What is Printing Press ?

Printing in East Asia had been prevalent since the Tang dynasty, and in Europe, woodblock printing based on existing screw presses was common by the 14th century.

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.

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

Gutenberg's most important innovation was the development of hand-molded metal printing matrices, thus producing a movable type-based printing press system.

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.

Papermaking centres 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

His newly devised hand mould made possible the precise and rapid creation of metal movable type in large quantities. Movable type had been hitherto unknown in Europe

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

Despite this it appears that the final breakthrough of paper depended just as much on the rapid spread of movable-type printing

In Europe, the two inventions, the hand mould and the printing press, together drastically reduced the cost of printing books and other documents, particularly in short print runs.

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.

It is notable that codices of parchment, which in terms of quality is superior to any other writing material,

The printing press spread within several decades to over two hundred cities in a dozen European countries

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

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.

1500, printing presses in operation throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million volumes.

Integral to Gutenberg’s design was replacing wood with metal and printing blocks with each letter, creating the European version of moveable type.

Several lines of text would be arranged at once and were 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 forme

In the 16th century, with presses spreading further afield, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies.

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.

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).

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".

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.

In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication, which permanently altered the structure of society

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 is used called the 'rounce' to do this, and the impression is made with a screw that transmits pressure through the platen.