The press used in Gutenberg's technology was simple and of the one-pull design the single pull press required a series of steps to print one-half of one side of a sheet of paper per press cycle. The upright beams were frequently braced to the ceiling to keep the press steady.(4) The twisting motion of the turning screw was counteracted by suspending the platen (the wooden plank) from a hollow wooden box that slid inside closely fitting guides while the screw turned freely within. so that the necessary rise and fall was gained within the quarter turn obtainable with a fixed bar. A screw, working in the upper beam and turned by a long bar, exerted pressure downward upon a wooden plank placed on the paper. consisted of two stout upright pieces of wood joined by two horizontal beams. Interestingly, the press was probably the least of Gutenberg's technical problems as he worked out the details of printing with movable type.(3) Not only was the screw press used for the crude printing of the era, but other technologies of the era, such as wine making and book binding, employed it as well. Essentially, the ink of Gutenberg's era was a black oil paint similar to that used by artists of the era.(2) Printers often mixed their own ink and in some cases had secret ingredients to make their ink look unique. soot), was blended with varnish and/or boiled linseed oil. Lampblack, which is the carbon residue from a flame (i.e. Inks used for printing were similar to inks used up until comparatively recently. The extraordinary amount of work it took to produce paper at this time has certainly paid off - the reason that the pages of early paper paged books have survived into our time is greatly due to the non-acidic processing of the paper and the high quality and durability of linen fibers. The sheets were then hung up to dry on a line similar to a clothesline. The stack was then squeezed with the press to purge as much water as possible from the sheets of paper. Then, the process was repeated and another wet sheet was added to the stack and topped by felt, and so on until a suitable stack of paper and felt separators was achieved. The delicate, damp sheet was then carefully removed from the mold and placed between two pieces of felt on the flat table of a screw press. The mold was lifted above the slurry as it was gently shaken allowing the excess moisture to drain. After the pounding, the fibers were then ground into pulp on stones and processed into a pasty liquid in a vat of water.(1) The paper maker then lowered a sheet of metal mesh into the slurry covering the mesh with the linen cellulose paste. A slurry of suspended fibers was created by pounding the rags in water. Second, the fibers were then formed into a durable sheet of paper. First, the raw material, usually linen rags, was broken down into its constituent fibers. The production of paper consisted of two steps. The availability of paper is quite remarkable in itself which merits further attention. Paper, ink, the screw press, and imaging techniques were used and improved as movable type printing increased in use.ěy the mid fourteenth century, paper had become commonly available in Europe and was enjoying increasing use by 1450. The difference was that Gutenberg improved their utility. Gutenberg's invention made the printing of lengthy texts possible by continuing to use existing materials. This may well be the case, but, for the moment, we will leave this question to the side. As an aside, some have speculated that there were others working on the printing process around the time of Gutenberg. Sadly, eventually Gutenberg lost his printing business to a creditor and died in1468. His trade was goldsmithing, which would have given him the skills needed for making movable type via casting and then tooling lead. Gutenberg was born in Mainz about 1397 and, after developing his printing innovation in Strassbourg, he moved to his hometown and opened a print shop. Johann Gutenberg is credited with having developed the movable type printing process sometime before 1450 while living in Strassbourg, but due to the limited information available about him the year is not certain.
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