Sustainable Printing

While offset printing is still the most common method of commercial printing, the technological advances with computers made digital printing a more economical (at certain quantities) and faster option for consumers.

Digital printing is when a computer file is printed directly to a laser or ink-jet printer.  Because there is minimal pre-press and no need to create plates, the cost is low, the resources needed for plate-making are zero and turn around is much faster.   With offset printing, a large portion of the cost is the original plate which makes it more economical to run higher quantities.  However, because there is no high initial cost in digital printing, prints can be run in as few as 1 copy.  By being able to “print on demand”, digital printers have a niche for smaller runs that are just not an affordable option for offset printers.

Digital printing also pioneered the automation on mass mailings (and smaller mailings).  When was the last time you received something in the mail (like a monthly newsletter, magazine or junk mail postcard) that had your address handwritten on it?  Variable data, like mailing lists, are made possible and affordable to print with digital ink-jet machines.

Digital printing also has allowed people to print their own items at home or in the office.  Desktop ink-jet or laser printers are an affordable option for small companies or organizations that do little printing.

There has been debate over which method between offset and digital printing is better for the environment .  Stay tuned to future posts as I explore those arguments.

The next big revolution in printing came along quite by accident.  Although lithography had been on the scene since the late 1700s, it wasn’t until Ian Rubel made a mistake that printing would become “offset” over 100 years after lithography was first introduced. (more…)

For 350 years after the advent of Gutenberg’s movable type, all production printing presses were wooden.  However, with the high demand for newspapers and other printed materials, a stronger and more efficient kind of press was needed.

Charles, the third Earl Stanhope, invented a press made completely of iron around 1805.  The Stanhope press (pictured left) was more durable, produced better prints and quickly replaced the wooden presses previously used.  However, it still only had a one-sheet feed capability that would produce about 200-250 prints an hour.

In order to improve productivity, William Bullock perfected a printing press called the web rotary press in 1860.  While Richard March Hoe had invented the rotary press (pictured above) in the 1840s, Bullock’s press allowed for large rolls of paper or other substrates to be fed through the rollers versus having to hand-feed individual sheets, which was a time-consuming and inefficient task.  Other capabilities of the rotary press include double-sided printing, automatically cutting the prints and a speed of about 12,000 sheets per hour.  Later improvements increased the speed to over 30,000 sheets per hour.

Interesting fact:  Bullock’s death in 1867 was due to an accident with his press at the Philadelphia Public Ledger.  While trying to kick a belt back onto a pulley during an adjustment of the machine, his leg got caught & within a few days, turned gangrene.  Bullock died during the operation to amputate the leg.

Photo Credits:  Both images downloaded from Wiki Commons - click on the image to be taken directly to the download site.

In the printing world, a stereotype is a type of printing plate used in letterpress, newspaper and other high-speed press runs.  William Ged was a Scottish goldsmith who invented the process of stereotyping in 1725, although it wasn’t perfected nor widely accepted until after his death in 1749.

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When Johannes Gutenberg invented his printing press using movable metal type in 1440, he would forever change not only printing, but also the world at large.  By that time, the Chinese had developed printing presses using movable clay type, but Gutenberg’s utilization of metal type is what allowed for cheaper production of the initial molds and, subsequently, cheaper production of books.

The first mass-produced books were Bibles, which cost at the time an average clerk’s wages for 3 years.  Even still, that was far less expensive than a hand-written copy, which took monks over 20 years to produce.  That alone had a significant role in bringing Christianity to people all over the world. (more…)