. Printing and writing materials: their evolution . story of the printing-press Early Presses of Wood rpHE simple press of Gutenberg consisted of twoberg press! -*- upright timbers, with crosspieces of wood at thetop and bottom, and two intermediate was operated entirely by hand. The type, sup-ported on one of the cross-timbers, was placed onwooden or stone beds, in frames called ^coffins/!which were laboriously moved in and out. Afterthe type was inked and the paper laid, the platen^was forced down upon the bed by means of a largescrew. After each impression the platen had tobe
. Printing and writing materials: their evolution . story of the printing-press Early Presses of Wood rpHE simple press of Gutenberg consisted of twoberg press! -*- upright timbers, with crosspieces of wood at thetop and bottom, and two intermediate was operated entirely by hand. The type, sup-ported on one of the cross-timbers, was placed onwooden or stone beds, in frames called ^coffins/!which were laboriously moved in and out. Afterthe type was inked and the paper laid, the platen^was forced down upon the bed by means of a largescrew. After each impression the platen had tobe screwed up again, in order that the printedsheet might be removed and hung up to about fifty impressions could be made in anhour. The early presses required two workmen—one to ink the type, and one to pull or to print. The Gutenberg press continued in use for aboutone hundred and fifty years, or from the middle 1 The platen is the flat part or plate of a hand-press, which isbrought down upon the form of type to make the impression. (72). OLD WOODEN PRINTING-PRESS, 1508. [After woodcut by Badius.] HISTORY OF THE PRINTING-PRESS 73 of the fifteenth century to the early part of theseventeenth. About 1620 improvements were made in the The Blaeu old printing-press by William Janson Blaeu of P^ By a device attached to the press,the bed could now be easily moved in and out,and a new form of hand-lever turned the machine could be made to produce in ten hours700 sheets, but the average performance was Blaeu press contained about the only im-provements made in printing-presses between thetime of Gutenberg and of Stanhope, and was usedfor about a century and a half. It was introducedinto England, and is substantially the press uponwhich Benjamin Franklin worked during the timehe spent in London, at the beginning of his career. Iron Presses Very little further improvement was made in ^^the construction of printing-presses until the iiope
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