THE EVOLUTION OF PRINTING
A LITTLE HISTORY
Did you say printing? YES! Cari-Graph has followed the evolution of printing as a company serving the Caribbean for almost 50 years.
The word “printing” is used commonly in everyday conversation. However, today it can be attributed to many different forms of image and information transfer. Here is a brief history of the evolution of the various printing processes.
● Woodblock Printing is considered the earliest form of printing which first appeared in China around 200AD. ● Movable Type, similar to Woodblock, was invented by Bi Sheng in China around 1040 AD.
● The first Printing Press was invented by Johannes Gensfleisch zum Gutenberg in 1440. This German inventor, Gutenberg is the best-known individual associated with the evolution of printing. He took advantage of the Movable Type which allowed him to mount the single letters and secure same. This was the beginning of letterpress printing.
● The first book to be mass produced was The Gutenberg Bible in 1455 when around 180 copies were printed. The original can be seen in the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany.
● Lithography, a technique still in use today, was invented by the German Johann Alois Senefelder in the 1790s.
● Rotary Press was first invented by Richard March Hoe in 1843.The images to be printed are curved around a cylinder. This design enabled the paper rolls to be continuously fed through the press resulting in a much faster process. Daily newspapers around the world are still being produced taking advantage of this system.
● Offset Printing was developed in 1875 but still remains largely unchanged. Offset, which is a chemical process, involves transferring the ink from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. This kind of printing can produce most colorful reproductions.
● Screen Printing was developed in China between 960 – 1279AD but did not become universally popular until the early 1900s. The technique involves squeezing ink through a mesh stencil onto fabric or paper, especially useful for t-shirt printing.
● Inkjet Printing developed in 1951, as the name implies, sprays ink to the printing surface through jets.
● Laser Printing, invented in the 1970s, was a natural evolution from Inkjet Printing. High quality text and graphics are created by repeatedly passing a laser beam over a negatively charged cylinder (drum) within the printer. The drum then collects electrically charged powdered ink and transfers the image to the paper, which is then heated to permanently fuse the image to the paper.
● Digital Printing was first developed in the 1990s. With the development of the personal computer and subsequent technologies in the mid-20th Century, the digital, or information age, has brought rapid changes to almost every aspect of our lives. Printing is no exception. It is now possible to print directly from a digital file to a variety of media making the process faster and more easily available.
The word “printing” is used commonly in everyday conversation. However, today it can be attributed to many different forms of image and information transfer. Here is a brief history of the evolution of the various printing processes.
● Woodblock Printing is considered the earliest form of printing which first appeared in China around 200AD. ● Movable Type, similar to Woodblock, was invented by Bi Sheng in China around 1040 AD.
● The first Printing Press was invented by Johannes Gensfleisch zum Gutenberg in 1440. This German inventor, Gutenberg is the best-known individual associated with the evolution of printing. He took advantage of the Movable Type which allowed him to mount the single letters and secure same. This was the beginning of letterpress printing.
● The first book to be mass produced was The Gutenberg Bible in 1455 when around 180 copies were printed. The original can be seen in the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany.
● Lithography, a technique still in use today, was invented by the German Johann Alois Senefelder in the 1790s.
● Rotary Press was first invented by Richard March Hoe in 1843.The images to be printed are curved around a cylinder. This design enabled the paper rolls to be continuously fed through the press resulting in a much faster process. Daily newspapers around the world are still being produced taking advantage of this system.
● Offset Printing was developed in 1875 but still remains largely unchanged. Offset, which is a chemical process, involves transferring the ink from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. This kind of printing can produce most colorful reproductions.
● Screen Printing was developed in China between 960 – 1279AD but did not become universally popular until the early 1900s. The technique involves squeezing ink through a mesh stencil onto fabric or paper, especially useful for t-shirt printing.
● Inkjet Printing developed in 1951, as the name implies, sprays ink to the printing surface through jets.
● Laser Printing, invented in the 1970s, was a natural evolution from Inkjet Printing. High quality text and graphics are created by repeatedly passing a laser beam over a negatively charged cylinder (drum) within the printer. The drum then collects electrically charged powdered ink and transfers the image to the paper, which is then heated to permanently fuse the image to the paper.
● Digital Printing was first developed in the 1990s. With the development of the personal computer and subsequent technologies in the mid-20th Century, the digital, or information age, has brought rapid changes to almost every aspect of our lives. Printing is no exception. It is now possible to print directly from a digital file to a variety of media making the process faster and more easily available.