I often find myself wondering why the printing press was such a massive invention. Of course, it revolutionized the ability to spread information and document history, but the machine itself seems very simple; apply pressure to a screw that then pushes paper into the type form.
That leaves me with the thought that I am missing something big. I understand that my thoughts of it being simple are swayed by the fact the we live in a post-printing press world, but I choose the believe I’m smarter than all of humanity before me. /s
So that leaves me with the question, how did it take so long for this to be invented? Are we stupid?
In: Engineering
The PRESS itself is nothing innovative. You can see it from the oil press.
>The screw press was first invented and used by the [Romans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome) in the first century AD. It was used primarily in [wine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine) and [olive oil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil) production. The screw press was also used in [Gutenberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg)’s [printing press](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_press) in the mid-15th century
What was innovative, when first come to China and then Europe, is the [moveable type](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movable_type)
Two things occurred to make moveable type possible.
The first is this: Ability to mass-produce the little letters used to make up the page. That means you need an alloy that melts at a low temperature, that isn’t too expensive, and that won’t wear down immediately. Lead initially seems like a good prospect, but it’s *soft* and can’t withstand being pressed down on pages all day every day. Developing alloys takes time, and it was a goldsmith working with new alloys that had the idea to use them to make letters. Also, ink designed for printing instead of writing.
Second: Society. No one prints a newspaper for three people. You need either a good literacy rate and cheap paper, or a much more high end book and a few wealthy people who are, importantly, interested in what you’re selling. Moveable type was originally designed to print Bibles, and this worked because *regularity* was what made high quality ones stand out. When moveable type was first introduced to the Islamic world it floundered because it couldn’t mimic the flowing, calligraphic text used in the Quran.
If you don’t have both of these, you’re SOL.
The concept of a press is not that complicated. But a press by itself is useless. You need a bunch of things to make it actually work.
You need tools and craft skills to make the moving parts. Those parts need to be made of suitable material that will withstand wear and tear.
You need the ability to create movable type, which means you need another set of materials, tools, and craft skills.
You need suitable ink and paper. You need those things to be cheap enough to justify doing this instead of just writing.
All of those require their own inventions, and often have further ‘prerequisites’.
I remember that there were a few technological advancements that made it possible to actually build one. Once those occurred it was maybe just a matter of time, but it couldn’t actually be done before those. Here are the ones I remember:
All of the little letter tiles need to have a certain level of precision so that
– the printed letters line up on the paper
– the letters hit the paper at the same time. ie, you don’t have some letters sticking out too much and preventing the adjacent letters from making contact with the paper.
Additionally, it has to be made with good quality iron because other materials aren’t durable enough for the repeated movements and pressure of thousands of prints.
You have the benefit of hindsight. It’s already been invented and it seems simple to you. That’s completely different than living in a world where nothing like that exists and coming up with it. They weren’t stupid. We’re not stupid.
Think about it this way: what’s the next great idea that’s gonna completely revolutionize the world? Can’t think of it? Me neither. When someone thinks it up you’re gonna feel dumb cuz it’s so simple.
Literally it took someone to think it up and make it. Either no one thought it up before, or if they had thought it up, they didn’t have the means or influence to actually get it built.
And of course hindsight is 20-20. Every invention or aspect of science that we have up to this point in history, we can look back and go “of course that makes sense”.
Germ theory – of course if a sick person coughs on you, it’ll make you sick.
Heliocentric model of the solar system – of course the sun rises and sets because we are revolving, duh. That just makes sense.
Printing press – well of course putting movable type in a press and applying ink will make making books and other literature easier
Everything for us is 20-20. In 500 years, what seemingly obvious technology do we not have now that future humans will think we “should have known about”. Infinite clean energy? Technology for wormholes? Cure for all disease? Who knows.
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