An invention, without which today it is difficult to imagine the general literacy of the population, is the printing press. Undoubtedly, this machine has changed the world for the better. But when did she appear in our everyday life and what is her story?
Today, the scientific world is of the opinion that the first printing press was built by the German entrepreneur Johannes Guttenberg. However, there are reliable facts that similar devices were used by people much earlier. Even the inhabitants of ancient Babylon put seals on clay using paint and a stamp. In the first century AD, fabrics decorated with patterns were common in Asia and Europe. In ancient times, papyrus was stamped, and the Chinese had paper on which prayers were printed using wooden templates as early as the second century AD.
In Europe, publishing books was the lot of monasteries. At first they were copied by the monks by hand. Then they made a page template and printed it, but the process was long and a new one was needed for a new book.
Almost immediately, the carved boards were replaced with metal characters, which were applied with oil-based ink using a press. It is believed that the loose type technique was first used by Gutenberg (1436year). It is his signature that adorns the most ancient printing press. However, the French and Dutch dispute this fact, arguing that it was their compatriots who invented such an important machine.
So, when asked who invented the printing press, most of our contemporaries will answer that it was Johannes Gutenberg. He was born in Mainz in a family from the old noble family of Gonzfleischa. It is not known for certain why he left his native city, took up a craft and took his mother's surname. However, in Strasbourg, he made the main invention of the century.
Machine device
Guttenberg concealed how his printing press works. However, today it can be argued that in the beginning it was wooden. There is evidence that his first type existed as early as the sixteenth century. Each letter had a hole through which a rope was threaded to bind the typed lines. But wood is not a good material for such a thing. The letters swelled or dried out over time, making printed text jagged. Therefore, Guttenberg began to cut a stamp out of lead or tin, and then cast letters - it turned out much easier and faster. The printing press has actually acquired its modern look.
The typography machine worked like this: initially, letters were made in a mirror form. Hitting them with a hammer, the master received prints on a copper plate. So the required number of letters was made, which were used repeatedly. Then words and lines were added from them. First productionGutenberg was Donat's grammar (thirteen editions) and calendars. Having got the hang of it, he ventured on a more difficult task: the first printed Bible had 1,286 pages and 3,400,000 characters. The edition was colorful, with pictures, and capital letters were hand-drawn by artists.
The Gutenberg case continued. In Russia, such a machine appeared in 1563, when, on the orders of Ivan the Terrible, Fedorov built his own machine.
