A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface

resting upon a surface to transfer an image. The printing press was one of the
greatest inventions of all time because it allowed knowledge to travel into one
country to another and diffuse different influences in different cultures. The printing
press was created in Germany by the goldsmith Johann Gutenberg in 1439.
Although both woodblock printing and movable type printing technologies were
already developed in ancient China a few hundred years prior, those devices were
different than the printing press. The Gutenberg press was much more efficient than
manual copying and still was largely unchanged in the eras of John Baskerville and
Giambattista Bodon. German printer Friedrich Koenig would be the first to design a
non-manpowered machine—using steam. Having moved to London in 1804, Koenig
soon met Thomas Bensley who secured financial support for his project in 1807and
had it patented in 1810.The first production trial of this model occurred in April
1811.

Koenig and Bauer sold two of their first models to The Times in London in 1814,
capable of 1,100 impressions per hour. The first edition so printed was on November
28, 1814. They went on to perfect the early model so that it could print on both
sides of a sheet at once. This began the long process of making newspapers
available to a mass audience and from the 1820s changed the nature of book
production, forcing a greater standardization in titles and other metadata. Their
company Koenig & Bauer AG is still one of the world's largest manufacturers of
printing presses today.

Timeline of Printing Press

1436: Johannes Gutenberg's partnered with Andreas Dritzehan to further
work on the printing press.

1439: The systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the

goldsmith Johann Gutenberg.

1800: Lord Stanhope had constructed a press completely from cast iron,
reducing the force required by 90% while doubling the size of the printed
area.

1804: German printer Friedrich Koenig would be the first to design a non-
manpowered machine.

1807: Koenig soon met Thomas Bensley and secured financial support for
his project.

1814: Koenig and Bauer sold two of their first models to The Times in
London.

1833: In The United States, the rotary printing press was created by Richard
M. Hoe.