Part 1
# A short history of the printing press and of the improvements in printing machinery from the time of Gutenberg up to the present day ### By Hoe, Robert
---
A Short History of The Printing Press
[Illustration: (FROM MEDAL OF GUTENBERG STATUE)]
A Short History of The Printing Press And of the Improvements in Printing Machinery from the Time of Gutenberg up to the Present Day
[Illustration: FROM A MEDAL BY SCHARFF OF VIENNA]
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED FOR ROBERT HOE NEW YORK 1902
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THE PRINTING PRESS 5 THE EARLIEST FORM OF THE PRINTING PRESS 6 THE BLAEW PRESS 7 STANHOPE PRESS 8 CLYMER’S COLUMBIAN PRESS 8 PETER SMITH HAND PRESS 9 WASHINGTON HAND PRESS 10 TREADWELL’S WOODEN-FRAME BED AND PLATEN POWER PRESS 11 ISAAC ADAM’S BED AND PLATEN PRESS 14 SINGLE SMALL CYLINDER PRESS 18 DOUBLE CYLINDER PRESS 18 SINGLE LARGE CYLINDER PRESS 19 STOP CYLINDER LITHOGRAPHIC PRESS 26 ROTARY ZINCOGRAPHIC OR ALUMINUM PRESS 27 TWO-COLOR ROTARY ZINCOGRAPHIC OR ALUMINUM PRESS 30 FOUR CYLINDER ROTARY TYPE-REVOLVING PRESS 31 TEN CYLINDER ROTARY TYPE-REVOLVING PRESS 31 APPLEGATH’S TYPE-REVOLVING PRESS 40 BULLOCK PRESS 42 LONDON TIMES ROTARY MACHINE 46 FIRST HOE WEB PRESS 50 DOUBLE SUPPLEMENT PRESS 51 QUADRUPLE PRESS 59 STRAIGHT-LINE PRESS 59 SEXTUPLE PRESS 62 APPLETON ROTARY BOOK PRESS 68 ROTARY TYPE-REVOLVING WEB PERFECTING PRESS 69 THREE PAGE WIDE PRESS 70 NEWSPAPER AND PAMPHLET PRESS 71 ROTARY ART PRESS 75 “TIT BITS” PRESS 80 OCTUPLE PRESS 81 DOUBLE SEXTUPLE PRESS BUILT FOR THE NEW YORK JOURNAL 84 “COLLIER’S WEEKLY” PRESS 90
[Illustration: FUST AND SCHOEFFER]
[Illustration: CAXTON]
[Illustration: WYNKYN DE WORDE]
THE PRINTING PRESS
About the year 1450, Gutenberg was engaged in printing his first book from movable types. No method of taking the impressions simpler than that employed by him can be imagined, unless it be with a “buffer,” or by means of a brush rubbed over the paper laid upon the “form” of type, after the manner of the Chinese in printing from engraved blocks. His printing press consisted of two upright timbers, with cross pieces of wood to stay them together at the top and bottom. There were also intermediate cross timbers, one of which supported the flat “bed” upon which the type was placed, and through another a wooden screw passed, its lower point resting on the centre of a wooden “platen,” which was thus screwed down upon the type. After inking the form with a ball of leather stuffed with wool, the printer spread the paper over it, laying a piece of blanket upon the paper to soften the impression of the platen and remove inequalities. This was the machine which Gutenberg used. The mechanical principle embodied in it was found in the old cheese and linen presses ordinarily seen in the houses of medieval times.
[Illustration: THE EARLIEST FORM OF PRINTING PRESS]
Were Gutenberg called upon to print his Bible to-day he would find virtually the same type ready for his purpose as that made by him, no change having taken place in its general conformation; but he would be bewildered in the maze of printing machinery of the beginning of the twentieth century.
The simple form of wooden press, worked with a screw by means of a movable bar, continued in use for about one hundred and fifty years, or until the early part of the seventeenth century, without any material change. The forms of type were placed upon the same wooden and sometimes stone beds, incased in frames called “coffins,” moved in and out laboriously by hand, and after each impression the platen had to be screwed up with the bar so that the paper which had been printed upon it might be removed and hung up to dry.
[Illustration: THE BLAEW PRESS]
The first recorded improvements in this press were made by William Jensen Blaew, a printer of Amsterdam, some time about 1620. They consisted in passing the spindle of the screw through a square block which was guided in the wooden frame, and from this block the platen was suspended by wires or cords; the block, or box, preventing any twist in the platen, and insuring a more equal motion to the screw. He also placed a device upon the press for rolling in and out the bed, and added a new form of iron hand lever for turning the screw. Blaew’s press was introduced into England, and used there as well as on the continent, being substantially the same as that Benjamin Franklin worked upon as a journeyman in London, early in the last century.
[Illustration: STANHOPE PRESS]
Little further improvement was made in the printing press before the year 1798, when the Earl of Stanhope caused one to be made, the frame of which, instead of being of wood, was one piece of cast-iron. A necessity had arisen for greater power in giving the impression, especially in the printing of woodcuts, and the tendency was naturally toward larger forms of type, requiring greater exertion on the part of the printer; the labor in working one of the old screw presses was about equal to that of the plowman in the field. The Earl of Stanhope reserved the screw, but caused to be added a combination of levers to assist the pressman in gaining greater power, when giving the impression, with less expenditure of energy. These machines were very heavy and extremely cumbersome. They were the first iron printing presses ever constructed, and came into use to some extent. The printers, seizing upon this new idea of a combination of levers to increase the power, were induced to place them upon their wooden presses, the improvement resulting generally in the destruction of the latter, which were not adapted to stand the strain. The iron platen employed by the Earl of Stanhope had, however, previously been used upon the wooden presses.
[Illustration: CLYMER’S COLUMBIAN PRESS]
The next practical improvement was made by George Clymer of Philadelphia, who, about 1816, devised an iron machine, entirely dispensing with a screw. A long, heavy cast-iron lever was placed over the platen, one end attached to one of the uprights of the cast-iron frame, and the other susceptible of being raised and lowered by a combination of smaller levers, worked by the pressman after the manner of the ordinary hand press. The impression was given and the platen raised and lowered by a spindle, or pin, attached to the centre of the large cross lever at the top, this being properly balanced to facilitate its being raised with greater ease. Mr. Clymer carried his invention to England, where it was introduced to some extent and was known as the “Columbian” press.
[Illustration: PETER SMITH HAND PRESS]
In England there were iron hand presses made by Rutheven, by Brown and by others, all, more or less, improvements upon the Stanhope.
In 1822 Peter Smith, an American, connected with the firm of R. Hoe & Co. in New York, devised a machine which was in many respects superior to any up to that time. The frame was of cast-iron, and in place of the screw with levers, he substituted a toggle joint, at once simple and effective.
In 1827, however, Samuel Rust of New York, perfected an invention which was a great improvement on the Smith press. The frame, instead of being all of cast-iron, had the uprights at the sides hollowed for the admission of wrought-iron bars, which were securely riveted at the top and bottom of the casting. This gave not only additional strength, but greatly diminished the amount of metal used in construction. This patent was purchased by R. Hoe & Co., who improved upon it, and proceeded with the manufacture of the presses, although the “Smith” continued to be used to some extent. The new invention was known as the “Washington” press, and in principle and construction has never been surpassed by any hand printing machine. They were manufactured in great numbers, and continue to be manufactured and sold at the present time for taking fine proofs, although the universal adoption of the cylinder press has almost entirely superseded them for other printing. The number made and sold by Hoe & Co. alone, a majority of which are now in use, is over six thousand. They have been sent all over the world. This style of press is made in seven sizes.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON HAND PRESS]
The following is a description of this press: The bed slides on a track and is run in and out from under the platen by turning a crank which has belts attached to a pulley upon its shaft. The impression of the platen is given by means of a curved lever acting on a toggle joint, and the platen is lifted by springs on either side. Attached to the bed is a “tympan” frame covered with cloth, and standing inclined, to receive the sheet to be printed. Another frame, called the “frisket,” is attached to the tympan, and covered with a sheet of paper, having the parts which otherwise would be printed upon cut away, so as to prevent the “chase” and “furniture” from blacking or soiling the sheet. The frisket is turned down over the sheet and tympan and all are folded down when the impression is taken. Automatic inking rollers were attached to this machine, operated by a weight raised by the pull of the pressman, the descent of the weight drawing the rollers over the type and returning them to the inking cylinder while the pressman placed another sheet upon the tympan. Still further improvements in this inking apparatus were made and patented by Hoe & Co., in which the distribution of the ink on the rollers was effected by means of an apparatus driven by steam power and which also caused the inking rollers to move forward over the type at the will of the pressman.
[Illustration: TREADWELL’S WOODEN-FRAME BED AND PLATEN POWER PRESS]
The bed and platen system of printing was, up to the middle of the nineteenth century, the favorite method of printing fine books and cuts. The first “power” or steam press upon this principle was made by Daniel Treadwell, of Boston, in 1822. The frames were of wood, and it does not appear that more than three or four of these were ever constructed. The best machines of this description were those devised and patented by Isaac Adams, of Boston, in 1830 and 1836, and by Otis Tufts, of the same place, in 1834. They were first made with wooden and afterward with iron frames. In 1858 Adams’s business became the property of Hoe & Co., who continued to manufacture the machines with added improvements. In all more than a thousand, in no less than fifty-seven sizes, were sold for use in the United States, some being sent to other countries. In these machines, the type is placed upon an iron bed, after the usual manner of the hand press, and this bed is raised and lowered by straightening and bending a toggle joint by means of a cam, thus giving the impression upon the iron platen fixed above it, and firmly held in position by upright iron rods secured to the bottom bar, a strong cross-piece, at the base of the machine. The ink fountain is at one end of the press; the inking rollers travel twice over the form, in a movable frisket frame, while the bed is down; the paper is taken in by grippers on the frisket and carried over the form, when the bed rises and the impression is given; and finally the sheets pass forward from the frisket by tapes to a sheet flier, which delivers them on the fly board. One thousand sheets per hour is the maximum speed of the larger sizes of the Adams press. Although many of these machines were made and great numbers are still used, and notwithstanding the fact that it was thought by many experienced printers that fine book and cut work could be done in no other way than by flat pressure, this system of printing has given place to that of the cylinder press.
[Illustration: ISAAC ADAMS’S BED AND PLATEN PRESS]
The idea of printing from plates or forms carried upon a flat bed beneath a cylinder was not a new one, having been employed by printers of copper-plate engravings in the fifteenth century. Their machines, however, were rude in form, and made of wood, the roller revolving in stationary bearings, while the bed, with the plate upon it and carrying the paper, covered by a blanket, on its surface, moved backward and forward under the roller. The inking was done by hand with balls. With the inauguration of this system of printing from type or forms placed upon a flat bed moved forwards and backwards under a revolving cylinder, commenced an entirely new era in the history of the printing press. It should be understood, however, that the vast number of patents granted for printing machines in which the cylinder is connected with the bed, or by the operation of two cylinders together, one holding the form and the other giving the impression, are almost all for improvements and devices of detail, the radical principles upon which these are founded remaining the same. Thus, Sir Rowland Hill, in the early part of the nineteenth century, projected a machine for printing from an endless roll, or “web” of paper; and in 1790 an Englishman named William Nicholson (author, inventor, patent agent, editor and school teacher) took out a patent covering the idea of cylinder presses in which the forms should be placed upon either a flat bed or cylinder at will and receive the impression from a cylinder covered with cloth or some similar material. Between the bed and cylinder, or between the two cylinders, the sheet was to be fed in and printed. The ink was to be put on by a roller built up of cloth and covered with leather. There is, however, a great difference between an actual invention and a scheme. If the simple proposition advanced to make a machine upon this principle, without its consummation, or without any press being produced, can be considered an invention, then Nicholson may (as a writer on the subject states) have been “so far ahead of his time as to leap over three generations” by his invention. As a matter of fact, however, his patents were mostly schemes, and little more, as a moment’s reflection will convince. He did not know how to curve the plates to be put upon the cylinders, nor how to secure them properly for good work--in fact, he did not know how to make the plates in any practicable manner. All these questions remained to be solved in order that the printing press might be an invention. On this account, therefore, I do not give descriptions of proposals to make machines, but of presses that have been actually made, and used sufficiently to entitle them to recognition as practical improvements exemplifying the progressive evolution of the printing press.
The foundation and growth of newspapers first published periodically, and finally each day, created a demand for machines which should print with rapidity, and fine work was delegated for the time being to the flat bed and platen press, most of it, as has been seen, being turned out upon the hand press.
The credit of actually introducing into use a flat bed Cylinder Press is due to a Saxon named Friederich Koenig, who visited England in 1806, and through the assistance of Thomas Bensley, a printer in London, devised a machine which in 1812-1813 was worked by him, and printed, among other publications, a part of “Clarkson’s Life of William Penn.” Koenig was assisted by a mechanic named Andrew Bauer, a fellow-countryman. The form of type was placed on a flat bed, the cylinder above it having a three-fold motion, or stopping three times; the first third of the turn receiving the sheet upon one of the tympans and securing it by the frisket; the second giving the impression and allowing the sheet to be removed by hand, and the third returning the tympan empty to receive another sheet.
These men also devised what has proved, even to this day, to be a most efficient reciprocating motion of the type bed. It consists of a pinion carried on the inner end of a long shaft which is turned by gearing from the outside of the press frame and has in its length a universal joint, allowing an up-and-down motion of the pinion as it revolves. To the outer end of the shaft the wheel connecting with the impression cylinder is attached. Underneath the bed and fastened to it is a “rack,” or a row of teeth, with a crescent-shaped segment of hard metal at each end. In this rack, in addition to the teeth, are pins, or studs, at each end. The wheel before referred to, at the outer end of the shaft, being set in motion revolves the pinion and moves the bed by means of the teeth in this rack. At the proper moment, calling for the reversal of the bed, the pinion turns around over one of the pins or studs, against the segment on the rack, and immediately re-engages its teeth in the opposite side of the rack, so carrying the bed back again. This motion is repeated at the opposite end of the rack, and the bed again stopped and returned by the pinion revolving against the segment and again over the rack, thus giving a reciprocating motion to the bed.
In 1814 Koenig patented a continuously revolving Cylinder Press. The part of the periphery of the cylinder not used for giving the impression is slightly reduced in diameter, so as to allow the form to return under it freely after giving an impression. He showed designs adapting it for use as a single Cylinder Press, and also a two Cylinder Press, both for printing one side of the paper at a time; likewise a two Cylinder Press for printing both sides of the paper at one operation. In this later press, the two forms were placed one at each end of a long bed, and the paper after being printed on one side by one cylinder, was carried by tapes over a registering roller to the other cylinder, where it was printed upon the reverse side. This press, termed a “perfecting press,” was afterwards improved by Applegath & Cowper so as to be a very efficient machine.
Koenig erected in the office of the London “Times” in 1814 two of the two Cylinder Presses mentioned above, which printed on one side of the paper only, at the rate of 800 sheets per hour.
Koenig, however, was not alone in his efforts to perfect a Cylinder Press. Various patents were gotten out by Bacon & Donkin in 1813; by Cowper in 1816 and again in 1818; and by Applegath in 1818. But the most ingenious and practical device in connection with the movements of a flat bed and a cylinder for printing machines was patented by Napier in 1828 and 1830. He was the first who introduced “grippers,” or “fingers,” for the conveyance of the sheets around the cylinder during the impression, and for delivering them after printing. Tapes or strings had previously been employed for this purpose. He was also the first to manufacture presses in which the impression cylinders are of small size and make two or more revolutions to each sheet printed, and he devised the toggles for bringing the cylinders down to print on the form and for raising them to let the form run back without touching.
[Illustration: SINGLE SMALL CYLINDER PRESS]
[Illustration: DOUBLE CYLINDER PRESS]
The news of these later inventions reached New York in due time, and in 1832 Robert Hoe, who had been some time established in the manufacture of printing presses, sent a young man, Sereno Newton (whom he afterwards took in partnership with him), to England to investigate the subject and see what improvements were worthy of adoption. The result was the construction of the machines known as the “Single Small Cylinder” and “Double Small Cylinder,” also the large Cylinder “Perfecting” Press, which have continued, with many alterations and improvements, to be manufactured up to the present time.
[Illustration: SINGLE LARGE CYLINDER PRESS]
Hoe & Co. had previously made the first flat bed and cylinder press ever used in the United States. It was the pattern known as the “Single Large Cylinder,” the whole circumference of the cylinder being equivalent to the entire travel of the bed forwards and backwards, the cylinder making one revolution for each impression in printing, without stopping. Only a portion of the cylinder was employed to take the impression, the remainder of its circumference being turned down small enough to allow the type on the bed to pass back under it without touching. Hundreds of these machines were made and are now in use, and they are still made at the present day, with patented sheet fliers and other devices and improvements in the methods of manufacture. Other similar presses were made later by the press-makers A. B. Taylor, A. Campbell, C. B. Cottrell, and C. Potter, Jr.
The patented sheet flier before referred to, and which was used on the “Adams” bed and platen press, was greatly improved by Hoe & Co. and placed upon all their cylinder presses.
Before proceeding further with an account of the faster newspaper presses, it may be well to complete the history of machines employed up to this time for book, job and woodcut printing. For this purpose the “Single Large Cylinder,” already described, was first used. In England there were the “Napier” presses, the “Wharfdale” and many others, all involving the same general principle, and capable of turning out more or less satisfactory work, in proportion to the perfection of their construction and the skill of those operating them. Most of the English machines, however, show defects in mechanical construction. In fact, the supremacy of the American printing press is maintained in a large measure by the simplicity, accuracy and perfection of its mechanism. Foreign presses, made by the cheap labor of Europe, have been repeatedly brought to this country and introduced into printing offices. They have never, however, lasted long, most of them having perished in the using or been found unprofitable.
There have been various modifications of the principle underlying the Napier movement for flat-bed presses, i. e., having the driving wheel engage the rack at all times, reversing the movement by turning about the ends of the rack and driving the bed alternately in opposite directions.
As early as 1847 Hoe & Co. patented an entirely new bed driving mechanism. To a hanger fixed on the lower side of the bed were attached two racks facing each other, but not in the same vertical plane, and separated by a distance equal to the diameter of the driving wheel, which was on a horizontal shaft and movable sideways so as to engage in either one or other of the racks. By this means, a uniform movement was obtained in each direction.
The reversal of the bed was accomplished by a roller at either end of the bed entering a recess in a disc on the driving shaft, which in a half revolution brought the bed to a stop and started it in the opposite direction.
This involved a new principle; a crank action operating directly upon the bed from a shaft having a fixed centre, and within recent years modifications of this patent have been successfully employed to drive the type bed at a high velocity and reverse it without shock or vibration.