COP Publication - History of Printing

• 618 to 906: T’ang Dynasty - the first printing is done in China using ink on carved wooden blocks begins to make multiple transfers of an image to paper.
• 868: The Diamond Sutra is printed.
• 1241: Koreans print books using movable type.
• 1300: The first use of wooden type in China.
• 1309: Europeans first make paper. However, the Chinese and Egyptians had started making paper centuries previous.
• 1338: First papermill opened in France.
• 1390: First papermill opened in Germany.
• 1392: Foundries that can produce bronze type are opened in Korea.
• 1423: In Europe block printing is used to print books.
• 1452: In Europe, metal plates are first used in printing. Gutenberg begins printing the Bible which he finishes in 1456.
• 1457: First color printing by Fust and Schoeffer.
• 1465: Drypoint engravings invented by Germans.
• 1476: William Caxton begins using a Gutenberg printing press in England.
• 1477: Intaglio is first used for book illustration for a Flemish book called Il Monte Sancto di Dio.
• 1495: First papermill opened in England.
• 1501: Italic type first used.
• 1550: Wallpaper introduced in Europe.
• 1605: First weekly newspaper published in Antwerp.
• 1611: King James Bible published.
• 1660: Mezzotint invented in Germany.
• 1691: First papermill opened in the American colonies.
• 1702: Multi-colored engraving invented by German Jakob Le Blon. The first English language daily newspaper is published called the Daily Courant.
• 1725: In Scotland stereotyping invented by William Ged.
• 1800: Iron printing presses invented.
• 1819: Rotary printing press invented by Napier.
• 1829: Embossed printing invented by Louis Braille.
• 1841: Type-composing machine invented.
• 1844: Electrotyping invented.
• 1846: Cylinder press invented by Richard Hoe. Cylinder press can print 8,000 sheets an hour.
• 1863: Rotary web-fed letterpress invented by William Bullock.
• 1865: Web offset press can print on both sides of paper at once.
• 1886: Linotype composing machineinvented by Ottmar Mergenthaler.
• 1870: Paper is now mass-manufactured from wood pulp.
• 1878: Photogravure printing invented by Karl Klic.
• 1890: Mimeograph machine introduced.
• 1891: Printing presses can now print and fold 90,000 4-page papers an hour. Diazotype invented (print photographs on fabric).
• 1892: 4-color rotary press invented.
• 1904: Offset lithography becomes common. The first comic book is published.
• 1907: Commercial silk screening invented.
• 1947: Phototypesetting made practical 

More key events.

1930 - IBM releases Model 01 electric typewriter

1938 - Chester Carlson invents xerography process

1948 - First prototype of photocopier by Battelle and The Haloid Co.

1951 - EAI develops analog flatbed pen plotter

1957 - Transfer printing discovered

1957 - Dye sublimation process invented

1959 - Haloid-Xerox releases first production-line automatic office copier

early 1960's - Stanford - developed technology for ink droplets using pressure wave patterns

1960's - Gerber Scientific produces plotters for printed circuit boards

1970's - Direct thermal printer

1973 - HP 9862A plotter released for 9800 desktop calculator

1974 - Stored energy dot matrix printer

1976 - Inkjet technology developed

1976 - First commercial laser printer

1977 - Seimens PT-80 uses drop-on-demand inkjet technology

1978 - Piezoelectric inkjet printer

1978 - First commercially sucessful dot matrix printer - Epson's TX-80

late 1970's - Ballistic wire dot matrix printers

1980 - IBM releases 5215 golf ball printer

1982 - Thermal wax printer

1984 - Thermal inkjet printer

1984 - First disposable inkjet cartridge

1987 - First color inkjet printer - HP Paintjet

1960s

Offset printing, using a photographic process, is established.

1970s

Intel Corp. introduces the first commercial general-purpose microprocessor, setting the stage for the development of the personal computer.

1980s

Computers become a major learning tool in school and at home with the use of CD Roms. Paperback books become almost 70 percent of bookstores' stock.

1990s

Audiobooks increase in popularity, while an interlinked system of text and media files is introduced. This becomes known as the World Wide Web.

2007

Amazon.com introduces the first Kindle.



 More key dates from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_printing

• Printing press (1454)
• Etching (ca. 1500)
• Mezzotint (1642)
• Aquatint (1768)
• Lithography (1796)
• Chromolithography (1837)
• Rotary press (1843)
• Offset printing (1875)
• Hectograph (19th century)
• Hot metal typesetting (1886)
• Mimeograph (1890)
• Screen printing (1907)
• Spirit duplicator (1923)
• Dye-sublimation (1957)
• Phototypesetting (1960s)
• Dot matrix printer (1964)
• Laser printing (1969)
• Thermal printing (ca. 1972)
• Inkjet printing (1976)
• Stereolithography (1986)
• Digital press (1993)
• 3D printing (ca. 2003)