A young person's guide

Transcription

1 A young person's guide

2 here are many books just like this book you are now reading. They are all copies of the same words and pictures. Do you know how people make so many copies of the same words and pictures? Do they write and draw them by hand with pens? Of course not! Imagine how long that would take! Then how is it done? This book was printed by a machine called a printing press. A printing press makes many copies of words and pictures very fast by putting ink on paper. Before the printing press was invented, it once took fifty-five people almost two years to make just 200 copies of one book. After the press was invented, it took only a few months to print 24,000 copies of one book. Today, many more copies than that can be printed in just one day. What is Printing will show you some important things about the printing press. Who invented it? What do printing presses look like? How do they work? And what are some of the many things they print? Then you will understand what printing is and how important it is in our daily lives.

3 Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut About 550 years ago, a man named Johann Gutenberg (pronounced Yó-han Goó-ton-berg) invented the first movable type printing press. He was born and lived in Germany. One of the very first books he printed was the Bible. The first press in this country was set up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, about twenty years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. 1

4 Webfed presses Large rolls of paper feed these presses. Sheetfed presses Separate sheets of paper are fed into these presses. Today s printing presses are much bigger machines than the first presses and can do many more things much faster. They come in many shapes and sizes. The long presses print lots of colors all at once. The shortest presses print black only. The biggest, tallest presses print newspapers. Some presses can print on both sides of the paper at the same time. 2

5 Printed on recycled paper Most paper is made from wood pulp which comes from trees. The trees are ground up and mixed with water to make the pulp. Then the pulp is pressed and dried between rollers to make it into paper. Nowadays, a lot of already-used paper is mashed up and made into new paper again. This is called recycling. When used paper is recycled, fewer trees are cut down. 3

6 The press uses ink to print words and pictures on the paper. Maybe you have seen black or red or blue ink in pens. Printing inks come in cans and are made in hundreds and hundreds of different colors. The pressman adds the inks before the press begins to print. Ask a printer you know how they can print many, many colors using just a few colored inks. 4

7 The person who runs the press is called the pressman. He or she turns all the knobs and handles and pushes all the buttons to make the press work. The pressman makes sure that the words and pictures look perfect when they are printed. 5

8 The Circus There are many exciting and colorful things at the circus. Big tents, funny clowns and colorful balloons are everywhere. A day at the circus can be filled with fun! Before you can print, you need words, or pictures, or both. The pictures can be photographs or drawings or whatever anyone thinks up. The words can be stories or facts. These words and pictures are called the artwork. The artwork is put on a thin sheet of metal called a printing plate. 6

9 NOW WE RE READY TO PRINT! The paper goes into one end of the press. The printing plate lays the ink on the paper to make a copy of the artwork. Then the printed paper comes out the other end. This all happens very fast. You can make thousands and thousands of copies every hour. 7

10 After the paper is printed on, it goes to another machine. This machine cuts the paper into smaller pieces. It is called a cutter and uses a very big blade. This blade can cut through hundreds of sheets of paper at one time. The cutter also trims the rough edges off the paper. 8

11 Usually the paper needs to be folded to make it the right size. The machine that folds the paper is called a folder. This book was folded from one piece of paper and then trimmed on three sides. The folder is fast and noisy. 9

12 Printing presses print comic books, newspapers, school books, notebook paper, calendars and many, many other things. What would the world be like without all the things printing presses print? It is hard to imagine. 10

13 These are photographs of some other things printed on printing presses. Can you name them? Answers: 1. Playing cards 2. Candy boxes 3. Postage stamps 4. Birthday cards 5. Sheet music 11

14 Now you know what printing is. Can you name the things you need to print with? Answers: 1. Printing Press 2. Paper 3. Ink 4. Artwork 12

15 s you can see, printing is very important. But what really makes it so important is what you are doing right now. Reading. Every time you open up a book, you open up a world of exciting stories and interesting facts, a world of knowledge and imagination. Reading is what makes printing so important Man Roland Inc. Illustrated by Mike Dammers

16 For additional copies of What is Printing? Contact: MAN Roland Inc., 800 East Oak Hill Drive, Westmont, Illinois Fax: