Hand press
A hand press is a press operated with human muscle power . Hand presses were used for wine, oil and juice production, but also in the metalworking industry for minting coins and medals. They fulfilled a historically important function as a printing press .
Usually it is driven by hand, giving it its name, but sometimes also by foot operation. Very simple devices were used, such as those with flywheels and presses equipped with a paper delivery.
Hand presses in printing
Until the replacement of letterpress printing by offset printing , small editions of leaflets and brochures were printed with hand presses. With the advent of new printing techniques, the use of hand presses was limited to the production of proofs, small prints, and barite prints . In the transfer printing technique , the hand printing technique using intermediate impressions on rubber blankets was used for a long time, but the hand press has also completely disappeared in this area since around 1980. Today hand presses are only used as a demonstration object, in training courses or in the field of graphic arts . Commercial use was common until the middle of the 20th century.
In the recent past and present, press prints are generally used in the book art field .
Hand presses are not only used for high pressure, but also for flat and gravure printing . A hand press is only used for the screen printing process.
The hand presses differ according to the type of foundation position (horizontal, vertical, rigid, movable) and the type of counter pressure design . So are platen presses classic flat molding with a flat back pressure, the cylinder presses ( Abziehpresse , Reiber press), however, correspond to a hand quickly press with round back pressure. Each type has its own base shape and uses different functional techniques for coloring the shape, laying out and laying down the sheets and for pressure control. From the purely manual hand presses, intermediate designs developed, which found expression as devices and later even machines.
Hand press from the 15th century
Hand platen printing press from 1811
Hand press from 1860
Hand press around 1900
