Friedrich Koenig's Mechanical Platen Press
Date
1811
Credits
- Friedrich Keonig Inventor
Format
- Product 54
Type of Work
- Photo(s) 141
Locations Made
- United Kingdom 33
- London 20
- England 6
Links
The prospect of using steam power in printing prompted research into means by which the different operations of the printing process could be joined together in a single cycle. In 1803, Friedrich Keonig envisioned a press in which the raising and lowering of the platen (the printing plate that presses paper against type), the to-and-fro movement of the bed, and the inking of the form by a series of rollers were controlled by a system of gear wheels and steam powered operations. Although trials of this press were rather unsuccessful until about 1857, this ideation revolutionized the idea of utilizing steam to power a printing press, and later became the stepping stone for cyclical presses.
Friedrich Koenig's Mechanical Platen Press