Задание по самостоятельному чтению к зачету/экзамену для факультета полиграфических технологий и оборудования
Cпециальность:
261202 – Технология полиграфического производства
150407 – Полиграфические машины и автоматизированные комплексы
PRINTING
Printing is a process for production of texts and images, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing.
Classical printing
Johann Gutenberg, of the German city of Mainz, developed European printing technology in 1440, with which the classical age of printing began. Genealogically, all modern movable type printing can be traced back to a single source, Gutenberg's printing press which he derived from the design of long known agricultural presses. East Asian style movable type printing, which was based on laborious manual rubbing and which had been scarcely used, practically died out after the introduction of European style printing in the 19th century.
Gutenberg is also credited with the introduction of an oil-based ink which was more durable than previously used water-based inks. Gutenberg was also the first to make his type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, which was critical for producing durable type that produced high-quality printed books, and proved to be more suitable for printing than the clay, wooden or bronze types used in East Asia. Within a year after his B42, Gutenberg also published the first coloured prints.
Gutenberg's invention of the printing press revolutionized communication and book production leading to the spread of knowledge. Rapidly, printing spread from Germany by emigrating German printers, but also by foreign apprentices returning home. A printing press was built in Venice in 1469, and by 1500 the city had 417 printers. In 1470 Johann Heynlin set up a printing press in Paris. In 1476 a printing press was developed in England by William Caxton. Stephen Day was the first to build a printing press in North America at Massachusetts Bay in 1628, and helped establish the Cambridge Press.
Print shops
Early print shops (near the time of Gutenberg) were run by "master printers." These printers owned shops, selected and edited manuscripts, determined the sizes of print runs, sold the works they produced, raised capital and organized distribution. Some master print shops became the cultural centre for literati.
Early print shop apprentices: Apprentices, usually between the ages of 15 and 20, worked for master printers. Early Journeyman printers: After completing their apprenticeships, journeyman printers were free to roam Europe with their tools of trade and print where they journeyed to. This facilitated the spread of printing to areas that were less print-centred. Early Compositors: Those who set the type for printing.
The earliest-known image of a European, Gutenberg-style print shop is the Dance of Death by Matthias Huss, at Lyon, 1499. At the right of the print shop a bookshop is shown.
By the sixteenth century jobs associated with printing were becoming increasingly specialized. Printing during this period had a stronger commercial imperative than previously.
Bookseller publishers negotiated at trade fairs and at print shops. Jobbing work appeared in which printers did menial tasks in the beginning of their careers to support themselves. Cooperative associations/publication syndicates—a number of individuals shared the risks associated with printing and shared in the profit.
Modern printing technology
In 2006 there are approximately 30,700 printing companies in the United States, accounting for $112 billion, according to the 2006 U.S. Industry & Print jobs that move through the Internet made up 12.5% of the total U.S. Printing market last year, according to research firm InfoTrend/CAP Ventures.
Books and newspapers are printed today using the technique of offset lithography. Other common techniques include flexography used for packaging, labels, newspapers relief print, (mainly used for catalogues), screen printing from T-shirts to floor tiles rotogravure mainly used for magazines and packaging, inkjet used typically to print a small number of books or packaging, and also to print a variety of materials from high quality papers simulate offset printing, to floor tiles hot wax dye transfer laser printing mainly used in offices and for transactional printing (bills, bank documents).
State-of-the-art presses use to mix more printing techniques so you can have an offset machine with a flexo section for the varnishing of the product they are printing or a digital printing unit.
Gravure
For this process, the image to be printed is made up of small holes sunk into the surface of the printing plate. The printing plates are usually made from copper and may be produced by engraving or etching.
Gravure printing is used for long, high-quality print runs such as magazines, mail-order catalogues, packaging, and printing onto fabric and wallpaper. It is also used for printing postage stamps and decorative plastic laminates, such as kitchen worktops.
Digital
Printing
Printing at home or in an office or engineering environment is subdivided into: small format (up to ledger size paper sheets), as used in business offices and libraries wide format (up to 3' or 914mm wide rolls of paper), as used in drafting and design establishments.
Some of the more common printing technologies are line printing — where pre-formed characters are applied to the paper by lines daisy wheel — where pre-formed characters are applied individually dot-matrix — which produces arbitrary patterns of dots with an array of printing studs heat transfer — like early fax machines or modern receipt printers that apply heat to special paper, which turns black to form the printed image blueprint — and related chemical technologies inkjet — including bubble-jet — where ink is sprayed onto the paper to create the desired image laser — where toner consisting primarily of polymer with pigment of the desired colours is melted and applied directly to the paper to create the desired image.
Professional digital printing (using toner) primarily uses an electrical charge to transfer toner or liquid ink to the substrate it is printed on. Digital print quality has steadily improved from early color and black &
Small press and fanzines generally use digital printing or more rarely xerography.
THE PRINTING PROGRESS
Today millions and millions of words are printed every day in books, newspapers, magazines and leaflets. But we sometimes forget that the progress of printing started with an invention made by one man in the 15th century. His name was Johann Gensfleish zum Gutenberg; his invention was movable type.
Before Gutenberg's time books were printed, but this was done from wooden blocks which were made by hand. This was a very slow way of working. All other documents were made by scribes. The scribes copied everything out by hand. Movable type put an end to the work of the scribes. Gutenberg, who was trained as a goldsmith, used his knowledge of metalwork and woodwork to develop a new process. He made a large number of single letters which could be put together in any way. Now a printer could produce a page of text, which was quick and easy to correct. Once the text was corrected, the printer could make as many identical copies as he liked. This process was the foundation of the whole publishing industry. Publishing is only possible when you can produce a large number of copies within a short time. The basic principles of Gutenberg's process remained largely unchanged for three centuries.
Scientific discoveries led to improvements in printing. Scientists were able to produce better paper and ink. Printing machines became more complicated and could now print at much faster speeds. This meant that they could make copies more cheaply.
In recent years great technical advances have been made. For instance, printers now use photographic processes. The introduction of electronics has brought many changes. Some people have found ways of using laser beams to create an image on specially prepared paper!