How did the printing press work?

Answer 1

Raised letters and symbols would be formed on a metal or wooden piece forming what is called, type. They were cast in mirror reverse and placed on a composing stick. A blank type would be placed between letters to form spaces. Then, these were either pressed against a ink pad or had scrubbers with ink rubbed over them. Finally, a sheet of paper is manually pressed tightly against the type to leave an impression of the type. Through this process, 50 to 300 pages could be printed an hour.

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Answer 2

The first methods of printing used carved wood blocks - they were used by the Chinese as early as 200 AD. Entire carved pages were used to print "block books" well into the 15th century in Europe.

However, the printing press designed by Johannes Gutenberg in 1436 used several new features:

1) durable raised metal type, which could print many copies, and be separated and re-used

2) oil-based ink that was less prone to fade or bleed

3) a screw press that forced the die onto the paper or vellum

4) a flat but flexible platen table to ensure the printing die fully contacted the paper.

To print a single side of a single sheet, the metal type letters were prepared in strips and added to the die block. Once the die was attached to the bottom of the press, ink was applied to the top of the die, paper was placed in an alignment frame atop it, and the press pushed the two together. The ink transferred and the die was slid out from the press.

Once the ink dried on several copies, it was possible to print with the next page of type on their reverse sides. Many thousands of books were produced with these early mechanical presses.

Answer 3

The printing press built by Johannes Gutenberg had a typesetting plate and a plate that pushed the paper through the press so that it was printed. The operator pushed up and down on a lever while the plate went up and down and the paper moved on a roller.