Editing Offset printing (section)

{{short description|Printing technique}}
[[File:DE-Zeitungsrollenoffsetdruck by Steschke.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Web-fed offset lithographic press at speed]]
[[File:CMYK on fabric.jpg|thumb|[[CMYK]] four color offset printing on fabric]]
[[File:CMYK offset on paper2.jpg|thumb|[[CMYK]] colors of offset printing on a paper]]
{{History of printing}}

'''Offset printing''' is a common printing technique in which the [[ink]]ed image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the [[lithography|lithographic]] process, which is based on the repulsion of [[oil]] and [[water]], the offset technique employs a flat ([[planographic printing|planographic]]) image carrier. Ink rollers transfer ink to the image areas of the image carrier, while a water roller applies a water-based film to the non-image areas.

The modern "web" process feeds a large reel of paper through a large press machine in several parts, typically for several meters, which then prints continuously as the paper is fed through.

Development of the offset press came in two versions: in 1875 by Robert Barclay of [[England]] for printing on [[tinplate|tin]] and in 1904 by [[Ira Washington Rubel]] of the [[United States]] for printing on paper.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=offset printing (printing technique) |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/425722/offset-printing |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=2013-11-24}}</ref> Rubel's contemporary in [[Continental Europe]] was [[Kašpar Hermann]], the author of the offset machine [[prototype]] (1904), holder of a patent for an offset disc machine (two rubber transfer rollers facing each other) – rolling-press. In 1907, he successfully started printing in [[Germany]] on his Triumph sheetfed offset press.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stejskalova |first1=Helena |title=Ofsetová tisková technika: Přišla na svět díky zapomnětlivosti? |work=EpochaPlus |date=14 November 2016 |issue= Podzim |access-date=30 December 2022|url=https://epochaplus.cz/ofsetova-tiskova-technika-prisla-na-svet-diky-zapomnetlivosti/}}</ref>