Full colour printing has been around for centuries, yet the commercial application of colour printing was only truly made possible in the seventeenth century with the application of the halftone colour printing processes. This was a flatbed cylinder press, which is a revolving cylinder that totally revolutionised the speed of and application of printing and enabled printers to pump out an excess of a thousand sheets of paper per hour.
Most of the colour printing technology was based on the letterpress, which was the printing of images which were projected above nonprinting areas. Alois Senefelder invented the lithography when he discovered that you could Print an image with the use of a water-absorbent stone and a piece of paper with a greased substance coated onto it. For colour printing, a separate stone had to be used which could be coated with a starch-rich paper – from stone to metal plate the printing process has most certainly improved.
In 1904, an American printer accidently discovered the art of lithographic printing where an image could be transferred from offset cylinder to paper. It would eventually become the most popular printing process in the world, thanks to its long plate life, its economy and the ability to Print on a variety of textures.
Contact Minuteman Press East London to place you on the path to success with your full colour printing.
Get a Free Quote for Print