Printing Press

The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on paper. German craftsman and printer Johann Gutenberg is often credited with its invention in the 1450s, and he did make major contributions to the technology, but the press itself was previously known and used by European textile makers to print patterns on fabric. The Diamond Sutra of AD 868, a Buddhist scripture, was the first dated example of block printing. Apart from Gutenberg, the Dutch Laurens Janszoon Coster has also been credited with this invention.

In the Far East, movable type and printing presses were known but did not replace printing from individually carved wooden blocks[1], from movable clay type and from movable metal type[1], processes much more efficient than hand copying. The use of movable type in printing was invented in 1045 AD by Bi Sheng in China. Since there are thousands of Chinese characters, the benefit of the technique is not as obvious as in European languages.

Although unaware of the Chinese printing methods, Gutenberg refined the technique with the first widespread use of movable type, where the characters are separate parts that are inserted to make the text. Gutenberg is also credited with the first use of an oil-based ink, and using "rag" paper introduced into Europe from China by way of Muslims.

Previously, books were copied mainly in monasteries, where monks wrote them out by hand. Obvously, books were therefore a scarce resource. While it might take someone a year to hand copy a Bible, with the Gutenberg press it was possible to create several hundred copies a year, with two or three people that could read, and a few people to support the effort. Each sheet still had to be fed manually, which limited the reproduction speed, and the type had to be set manually for each page, which limited the number of different pages created per day. Books produced in this period, between the first work of Johann Gutenberg and the year 1500, are collectively referred to as incunabula.

Gutenberg's findings not only allowed a much broader audience to read Martin Luther's German translation of Bible, it also helped spread Luther's other writings, greatly accelerating the pace of Protestant Reformation.

In China, there were no texts similar to the Bible which could guarantee a printer return on the high capital investment of a printing press, and so the primary form of printing was wood block printing which was more suited for short runs of texts for which the return was uncertain.

While the Gutenberg press was much more efficient than manual copying, the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of the steam powered rotary press allowed thousands 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.

Later inventions in this field include:

Lithography
The offset printing press
Desktop publishing
Electronic publishing (on CD-ROM or online)
Computer printer

Typography
David Bruce
George E. Clymer
William Clowes
National Print Museum of Ireland
Flexography
Anilox

Modern Usage: Printing Press

Commercial Usage: Printing Press

Domain	Title
References	Hamada Printing Press Co., Ltd.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) (more reference examples)

Books	HAMADA PRINTING PRESS CO., LTD.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis [DOWNLOAD: ADOBE READER] (reference) The Mighty Engine: The Printing Press and Its Impact (Print Networks, 4) (reference) The Printing Press (Great Inventions (Benchmark Books (Firm)).) (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Image Slideshow: Printing Press

Photo Album: Printing Press

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	The printing press used on the Coast and Geodetic Survey Ship PATHFINDER during World War II. The PATHFINDER was staffed by C&GS hydrographers who were the first to survey AND print maps at sea during combat operations. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now.		The Centennial -- wall paper printing press, Machinery Hall / photographed by the Centennial Photographic Company. Credit: Library of Congress.
	The Printing press, John W. Alexander, N.A., Library of Congress, Washington, [D.C.]. Credit: Library of Congress.		Richmond & Backus Co. printing press, Detroit. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Printing press room, Carlisle Indian School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Credit: Library of Congress.		Goudy, Frederick, Mr., at his printing press. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Printing shops in Washington for Stanford Paper Co. Man checking printed material and working on printing press I. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Familiar Quotations: Printing Press

Non-Fiction Usage: Printing Press

Subject	Topic	Quote
Civil Liberties	Peru	During the year, Manuel Ulloa withdrew his $1 million suit for libel and defamation against print opposition newspaper Liberacion, which had led to the seizure of the paper's printing press. (references)
	Liberia	The Press Union of Liberia, an independent association of journalists, attempted to open its own printing press; however, the Government did not issue a license and negotiations continued during the year. (references)
	Malaysia	On World Press Freedom Day in May, a series of speakers called for the repeal or revision of restrictive press laws, including the Printing Press and Publications Act, the Sedition Act, the Official Secrets Act, and the Internal Security Act, which make it difficult for journalists to obtain the information they need and to report objectively. (references)
Economic History	Estonia	In 1631, the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf granted the peasantry greater autonomy, opened the first known Estonian-language school in Tallinn, and in 1632 established a printing press and university in the city of Tartu. (references)
	Cuba (09/01)	The Cuban government continues to refuse to allow the church to have independent printing press capabilities, to have full access to the media, or to establish institutions, such as local schools. (references)
Political Economy	Zimbabwe	It has conducted an intensive rhetorical campaign against the independent press and threatened individual journalists, and has failed to arrest anyone in connection with the January 2001 bombing of the only daily independent newspaper's printing press. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Usage in Company Names: Printing Press

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Printing Press

Modern Translation: Printing Press

Language		Translations for "printing press"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		makinë shtypi (press, printer). (various references)

Arabic		‏الصحافة. (various references)

Bulgarian		печатарска машина (press, typesetter). (various references)

Czech		tiskařský lis (printing machine). (various references)

Danish		trykpresse. (various references)

Dutch		plakpers, drukpers (press). (various references)

Finnish		painokone, paino (emphasis, load, stress, weight). (various references)

French		presse écrite, presse � imprimer, colleuse (mounting press). (various references)

German		Klebepresse (splicer), Druckpresse (press), druckerpresse. (various references)

Greek		πιεστήριο (press), τυπογραφικό πιεστήριο. (various references)

Hebrew		�"פוס (form, last, molding, moulding, pattern, print). (various references)

Hungarian		nyomdagép (printing machine). (various references)

Italian		pressa per stampa, stampatrice (printer, printing box, printing machine). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		印刷機 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		い�"さつき. (various references)

Manx		clou (edition, print, printed matter, publication, type). (various references)

Pig Latin		intingpray esspray

Portuguese		prelo (press, printing-machine), máquina impressora (printing-machine). (various references)

Romanian		presã de tipar, maşinã de imprimat. (various references)

Russian		печатная машина (printing machine, printing-press, rotary). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		štamparska presa. (various references)

Spanish		prensa de imprimir, prensa (press, press house, printing machine). (various references)

Swedish		tryckpress (press, printer, printing machine, printing-press). (various references)

Turkish		matbaa makinesi (press, printer, printing machine), matbaa (printery, printing house, printing office, printing works). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Anagrams: Printing Press

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "e-g-i-i-n-n-p-p-r-r-s-s-t"
	-2 letters: preprinting.
	-3 letters: persisting, perspiring, pinstripes, reprinting, springiest.
	-4 letters: grippiest, inserting, inspirers, interring, nippiness, pinstripe, preprints, priesting, printings, reprising, resisting, respiring, respiting, resprings, restrings, sintering, sistering, snippiest, springers, springier, sprinters, sprinting, stringers, stringier, stripings, strippers, stripping, trippings.
	-5 letters: ginniest, grinners, gripiest, grippers, grippier, igniters, insister, inspirer, inspires, nippiest, pigsties, pipiness, preprint, pressing, printers, printing, prissier.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Domain	Definition
Publishing & Graphic Arts	A mechanical device to apply ink to a surface, reproducing the pattern or design on the printing plate. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	That box is the biggest thing since Gutenberg invented the printing press, and I'm the biggest thing on it. (Quiz Show; writing credit: Paul Attanasio)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Wendell Phillips	What gunpowder did for war the printing press has done for the mind.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Country	Name
Japan	Hamada Printing Press Co., Ltd.
	(more examples...)

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
printing press	470	shinohara printing press	8
used printing press	100	printing press equipment	7
heidelberg printing press	43	printing press supply	6
offset printing press	43	printing press operator	6
screen printing press	29	harris printing press	6
ryobi printing press	29	flexographic printing press	5
used printing press equipment	26	printing press roller	4
digital printing press	26	t shirt printing press	4
hamada printing press	23	manual printing press	4
ab dick printing press	22	small printing press	3
itek printing press	18	miller printing press	3
solna printing press	17	flexo printing press	3
manufacturer of printing press	13	komori printing press	3
printing press part	10	mitsubishi printing press	2
printing press for sale	10	printing press company	2
printing press machine	10	used heidelberg printing press	2
label printing press	8	old printing press	2
newspaper printing press	8	used digital printing press	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Printing Press

Definition: Printing Press

Printing Press

Noun

Specialty Definition: Printing Press

Specialty Definition: Printing press

Related articles

Synonym: Printing Press

Crosswords: Printing Press

Modern Usage: Printing Press

Screenplays

Commercial Usage: Printing Press

References

Books

Image Slideshow: Printing Press

Illustrations:Printing Press

Computer Images:Printing Press

Photo Album: Printing Press

Familiar Quotations: Printing Press

Wendell Phillips

Non-Fiction Usage: Printing Press

Usage in Company Names: Printing Press

Hamada Printing Press Co., Ltd.

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Printing Press

Modern Translation: Printing Press

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Manx

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Anagrams: Printing Press

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Alternative Orthography: Printing Press

50 72 69 6E 74 69 6E 67 50 72 65 73 73

01010000 01110010 01101001 01101110 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01010000 01110010 01100101 01110011 01110011

&#80 &#114 &#105 &#110 &#116 &#105 &#110 &#103 &#32 &#80 &#114 &#101 &#115 &#115

0050 0072 0069 006E 0074 0069 006E 0067 0050 0072 0065 0073 0073

508475808675807325084718585

INDEX

Illustrations:
Printing Press

Computer Images:
Printing Press