What is Printing Press ?

A significant innovation of the late 19th century was the offset press, in which the printing (blanket) cylinder runs continuously in one direction while paper is impressed against it by an impression cylinder.

. Offset printing is especially valuable for colour printing, because an offset press can print multiple colours in one run. Offset lithography—used for books, newspapers, magazines, business forms, and direct mail—continued to be the most widely used printing method at the start of the 21st century, though it was challenged by ink-jet, laser, and other printing methods.

Apart from the introduction of electric power, advances in press design between 1900 and the 1950s consisted of a great number of relatively minor mechanical modifications designed to improve the speed of the operation.

Among these changes were better paper feed, improvements in plates and paper, automatic paper reels, and photoelectric control of colour register.

Among these changes were better paper feed, improvements in plates and paper, automatic paper reels, and photoelectric control of colour register.

The introduction of computers in the 1950s revolutionized printing composition, with more and more steps in the print process being replaced by digital data.

At the end of the 20th century, a new electronic printing method, print-on-demand, began to compete with offset printing, though it—and printing generally—came under increasing pressure in developed countries as publishers, newspapers, and others turned to online means of distributing what they had previously printed on paper.

The printing press is a device that allows for the mass production of uniform printed matter, mainly text in the form of books, pamphlets and newspapers.

Created in China and revolutionizing society there, the press was further developed in Europe in the 15th Century.

No one knows when the first printing press was invented, or who invented it, but the oldest known printed text originated in China during the first millennium A.D.

The Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist book from Dunhuang, China, dating to around 868 A.D. during the Tang Dynasty, is said to be the oldest known printed book.

The Diamond Sutra was created with a method known as block printing, which utilized panels of hand-carved wood blocks in reverse.

Some other texts have survived from Dunhuang as well, including a printed calendar from around 877 A.D.,

mathematic charts, vocabulary guidance, etiquette instruction, funeral and wedding guides, children’s educational material, dictionaries and almanacs.

It was during this period of early printing that rolled-up scrolls began to be replaced by book-formatted texts.

Woodblock printing was also used in Japan and Korea at the time, and metal block printing was also developed at some point during that period, typically for Buddhist and Taoist texts.

Moveable type, which replaced panels of printing blocks with moveable individual letters that could be reused, was developed by Bi Sheng, from Yingshan, Hubei, China, who lived roughly from 970 to 1051 A.D.

The first moveable type was carved into clay and baked into hard blocks which were then arranged onto an iron frame that was pressed against an iron plate.

The earliest mention of Bi Sheng’s printing press is in the book Dream Pool Essays, written in 1086 by scientist Shen Kuo, who noted that his nephews came into possession of Bi Sheng’s typefaces after his death

Shen Kuo explained that Bi Sheng did not use wood because the texture is inconsistent and absorbs moisture too easily, and also presents a problem of sticking in the ink. The baked clay cleaned-up better for reuse.

By the time of the Southern Song Dynasty, which ruled from 1127 to 1279 A.D., books had become prevalent in society and helped create a scholarly class of citizen that had the capabilities to become civil servants. Massive printed book collections also became a status symbol for the wealthy class.

Woodtype made a comeback in 1297 when Ching-te magistrate Wang Chen printed a treatise on agriculture and farming practices called Nung Shu.

Wang Chen devised a process to make the wood more durable and precise and then created a revolving table for typesetters to organize with more efficiency and offer greater speed in printing.

Nung Shu is considered the world’s first mass-produced book, was exported to Europe and, coincidentally, documented many Chinese inventions that have been traditionally attributed to Europeans.

In Europe, the printing press did not appear until 150 years after Wang Chen’s innovations.