PRINTING HISTORY
APR 24, 2022
The Revolutionary Invention Of Printing Press
The revolutionary invention of printing press brings the era of darkness that swept the world into times of the enlightenment.
OVERVIEW
The invention of the printing press is one of the most important events in human history because it became the impetus for the emergence of the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment.
The invention of the printing press allowed information to spread more quickly across Europe to promote cultural renewal. This was evidenced by the increase in literacy in European society, which eventually challenged the power of the rich, nobles and the church, who were the educated parties in the Middle Ages.
THE TIMELINE
A very simple form of printing can be found in China and Korea around 175 AD. An inverted look on wood, and then bronze has been made at the time. This tool is then inked with ink then placed on a piece of paper and rubbed gently using a bamboo stick.
In the 8th century the Japanese and Chinese have succeeded invented the printing press as well as with.
The Korean has succeeded in creating printing press at the beginning of the 15th century. The printing machines in China and Japan were made of shaped wooden blocks that only used to print one page singular of a special text, while the Korean print machine was made of metal and far better. But the printing press technology from these three nations of the yellow race were not created to print pages of books or other documents in bulk, therefore the effect to social change was small.
The big breakthrough came around in 1450 by Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468) from the city of Mainz, Germany. Gutenberg invented a method of casting letter pieces on a metal alloy made of tin. These snippets can be emphasized onto a text page for printing.
Gutenberg is called the inventor of the printing press from Germany for the first time and is known as the “father of a printing revolution” because he has invented many types of printing machines, namely movable, ink-based printing machines.
However, the historic discovery was realized after going through a fairly long process. Gutenberg began experimenting with printing in 1438, while he was still living in Strasbourg, France.
He thought that printing from blocks pressed onto sheets of printing paper was indeed better than simply copying manuscripts.
In 1448, Gutenberg moved his workshop to Mainz, his hometown in Germany. It was in that city that he perfected his invention and assembled his first printing press.
After a series of preparations and trials, in 1450 Gutenberg’s first printing press was operational. Gutenberg was the first to make molds from metal alloys to produce a movable type printing press.
The reason Gutenberg wanted to create a printing press was that he wanted to create a machine that could help someone to write a large number of letters, books, etc.
IMPACT ON CIVILIZATION
Thanks to the printing press successfully created in the 15th century, the era of darkness that swept the world replaced into times of the lightness (a bright era).
Books and scriptures (Bible) which used to be handwritten with the very limited number and could only be accessed by a handful of people – so that knowledge and the source of truth became the absolute right of the ruler and religious people and tend to dogmatic and authoritarian – had became successfully printed and mass-published and widely circulated mass too.
ORIGINAL INVENTOR
However, it is still a matter of debate whether the idea of a portable printing press was spread by traders and explorers from Asia to Europe or was a purely spontaneous invention by Gutenberg.
There are actually other claims, such as the Dutch inventor Laurens Janszoon Coster (1370-1440) and two earlier German inventors, Johann Fust (1440-1465) with his son-in-law, Peter Schöffer (1425-1502). In addition, there is other evidence that iron printing presses have existed in Korea since 1234 in the Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392).
And just like any other technology in history, this invention was created as a result of various elements, ideas and interests coming together through individuals from different times and places.
Around the 1800s, the steam printing machine was invented which became the printing solution for its time. The steam printing machine became the second generation, as a new innovation for Gutenberg’s invention. Its existence really helps the productivity of newspaper and newspaper printing which is skyrocketing rapidly
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