What Is A Book Printing Press?

anatomy of a custom exam

What is a Book Printing Press?

Book printing presses were first developed in the 14thCentury. A printing press is a device that can mass produce uniform prints, usually text in the form of books, magazines, newspapers, and so on. To learn more about the history of printing presses see our blog: The History of Printing in China.

The age of electronics and computers has changed the way printed materials are produced.  Print production operations like the typesetting machine and PDI Electronic scanner came about in the 1950’s, but this technology was not improved until the ‘70s. Next came computer to film in the 1980’s, and computer to metal plate printing around 1991.

Printing Presses

The printing press is the production machine of major printing processes. Printing presses provide secure and precise mounting for images, feeding paper for printing, and delivery of printed paper. There are different types of presses:

Offset Lithography– Offset presses have three printing cylinders: a plate cylinder, a blanket cylinder, and an impression cylinder. An offset press has 4 important advantages:

  1. Rubber blanket surface conforms to irregular print surfaces, which provides less pressure and improves print quality on rough surface papers.
  2. The papers do not contact the printing plates.
  3. The plates are right reading rather than reverse
  4. Less ink is essential for equal coverage

There are two types of offset presses, sheetfed and web.  Sheetfed is for smaller runs, web produces larger quantity runs.

Digital presses– While offset printers use plates for the printing process, digital is a plateless process. Digital printing has 3 key benefits:

  1. Like a copier, the printed sheets do not require a drying period.
  2. Capable of variable printing from impression to impression.
  3. Require fewer manual skills printing than conventional plates.

This type of press allows you to print shorter runs, for example printing quantities from 1 to 500 books.  Print-On Demand uses digital presses for printing.

PRC Book Printing presses are offset presses.  We produce high quality books with our state of the art presses, which are updated and maintained throughout the year.  Please call us today to learn more about our services at 888.659.8320 or email us at info@prcbookprinting.com

Contact Us / Request A Quote

Contact Sidebar

Related Posts

No Results Found

The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.

General Info

Business Hours

M-F: 8am – 5pm
Weekends: Closed

i

Related Posts

What Is Paper Opacity?

What Is Paper Opacity?

Many people think that once a book is written or illustrated, all the hard work is over. But there's much more that goes into the creation of a book. Between a piece of paper's weight, texture, brightness, and opacity, it's a lot to learn!If you're just beginning...

Embossing vs. Debossing: The Differences Explained

Embossing vs. Debossing: The Differences Explained

Have you ever run your hands over the top of your credit card and felt those ridges of numbers? Those ridged numbers were created with a technique called embossing. Or perhaps you've picked up a paperback book and felt imprinted lettering on the front cover. Those...

Hardcover vs Board Book: Which ShouldYou Choose?

Hardcover vs Board Book: Which Should
You Choose?

Every self-proclaimed bookworm has had the age-old debate: paperback or hardcover? This small distinction between reading material preferences has divided readers for years, and in recent years, other strong contenders have entered the ring. Between eBooks,...