Gutenberg's Printing Press

Introduction

Sometimes, I would have to print out my assignments and l would look at the printer do its work. I always wonder how the printers transfer the ink onto the pieces of paper that are placed on the tray. When I was looking at a list of technologies during the Renaissance, I saw Gutenberg's printing press and thought that it was interesting. Before coming up with a research question, I first looked up Gutenberg's printing press to find what I can learn more about. Later, I figured I wanted to know how the creation of the Gutenberg printing press affected literature in Germany during the Renaissance in the 1400's. After researching and collecting information from websites, pictures and videos, I found an answer to my question.

Evidence

When the Gutenberg Bible was brought to life in 1440, many Bibles and books were printed. The increasing number of texts allowed more people to read. The structure and parts of the printing press and the way the words were printed onto the paper made the printing process much faster. This helped more text to be printed. More people can read the Bible. People from a lower class can also read the Bible and books. The number of people who learned how to read increased. The creator of this wonderful machine was Johannes Gutenberg.

Johannes Gutenberg was born in a noble family, who lived in Mainz, Germany. He was previously a goldsmith and stonecutter (2). He later decided to make a printing press. Before the printing press was born, books and Bibles were copied by hand, written word by word. It took a long time just for one Bible to be duplicated. Due to the printing press, the process of multiplying Bibles and books were much faster. A page could be printed as many times as it is needed in less than an hour. One of the reason is because of type trays.

Gutenberg made type trays which was the main reason why he could print so rapidly. The type tray allows you to print multiple pages at once. It consist of many small metal letters and they can be rearranged to print other pages (1). A piece of paper would be placed onto the tympan and once that is done, the frisket would be covered on top of the paper. The frisket, tympan and paper would be folded down onto the type tray. The type tray, frisket, tympan and paper would be rolled under the press. When it is under press, the handle would have to be pulled. The handle helps with pressing the tympan, which allows the paper to be pressed against the type tray. One page is now printed (3).

During 1455, more books had been printed and created than the past centuries (4). Gutenberg himself printed his own Bibles that were called Gutenberg Bibles. By the time of 1455, two hundred Gutenberg Bibles were printed (2). In the Bible, there were two rows of words per page. There are also colors like red and blue other than black letters (4). These Bibles and books were handed out to children and adults to the many different levels of classes. Knowledge started to travel rapidly and many people started having new ideas that were inspired by the texts they had read. Not only the nobles know how to read, everybody started reading.

Conclusion

I read everyday, in the library, in class and in my house. From daily readings, I learned new ideas and gain more knowledge. Reading also improved my writing skills and my comprehension. Literature became a big part of life because of a printing press (7). A printing press that was made in 1400 led to an electronic printing press that everybody could have at home today. I never knew how big an impact that a printing press, made by a stonecutter, can be such an important part of my life and my learning.

Appendix

This is a picture of the Gutenberg Bible (4).

In the picture, the listed are the parts of a Gutenberg Printing Press (8).

This is a picture of the Gutenberg's Printing Press (5).

Bibliography

1. Whipps, H. (2008, May 26). How Gutenberg Changed the World. Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.livescience.com/2569-gutenberg-changed-world.html

2. Kreis, S. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/press.html

3. Richins, Z. (2012, April 23). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksLaBnZVRnM

4. Biblia latina (Bible in Latin) [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/bibles/the-gutenberg-bible.html

5. Recreated Gutenberg press at the International Printing Museum, Carson, California [Digital image]. (2009, February 21). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_press

6. 1456 Gutenberg Produces the First Printed Bible. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-28/1456-gutenberg-produces-first-printed-bible.html

7. Shilling, A. (n.d.). How Did the Printing Press and Movable Type Affect the Renaissance? Retrieved November 22, 2017, from http://classroom.synonym.com/did-printing-press-movable-type-affect-renaissance-22667.html

8. J. (n.d.). [Digital image]. Retrieved December 8, 2017, from https://www.emaze.com/@ATQFCWQQ/printing-revolution