The History of Making Books: Build a Printing Press at MIT

Video: Melanie Gonick/MIT

Additional footage: Jonathan Sachs
Historical printing image: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Music sampled from, "Beat The Burglar" by Scott Holmes

[raphaelnjoku]

Gotta admire the engineering of the past. Efficient and accurate mechanisms without computer aided manufacture; just hard graft.

[Dreamer]

Although I respect the effort, and admire the craftsmanship of this press building project, I take serious issue with the use of a wood screw. There is no proof that the original Gutenberg press used wooden screws, and anyone who has used a Common Press to do "edition printing" on a deadline (there are very few of us) knows that a wooden-screw press just isn't up to the task in the long-term. They wear out quickly, are horribly subject to environmental fluctuations, and are profoundly unrealiable and not cost-effective.

Gutenberg's father was a Companion of the Mint, and Gutenberg worked in the Mint, so he would have been familiar with iron screw on bronze nut fly presses. His family did NOT make their own wine (we have the records for his estate purchasing wine) so contrary to what many "art historians" say, he was probably not that familiar with wood-screw wine presses. The only logical answer is that Gutenberg--who got EVERYTHING ELSE right about the invention of printing--the paper, the ink, the hand-casting of type, the press--must have realized that a wood screw would be a disastrous liability in a production print shop environment, and went, instead with an iron screw/cast-on bronze nut system--the same system on EVERY common press ever built that still exists.

It is difficult to imagine that Gutenberg got everything else right in his invention of the printing process, but would be so foolish as to use wooden screws--they are difficult to make, difficult to maintain, and utterly unreliable in a printshop--not to mention the technical difficulty of cutting the internal threads on a wooden nut. The iron screw/bronze nut system requires half the effort to make--one merely cuts the threads in the iron screw, and then using a sandcasting method, casts the bronze nut ONTO the screw, making a perfect match to the threads. Another massive advantage to the iron screw/bronze nut mechanism is that it actually gets smoother and MORE reliable with use, . It is a "self-lubricating journal" as the iron screw polished the bronze nut every time it is cycled.

So, GREAT project, MIT--but you unfortunately fell for the "myth of the wooden screw" that has been perpetuated for decades by "art historians"--most of whom have never even pulled a press, let alone worked in a letterpress shop in any capacity other than as an artist, without the constraints of budgets, deadlines, or harsh environments...

[corvaire]

Intuitive troubleshooting taught delightfully! ;O)-

[lflee]

Maybe build a handmade pcb board for your next project?

[saiskanda]

pls also see the Balvenie video on Arion press! very beautiful

[ELDK]

I did all of this in H.S. - bring back wood shop & metal shop. How is this college level work? Well, at least they were exposed to it.

[baileyharrison]

But why would you take a course in the history of making books?