11/2/2005: Traditional Korean printer

[CharlieG]

Originally Posted by lawman

That's why Gutenberg's invention was so 'handy'

http://www.gutenberg.de/english/erfindun.htm

what I find amazing that it was only in the 7th century that individual characters were put together for printing multiple copies.

Actually, the IDEA existed before Gutenberg - what people don't realize is that his big breakthrough was the ability to make each "type element" the exact same LENGTH, so they could be moved around - in the wood page you see above, you plane the wood smooth, carve the text, and when you push it down onto the paper, which is supported by a platen with a small amount of give , all the characters impact with the same pressure

Now, picture what happens if a piece of type is even .005 short - no impact, or a very light impression.

Now, if you figure out how to make all the type the same lenght, the problem goes away - and THAT was what Gutenberg actually invented, and changed the world - a way to MAKE interchangeable type

[Degrees]

What weirds me out is that to print properly, the press has to be a mirror image of the page. The person who wrote the original caligraphy had to do each symbol backwards. Lysdexia here I come....