Useful information

Printing machines

- History, processes, applications and future -

According to today's guidelines, the term machine is defined by drives such as motors or cylinders. If we break free from this definition, then printing machines were created as early as the middle of the 15th century. Johannes Gutenberg revolutionized the creation of books through the use of movable metal letters and numbers that were printed using printing presses. These were operated manually by turning a spindle. The pressure was generated via the spindle and the attached pressure plates.

Such screw presses were already known from viticulture. These were more often converted for letterpress printing.

With the invention of the first printing machines, the process of writing books by hand, as we know it from medieval period films, was history. Primarily the monks copied the Bible by hand.

The areas of application of the printing machines are very diverse. This includes newspaper printing machines, letterpress printing machines or office machines.

The various areas of application of printing machines naturally have a long history. We will try to shed light on their range and show the most diverse areas of application.

As we have already heard, the development of printing machines began in the Middle Ages. Mechanically working printing machines, which were still based on the panel construction, had been around since the beginning of the 19th century. In the middle of the 19th century, the first rotary printing machine was developed in which the document to be printed ran between 2 rotating rollers. Manual crank drives have been replaced by electric motors as development has continued.

There are printing machines for different processes. In terms of technology, we distinguish these machines as follows:

The following list shows a refinement of the structure of printing machines:

This list does not claim to be complete.

Furthermore, an extensive range of accessories and tools as independent categories of the printing machines should not be missing. The accessories and tools include, for example:

We also follow this division of the printing machines in terms of their functions when structuring the categories on our platform tramao.de.

Automation is also finding its way into modern printing machines. The automation spans i.a. the following important areas:

What about the future of printing presses?

From goals such as the paperless office, most companies are still a long way off. On the contrary, more is being printed than is absolutely necessary.

Week after week, advertising ends up unread in the waste paper, advertising that hits many households twice or three times.

Print media such as newspapers, journals and magazines are suffering from declining circulation. Income from advertising is also falling. However, this only affects the printing press manufacturers to a limited extent, because more separate advertising is printed on the other side.

The importance of sustainability will also increase in the printing industry. Recycling will become more important in the future. For example, waste paper is mixed with fresh paper. There are already print products that are made from 100% recycled paper.

Ultimately, the only option left for the manufacturers of printing machines is to adapt their products to the growing demands of the market. This includes e.g. the fact that article packaging is becoming increasingly important for marketing reasons. The packaging, regardless of whether it is made of paper, cardboard, plastic or film, is in most cases printed.

This should secure the future of printing machines in many areas.


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