| Home | Free Articles for Your Site | Submit an Article | Advertise | Link to Us | Search | Contact Us |
This site is an archive of old articles

    SEARCH ARTICLES


vertical line

Article Surfing Archive


Printing Press Development - Articles Surfing

There are a lot of new technologies used in the printing press industry. Make it from simple to very complicated machines that for sure will lead to the transformation of printing services. And even more, latest technologies are still innovating for faster and accurate printing results.

The original method of printing was block printing, pressing sheets of paper into individually carved wooden blocks usually called(xylography). It is believed that block printing originated in China and the earliest known printed text, the Diamond Sutra (a Buddhist scripture), was printed in China in 868 A.D. The technique was also known in Europe, where it was mostly used to print Bibles. Because of the difficulties inherent in carving massive quantities of minute text for every block, and given the levels of peasant illiteracy at the time, texts such as the "Pauper's Bibles" emphasized illustrations and used words sparsely. As a new block had to be carved for each page, printing different books was an incredibly time consuming activity.

After the block printing another technique was been introduced, the moveable clay and metal type are processes much more than hand copying. The use of movable type in printing was invented in 1041 AD by Bi Sheng in China. Sheng used clay type, which broke easily, but eventually Goryeo (Korea) sponsored the production of metal type (a type foundry was established by the Korean government in the early 15th century). Since there are thousands of Chinese characters (Koreans also used Chinese characters in literature), the benefit of the technique is not as apparent as with alphabetic based languages. Movable type did spur, however, additional scholarly pursuits in Song China and facilitated more creative modes of printing. Nevertheless, movable type was never extensively used in China until the European style printing press was introduced in relatively recent times (thus bringing the technology full circle).

Although probably unaware of the Chinese/Korean 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, who had a paper mill in operation in Baghdad as early as 794. Before inventing the printing press in 1440, Gutenberg had worked as a goldsmith. Without a doubt, the skills and knowledge of metals that he learned as a craftsman were crucial to the later invention of the press.

From the different pioneering inventors of the printing press, nowadays high-tech machines are also invented to to help upgrade the industry when it comes to fast, efficient and credible result of printing services. The printing press certainly initiated an "information revolution" on par with the Internet today. Printing could and did spread new ideas quickly and with greater impact.

Submitted by:

Marlon D. Ludovice

Marlon is a graduate of BACHELOR OF ARTS, major in POLITICAL SCIENCE. Well actually i'm not fun of writing, i dont write at all. i am not expecting that i will be in this field. But i love to read books...almost everything interest me. reading is my passion! but now that i am in an article writer team, writing gives me an additional thrill in myself...Before i love to read books but now im also in a writing stuff. I can't say im a good writer but i am trying to be one.

For additional information and comments about the article you may log on to http://www.aprintingpress.com

marlon@rushprintingservices.com


        RELATED SITES



https://articlesurfing.org/business_and_finance/printing_press_development.html

Copyright © 1995 - 2024 Photius Coutsoukis (All Rights Reserved).

ARTICLE CATEGORIES

Aging
Arts and Crafts
Auto and Trucks
Automotive
Business
Business and Finance
Cancer Survival
Career
Classifieds
Computers and Internet
Computers and Technology
Cooking
Culture
Education
Education #2
Entertainment
Etiquette
Family
Finances
Food and Drink
Food and Drink B
Gadgets and Gizmos
Gardening
Health
Hobbies
Home Improvement
Home Management
Humor
Internet
Jobs
Kids and Teens
Learning Languages
Leadership
Legal
Legal B
Marketing
Marketing B
Medical Business
Medicines and Remedies
Music and Movies
Online Business
Opinions
Parenting
Parenting B
Pets
Pets and Animals
Poetry
Politics
Politics and Government
Real Estate
Recreation
Recreation and Sports
Science
Self Help
Self Improvement
Short Stories
Site Promotion
Society
Sports
Travel and Leisure
Travel Part B
Web Development
Wellness, Fitness and Diet
World Affairs
Writing
Writing B