ever invented. It consisted of two upright timbers, 

 stayed at the top and bottom with two cross-pieces. 

 There were also two intermediate cross-pieces, the lower 

 of which supported the flat "bed" upon which the 

 types were placed, the upper being pierced by the screw 

 which was attached to the "platen, "or flat surface which 

 is pressed down upon the type. In using this press the 

 type was clamped into a frame called a "coffin," on the 

 bed. It was then inked with a leather ball stuffed with 

 wool, the paper laid on carefully, a piece of blanket 

 placed over this to remove inequalities, and the platen 

 screwed down hard by means of a hand lever working 

 on the screw. Between each impression the platen 

 was raised by reversing the motion of the lever, and 

 the blanket and paper removed. 



This was a tedious process, and this kind of press 

 about the simplest imaginable; yet it was neither 

 changed nor improved upon for something over a 

 hundred years, and it is responsible for the great flood 

 of literature that spread over the Western world with 

 such revolutionary effects during the fifteenth and six- 

 teenth centuries. And while there is little resemblance 

 between the great perfecting presses used in the large 

 printing establishments to-day, and Gutenberg's little 

 machine, there is no difference in the general principles 

 of each. Indeed, the hand-presses now in use, and upon 

 which the very finest cuts are made, are very like the first 

 Gutenberg press, except that iron frames and metal 

 parts have replaced those formerly made of wood. 



The process of development was a slow one, even 

 after the first departure from the earliest type of press 



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