Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-12-31
PRINTING sY STEAM.
London Times" First Paper to Adopt
the Invention.

London Times" First Paper to Adopt
the Invention.
In these days, when the influence OF
the press is. one might almost say.
paramount, II is interesting to recall
the fact that on November 20. 1874. a
newspaper appeared for the first time
printed by steam instead of by man
ual labor. The credit for having adopt
ed the invention rests with the Times,
which was the first paper to inaugu-
rate the new system. In leading ar )
ticie of the day the great event is re-
ferred to in the following terms:
Our Journal OF this day presents to
the public the practical result Of the
greatest Improvement connected with
printing since the discovery OF the art
itself. The reader of this paragraph
now holds in his hands one Of the many
thousand Impressions Of the Times
newspaper which were taken OF last
night by mechanical apparatus A
system of machinery. almost organic,
has been devised and arranged whichg
while It relieves the human frame 6fe
its laborious efforts in printing, far ex-
ceeds human power In rapidity and
despatch"
/ The article goes on to explain in
more or less detail the process of the
new machine, the work of the COM
positor. the supply OF paper. the dis
tribution Of ink, the 1,i0o sheets inn
pressed in an hour. (which several
operations leave little for man to do
but watch the unconscious agent In its
operations" With becoming modesty
the writer of the article goes on to say
that the Times only takes credit for
the application Of the discovery. The
patentees Of the new machine ap-
preached them and they adopted the
invention.
AS to the inventor. his work Is COM
pared to the noblest monument OF Sir
Christopher Wren-St Paul's cathe-
dral We are told that he was Saxon
by birth, by name Konig. who devel-
oped his wonderful invention. assisted
by his friend and countrymen Bauer"
Very soon the new machine gave place
to another with vast improvements,
invented by Applegarth and Cowper.
and later still to another, even more
Ingenious, the work Of one Hoe. which
has given place to the modern printing
press. Everything changes; the most
marvellous invention Of one genera
tion is superseded In the next, and
what our srandfathers regarded a.
mechanical marvels we look upon to-
day as clumsy tools. How long will
1t be before the present system Of
printing Is discarded for still more
wonderful process?
The art Of printing, as also that of
engraving. existed long before the
fifteenth century. Indeed there Is good
evidence to show that In the eleventh
century II was practised by kings and
princes. Thus william the Conquer :
or had his monogram cut In metal. the
| impression Of which may be seen. on
certain old charters. In the east print
lil8 was kuOWh tOt8 UCtOtG xNOLnidli
days In China, for instance, as far
back as the second century many OF
the most important classical works
were engraved on tablets, some Of
which have been preserved to this day.
Again, in Japan the art of block
printing was well known in the year
ITO; while as for copper types, the in
vention Is attributed to the Coreans.
Yet despite all evidence that the east
discovered and practised the art long
before the west trustworthy authori-
ties refuse to admit that Europe learn
ed anything from China or japan. But
however that may be, printing much as
we see 1t today was perfected at Mainz
and by whom the art was discovered
the controversy ragged for many hum
dred years. An Italian Costaldi by
name, who lived In the middle Of the
fifteenth century, was for many years
accepted as the inventor Of the art BY
others John Gutenberg, native Of
Bohemia, was regarded as the true
author In other circles Johann
Faust, Mentel Of Strasburg and Mich
olas Jansen all had their supporters.
When all the evidence. however, of
the various claimants has been inquir-
ed into the result leads US to the con-
clusion that printing with movable
metal types was the invention Of JAMS
zoon Coster, who displayed his skill at
Haarlem in the year 1445. From this
time onward improvements followed
quickly. Thus the hand press Is now
superseded by the most wonderful Of
mechanical machines. In the Olden
days, and indeed until comparatively
recent years, the old printers were en-
tirely Independent of every other craft;
they carried on their work unassisted,
one man being able to do all that was
required for the production Of doc
ument. He could make his machine
and mend it, mix his ink and cast the
type. In short, he was his own mas
ter and could produce everything
necessary to carry on his trade. How
different are things nowadays. when
the staff Of an important London pa
per numbers some hundreds Of indi-
viduals. In the fifteenth century,
moreover, there were many itinerant
printers who wandered through Eu-
rope and set up a press wherever
they went. 1t follows from this that
the plant required must have been
very limited. In this respect 1t Is
curious to notice that as regards the
shape Of the actual types there Is no
great difference between the old and
the modern. Thus the pure Roman
type, such as is used today, is in re-
ality nothing more than an improved
edition of a particular writing well
known in the eighth century.
In conclusion nothing has given
greater impetus to the art Of print
ing or has tended more to develop
the printing machine than education.
Ao naoplo hacoma more educated an