Editing Printing press (section)

== Function and approach ==
[[File:Printing press.jpg|thumb|Printing press, engraving by W Lowry after [[John Farey Jr.]], 1819]]
[[File:Printer in 1568-ce.png|thumb|This [[woodcut]] from 1568 shows the left printer removing a page from the press while the one at right inks the text-blocks. Such a duo could reach 14,000 hand movements per working day, printing ca. 3,600 pages in the process.<ref name="Wolf 1974, 67f."/>]]A printing press, in its classical form, is a standing mechanism, ranging from {{convert|5|to|7|ft}} long, {{convert|3|ft}} wide, and {{convert|7|ft}} tall.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gutenberg Press |url=https://www.printmuseum.org/gutenberg-press |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=International Printing Museum |language=en-US}}</ref> The small individual metal letters known as type would be set up by a compositor into the desired lines of text.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Life in the old print shop {{!}} Revolutions in Communication |url=https://revolutionsincommunication.com/features/life-in-a-print-shop/ |access-date=2024-12-20 |language=en-US}}</ref> Several lines of text would be arranged at once and were placed in a wooden frame known as a [[Galley proof|galley]]. Once the correct number of pages were composed, the galleys would be laid face up in a frame, also known as a forme,<ref>Lyons 2011, p. 59</ref> which itself is placed onto a flat stone, 'bed,' or 'coffin.' 

The text is inked using two [[Ink ball|balls]], pads mounted on handles. The balls were made of dog skin leather, because it has no pores,<ref>[http://www.pressinstitute.in/file-folder/rindsurvey/Rind%20June%202015%20SN.pdf] RIND Survey (The Press Institute of India- Research Institute for Newspaper Development) June 2015, p14</ref> and stuffed with sheep's wool and were inked. This ink was then applied to the text evenly. One damp piece of paper was then taken from a heap of paper and placed on the tympan. The paper was damp as this lets the type 'bite' into the paper better. Small pins hold the paper in place. The paper is now held between a [[frisket]] and [[tympan]] (two frames covered with paper or parchment).

These are folded down, so that the paper lies on the surface of the inked type. The bed is rolled under the [[platen]], using a [[windlass]] mechanism. A small rotating handle called the 'rounce' is used to do this, and the impression is made with a screw that transmits pressure through the platen. To turn the screw the long handle attached to it is turned. This is known<ref name=":0" /> as the bar or 'Devil's Tail.' In a well-set-up press, the springiness of the paper, frisket, and tympan caused the bar to spring back and raise the platen, the windlass turned again to move the bed back to its original position, the tympan and frisket raised and opened, and the printed sheet removed. Such presses were always worked by hand. After around 1800, iron presses were developed, some of which could be operated by [[steam power]].

The function of the printing press was described by William Skeen in 1872:
{{Blockquote| this sketch represents a press in its completed form, with tympans attached to the end of the carriage, and with the frisket above the tympans. The tympans, inner and outer, are thin iron frames, one fitting into the other, on each of which is stretched a skin of parchment or a breadth of fine cloth. A woollen blanket or two with a few sheets of paper are placed between these, the whole thus forming a thin elastic pad, on which the sheet to be printed is laid. The frisket is a slender frame-work, covered with coarse paper, on which an impression is first taken; the whole of the printed part is then cut out, leaving apertures exactly corresponding with the pages of type on the carriage of the press. The frisket when folded on to the tympans, and both turned down over the forme of types and run in under the platten, preserves the sheet from contact with any thing but the inked surface of the types, when the pull, which brings down the screw and forces the platten to produce the impression, is made by the pressman who works the lever,—to whom is facetiously given the title of "the practitioner at the bar.".<ref>{{cite book|title = Early Typography|last = Skeen|first =William|publisher =Government Printer, Colombo |year =1872|location =Ceylon|pages = 122}}</ref>}}