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What Kind of Printing Is the Printing Press?

The printing press is part of the oldest style of printing, letterpress printing. Presses with assembled raised letters and images, like stamps, are covered with ink then pressed to paper to create the words and images. It is also known as a "relief" style of printing. It was the most common type of printing until the mid 20th century when more technological and efficient methods of printing, like the offset lithographic press, replaced it. There is a method of preparing the press for printing and then there are three different types of presses used for letterpress printing other than the printing press.

  1. Preparing the Press

    • Plates for printing presses have traditionally been made of either metal or wood. Today most of them are metal, it is easier to clean and more durable. Metal letters are assembled on the press into copy. Drawings are etched onto metal plates, more recently lasers have been used to etch these plates. All of these metal plates are fixed in place using quoins which are toothed angular blocks.

    Rotary Letterpress Printing

    • There are two types of rotary letterpresses, sheet-fed and web-fed. The most popular letterpress printing press is the web-fed rotary. They are characterized by their curved plates and the use of heat-set inks and dryers to avoid smearing. This quickens the printing process. They were primarily used to print newspapers because they can print two sides at once. However most newspapers have switched to offset printing presses.

    Platen-Type Letterpress Printing

    • A platen-type press has two flat surfaces called the bed and the platen. After all the type is placed and the plates are inked, the press closes like a clamshell to print. The printing area is a maximum of 18-by-24 inches. Due to the limitations on size, but the versatility of being able to emboss and die-cut, these presses used to print letterheads, forms, invitations and posters.

    Flat-Bed Cylinder Letterpress Printing

    • Flat-bed cylinder presses have either vertical or horizontal beds. The horizontal bed press prints slower than the vertical and is no longer manufactured in the United States. The vertical bed presses also operate slowly producing no more than 5,000 impressions per hour. These presses can print using either one or two-colors and they are more versatile in terms of size, printing as large as 42-by-56 inches.

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