Start the Press

Commercial printing morphs annually in the 21st century. The following printing firsts, however, irrevocably changed the global printing industry.

• China, 11th century: Pi Sheng creates the first movable type process by molding letters out of clay.

• Korea, 13th century: First movable metal type process is developed.

• Mainz, Germany, 1455: Johannes Gutenburg introduces movable type in Europe, and reproduces the Bible.

• Philadelphia, 1728: Benjamin Franklin launches “The Pennsylvania Gazette.”

• Bohemia, 1796: Alois Senefelder invents the lithographic process.

• London, 1814: “The Times” becomes the first newspaper to utilize Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Bauer’s steam-powered press, which was invented in England in 1812.

• New York City, 1847: Richard M. Hoe patents the rotary press.

• Pittsburgh, 1856: William Bullock introduces the first web-fed press.

• Kiel, Germany, 1961: Dr. Rudolph Hell develops the Helio-Klischograph, used for electromechanical engraving with the rotogravure process.

• United States, 1976: IBM introduces the first laser printer intended for commercial use, the IBM 3800.