FINALLY, THE ERA OF DIGITAL #HASHTAGS

The era of digitization began with the invention of the world’s first computer by Charles Babbage in 1848. Although it was an analog device, the digital world that we know of today can be credited to this great invention. Babbage not only created this ‘analytical device’, he also created a mechanical printer to check the output of his ‘Engine’. This was the world’s first domestic printer. Till 1990, it was a highly debated fact whether Babbage’s inventions actually worked until Allan G. Bromley, an associate professor at the University of Sydney, Australia came along and recreated the ‘Difference Engine 2(another name for the world’s first mechanical computer)’ at the London Science Museum. This system used a series of metal rods with characters printed on them and stuck a roll of paper against the rods to print the characters. Thus began the journey of modern day printing.

Babbage Difference Engine No. 2

We have come a long way from the times when printing was only done on an industrial scale and the cost inputs were very high. Only large publishing houses and newspaper businesses could afford and operate a printing press and the only printed material that the common man had access to, was sold at stands right next to their favorite eating joint. The demand for small scale printers rose when people did jobs where excessive writing was becoming a cumbersome task. Thus came in the ‘Typewriter’. The first typewriter to be commercially successful was invented in 1868 by Americans Christopher Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The device worked on the same principle as the printer that Babbage invented in which printed metal rods formed impressions on paper. These machines were portable, cheap, and most importantly of all, made the job easier.

The disadvantage of such typewriters was that the analog mechanism was very tedious to work with. Every document had to be typed and there was no scope of error. Among the systems widely used through the 1980s were daisy wheel systems similar to typewriters, line printers that produced similar output but at much higher speed, and dot matrix systems that could mix text and graphics but produced relatively low-quality output. This created a demand for a faster and better means of printing and publishing. In came the company ‘Hewlett Packard or HP’ with the first low cost laser printer known as the HP LaserJet which was followed by the Apple LaserWriter which also included PostScript( a computer language) which set off a revolution in printing which was known as desktop publishing.  Laser printers used PostScript mixed graphics with text much similar to the dot matrix system but at much higher quality levels. By 1990, most simple printing tasks like fliers and brochures were now created on personal computers and then laser printed; expensive offset printing systems were being dumped as scrap. 

The Laser Printer: Laser printing is an electrostatic digital printing process. It produces high-quality text by passing a laser beam (typically, an aluminium gallium arsenide semiconductor laser) which projects an image of the page to be printed onto an electrically-charged, selenium-coated, rotating, cylindrical drum. Photoconductivity allows the charged electrons to fall away from the areas exposed to light. Powdered ink (toner) particles are then electrostatically attracted to the charged areas of the drum that have not been laser-beamed. The drum then transfers the image onto paper (which is passed through the machine) by direct contact. Finally the paper is passed onto a finisher, which uses intense heat to instantly fuse the image onto the paper.

3D Printer

Since the rapid expanse of e-mail and other digital communication mediums in 1990s, the use of print technology for domestic communication purposes has ever been on the downside. People began viewing printing as keeping a physical backup for emergencies only and offline reading of books and novels became a thing of the past due to the emergence of e-books and tablet computers. The extensive use of electronic means to communicate with those living on the other side of the world and the rising popularity of the concept of ‘save paper’ has led to the downfall of printing. People have been using e-mails instead of handwritten memos, online submission of forms has become commonplace and people have become more aware of the damage done to the environment due to the overuse of paper during printing. Print media has been on the decline since recent times, and the era of e-books has begun.  The ease of access to a large amount of content online has given rise to immense popularity of the e-world. The very existence of the classic paperback has been threatened by e-books, e-news, e-magazines and a lot of other e-stuff. The newest thing in town is the 3D printing technology which helps to create three dimensional models of our creations on the computer. Although very expensive in the initial stages, nowadays 3D printers come at affordable prices with the advancement in technology and people have started buying these printers for their homes and offices.

In spite of all this, print media is something that today’s world cannot live without. Not everyone has access to electronic devices; hell! Not everyone knows how to use one. A person believes what he or she can see, can touch, and can feel. One cannot have that with computers. The worlds of writings started in the Neolithic age during which cavemen made drawings on walls of the animals they hunted, their families. From those times, man has always communicated using the written medium and it is damn near impossible for the written medium to be completely eradicated in spite of how much ever technologically advanced man becomes. The world may use the internet for reading stories and sharing stuff to the world like I am but the feeling, the jolt of electricity passing though the hand when one lifts a pen to write is just indescribable. The only outlet of the vast imaginations that our mind holds is the pen, the one thing that helps us truly describe who we are and bares our soul for the world to read…  

This post is the last of ‘The Road Down History’. From next week, I will start with a new topic and together we shall embark on a new journey- ‘MARVEL vs DC’.

-Anurag Bagga

AGE OF MECHANIZED PRINTING

This post is about the methods of printing in the medieval times, the first printing press and the type of press used today for large scale publication.

In old times, before the development of printing mediums, knowledge and news were spread by handwritten manuscripts and scrolls. These ancient writings on papyrus and wood have given scholars great insights into the world of those times. They tell us about the life of the people in those times- the economy, the state of living, the scientific knowledge and technical expertise. Many royal edicts and inscriptions have been found that tell us about the rulers of those times- the expanse of their kingdoms, their amassed riches, the wars and conflicts, conquests and strategies adopted to keep subjects loyal and happy.

These inscriptions although very artistic and beautiful (as the rulers then liked it), were very tedious to write and time consuming. Every scroll, every manuscript, every copy of the manuscript was to be handwritten and bound. Court scribes were specially kept to write them again and again. Imagine J.K Rowling and her publishing team writing by hand and binding each and every copy of the 450 million sold of the Harry Potter series. The need for printing was very high. They say that necessity is the mother of invention. In came Johannes Gutenberg with the world’s first movable type printing press in 1439, which started the Printing Revolution and is considered to be the most important invention of the modern period. It revolutionized mass publishing and the way people gained knowledge and information about what was happening on the other side of the world. Having previously worked as a professional goldsmith, Gutenberg made skillful use of the knowledge of metals he had learned as a craftsman. He was the first to make an alloy of lead, tin and antimony, which was critical for producing durable type that produced high quality printed books and proved to be much better suited for printing than all other known materials. Gutenberg is also credited with the introduction of an oil-based ink which was more durable than the previously used water-based inks. Gutenberg used paper and vellum as printing material.

The Holy Bible was the world’s first book to be printed by this press and those printed copies were called as Gutenberg Bibles. In the Gutenberg Bible, Gutenberg made a trial of colored printing for a few of the page headings, present only in some copies. One Gutenberg press produced about 3600 pages per day as compared to the 1500 by woodblock painting- the method prevalent in Eastern Asia. By 1500AD, the Gutenberg press was employed in over 200 cities across Western Europe and the output rose to 150 to 200 million copies per day.

In the 19th century, the movable type Gutenberg press was replaced by the steam powered rotary presses which allowed printing on an industrial scale which became the sole medium of bulk printing all across the world. In such type of presses, the images to be printed are embossed on a rotating cylinder which comes in contact with ink and paper and hence the required prints are obtained. One of the most commonly used rotary printing methods is Offset Printing.

Offset Printing is a technique in which the inked image is transferred (or “offset”) from a plate to rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a water-based film (called “fountain solution”), keeping the non- printing areas ink-free thus giving a sharp and contrasting image on the paper. This technique is used today for books, newspapers and all other kinds of stuff that needs mass printing. So the next time you wonder how millions and millions of newspapers are printed every day, you will k now how.

So this is it for this time. The next post will be about the current era of digitization of the printing and the vast world of e-books that have threatened the very existence of the classic paperback. Till then, see ya.
-Anurag Bagga