Johannes Gutenberg's Printing Press

      In the 700's, around East Asia, movable printing presses had existed, but had not spread to Europe yet.

 In Europe, everything was handwritten or printed from a big wooden block.

This wooden block was hand carved. This is how it was used: first they carved

what they wished was on the paper, then the pressed it against the block against

paper. The only bad parts of this "machine" was that it could not be used again

and the words sometimes smeared.

     This is where Johannes Gutenberg comes in. Johannes Gutenberg was a

German goldsmith. In 1440, he created a movable printing press by

making a piece of medal in the shape of each character. This way,

he could make books again and again. Within years, three more kinds

of printing presses were made.

     The first of the three new kinds was created by Tolbert Lanston

in 1884. Lanston's monotype machine. Was quite different then

Gutenberg's. Lanston's machine worked like this: a person types in the

text and a piece of paper comes out with symbols. Then the paper is

put into a machine that puts the characters onto the piece of paper.

     A year later, Ottmar Mergerthaler invented a one-operator linotype

machine. The press fuses seperate letters into a solid line of

molten lead.

     The same year, Frederick Ives invented a press that could copy a

photograph in print. This was the halftone process. It involves a

a lot of black and white dots which which simulates the eye so

that the photo image will look grey.

Sources:

Knaer, Kelly. Gutenberg's Printing Press - 1440

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/history_knowledge/printpress.html

Ament, Phil. Printing Press.

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/printpress.htm