Carroll County Times Articles
Printing Today
by Josh Kohn – December 4, 2005
So who is this Gutenberg guy? What made him so special? He didn't create the printing press. He didn't create movable type. Not even the alphabet.
Printing History
Johannes Gutenberg was a German metal-worker and inventor who achieved fame for his contributions to the technology of printing during 1448. He utilized his innovative mind and developed a method for printing in mass, building from others' inventions.
Gutenberg used the concept of movable type, which was pioneered by the Koreans in the 13th century. He redeveloped the wine press for use in paper pressing , and created a method to form hot metal type from reusable molds.
Prior to Gutenberg, each piece of metal type had to be individually carved by hand. Gutenberg developed molds for the mass production of individual pieces of metal type, where each character is a separate block. These were then assembled into a frame to form text. Printing presses began to spring up all over Europe, allowing for the rapid printing of written materials, and an information explosion in Renaissance Europe.
So what we have in Gutenberg was pure innovation. Not invention. Well, a little invention. But, mostly creative problem solving.
That's exactly what we have today in modern printing. We don't use hot metal type anymore, but we use electro inks that respond to magnetic forces. Let me see if I can explain it in a simpler context.
Digital Printing
Digital printing is unique. Once a designer has completed their layout they send their file to the press. Just like you would send your file from your computer to your laser printer. Once the pressman receives the file, the printing process begins. The file is “rasterized” into dots. Hence DPI (dots per inch). The laser then shines on the imaging drum in a specific area and changes the polarity of that tiny spot on the drum. At that point the “Toner” or “Electro Ink” with an opposite charge is attracted to that point on the drum. As the drum rotates, the paper (which again has the opposite charge from the toner) comes under the drum and then transfers the toner to the paper.
Confused yet? Well, we're not done. As the paper is moving through the press, it may rotate around the drum three more times to pick up cyan colored ink, along with magenta and yellow. Just before the paper exits the press, it runs through a heat or pressure element. This “Melts” the toner onto the paper. So, heat is a critical process.
Seems a whole lot more complex than using a stamping press like Gutenberg's. It's actually simpler. Gutenberg relied on so many manual steps that the process became extraordinarily expensive. Not to mention slow. In Gutenberg's time, he might have been able to print 5 pages a minute in one color. Today, we can print over fifty pages a minute in full color!
Digital printing is where it's at. Printing companies today can create beautiful prints in quantities as little as one sheet. Years ago you couldn't set up a press and print one sheet. There were minimums. It would sometimes take hundreds of sheets just to get the color to an acceptable level.
Future of Print
The concept of printing hasn't changed, it's the method. Imagine what printing will be like 50 years from now. Here's my prediction. Newspapers and magazines will become completely electronic. You'll wake up in the morning to a slim tablet on your breakfast table. During the night, your “smart” tablet will download the days latest news and be ready for you to scroll through like you would browse the web. I don't think the printed page will vanish. There is still something to be said for the tactile feeling of paper.
Gutenberg was an innovator. Innovation fuels change. And we are in the midst of that change again. Printing wont go away, but I can tell you that we won't need to cut down as many trees for paper in the future.
About the Author
Josh Kohn is the owner of Kohn Creative, a Westminster based marketing company. He is also a current member and past President of the Carroll Technology Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating businesses, government and residents about technology issues. Questions are welcomed and may be addressed in future articles. Email advisors@carrolltechcouncil.org or go to www.carrolltechcouncil.org for a list of Advisor categories.
