.
The printing press allows us to share large amounts
of information quickly and in huge numbers. In fact,
the printing press is so significant that it has come
to be known as one of the most important
inventions of our time.
He also created his own ink using linseed oil
and soot — a development that represented a
major improvement over the water-based inks
used in China.
Gutenberg was the son of a patrician of Mainz.
Exiled from Mainz in the course of a bitter
struggle between the guilds of that city and the
patricians, Gutenberg moved to Strassburg
(now Strasbourg, France) probably between
1428 and 1430. Records put his presence there
from 1434 to 1444.
