Printing Press

Printing Press - A machine that allowed for easy reproduction of printed materials.

Invented in the 1440s, the printing press of Johannes Gutenberg is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential inventions in history. Gutenberg's printing press used customizable forms to transfer the same text or images to different pieces of paper or other material. The press allowed people to create identical copies of books and other written materials quickly, cheaply and efficiently. 

While Chinese inventor Pi Sheng is credited with inventing movable type in the eleventh century, it was Gutenberg who refined the process of using block printing and movable type to mechanize printing and enable mass production. Using his knowledge and experience as a professional goldsmith, he developed a method of creating individual lead letters that could be assembled quickly into blocks of text, then melted down for recasting when sufficient copies had been made. When combined with a screw-type press, paper that by then was readily available and a remarkable ease of use, Gutenberg's movable type transformed the means of by which ideas were spread in the community. 

Prior to the press, written materials had to be copied individually by hand in a painstaking, laborious process. After its introduction, even bound books could be mass-produced. (The first book printed by Gutenberg was the Bible.) Within a few decades of its appearance, the printing press was being used in every country in Western Europe and the number of books being produced each year skyrocketed. It is estimated that in the fifteenth century fewer than 25 million books were made in Europe. By the sixteenth century that number had ballooned to more than 200 million. The printing press's widespread adoption not only lead to a surge in literacy rates, but also made it easier for scientists, philosophers and other thinkers to share and spread their ideas.