Printing Press

"It is a newspaper's duty to print the news and raise hell."

— The Chicago Times

A landmark invention for the contemporary world, the Printing Press allows the almost unrestricted copying and distribution of written material, such as books, newspapers, and texts.

History

While movable type was invented in Darkshelf, as far as can be determined, the first mechanized printing press was invented in the c.4125 by Carcinian printer Sidonie Van Kerchkhoven. The earliest printing presses were wooden machines, very similar in design to the wine and olive oil presses which had been used around the Sea of Fallen Stars for centuries.
In the original presses, the type was laid out in reverse on a wooden "platen" which held it tightly in position. Ink was applied to the type on the platen, then the paper was placed atop the platen in the press. The craftsmen turned the screw to put pressure on the paper and bring it into contact with the inked type. The printer then removed the paper and reinked the type, and the process began once again. Kerchkhoven's press could turn out some 250 sheets per hour (printed on one side). Her design remained unchanged for some three hundred years, until it was supplanted by metal machines. Presses were eventually powered by steam, and capable of producing some 7500 sheets per hour.
The value of the printing press to human knowledge cannot be overstated. Before the press, few books were in print, and those that were might cost more than the average worker made in a year. The Capital University Library had just over 400 books when the press was invented; within an astonishingly short time common folks could afford to have bibles and other books in their homes. Within 6 years the first printed "news book" (forerunner to the newspaper) appeared in Carcino, produced by the The Running Six.

"What gunpowder did for war, the printing press has done for the mind."

— Wendell Phillips

Parent Technologies

• Printing

Inventor(s)

Sidonie Van Kerchkhoven invented the printing press c. 4126 R.E..

Access & Availability

Closely guarded secret. Only one person knows how to make and repair the Printing Press, Sidonie Van Kerchkhoven, and she seems to plan to keep it this way for the foreseeable future.

Complexity

The printing press is one of the milestones of ingenuity and inventions. This was done with an understanding of machinery and physics by it's creator Sidonie, that was unmatched by even the wisest of sages and scholars at the time.