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Letterpress Printing

The oldest method of commercial printing

Wikipedia entry for letterpress printing.

Letterpress printing is the oldest printing process and uses images printed by the "relief" type printing plates where the image or printing areas are raised above the non-printing areas.

The use of letterpresses is on the decline being replaced with faster and more efficient printing presses such as the offset lithographic press or the flexographic press. The amount of setup required to prepare the equipment to print a job is significant. For example, the image must be metal cast prior to print versus offset printing plates which are comparatively cheaper and require less time to make.

How Letterpress Printing Works

The Letterpress printing process exerts variable amounts of pressure on the stock dependent on the size and image elements in the printing.

The amount of pressure or "squeeze" is greater on some highlight dots than it is on larger shadow dots. Expensive, time consuming adjustments must be made throughout the press run to make sure the impression pressure is just right. Major chemicals used in letterpress printing, very similar to those used in lithography, include film developers and fixers, inks, and blanket and roller washes.

Image Preparation of Letterpress Printing Plates

Letterpress printing uses type that is raised above (relief) the non-printing areas. In traditional letterpress work, letters were assembled into copy, explanatory cuts were placed nearby, line drawings were etched or engraved into plates, and all these were placed (composed) on a flat marble stone, within a rigid frame (chase) spaced artistically with blocks (furniture) tightened up (locked-up) with toothed angular blocks (quoins).

In the construction of a letterpress "form" older methods of image making involving cast metal, plated molds, and other media have been replaced with photopolymer relief plates in those instances where letterpress equipment is still functional There are a few presses still availing themselves of old type and casts, and using ancient type-making machines (like linotype) but there are few persons alive today who know how to operate, much less keep them in functional repair.

The usage of cast metal type was replaced in some instances with typewriter generated "cold type", by the Varityper, Friden Justowriter, IBM Selectric Composer and these were replaced in part by photographic and then electronic platemaking. The development of photopolymer relief plates began to replace all of the above when letterpress hit its prime, and is now the most economical platemaking method available.

As letterpress usage grew, it became obvious that for long runs of the same copy, duplicate plates would save time and money. Stereotype, electrotype, rubber and plastic duplicate platemaking thrived, but are no longer widely used for letterpress work. The more economical and faster to produce photopolymer plates are extending the life of letterpress printing to some extent.

Photoengraving, at one time thought to be the last word in platemaking, is still in use to a limited extent, however photopolymer plates are less expensive, quicker to make, and supply fewer chemical residues, as a result the equipment to make photopolymer plates and the plates themselves provide an undeniable cost saving without jeopardizing the quality of the finished product.

Chemical engraving has taken a back seat to mechanical and electronic computer driven engraving methods because of environmental reasons as well as cost and speed. Typesetting is also being done by computers, and films, where used, are often laser generated.

These days you'd need to work hard to actually find a letterpress machine.

Letterpress Equipment Design

There are three different types of letterpress printing devices in use today, they are -

• The Platen
• The Flat-bed press
• The rotary press

The two most common types of letterpress presses, the unit-design perfecting rotary press and the rotary letterpress typically used for magazine printing. 

Platen-type Letterpress Printing

A platen press is made up of two flat surfaces called the bed and the platen. The platen provides a smooth backing for the paper or other stock that is to be printed. The raised plate (image to be printed) is locked onto a flat surface.

The plate is inked, the stock is then placed on another flat surface called the bed and pressed against the inked plate producing the impression.

The platen and bed carry both the paper and the type form. The press then opens and closes like a clam shell. Platen printing is typically used for short runs such as letterpress invitations, letterpress business cards, letterpress wedding invitations, name cards, and general stationery. Larger platen presses are used for die-cutting and embossing. Some platen presses are arranged with the bed and platen in the vertical plane.

The plate is inked with an inking roller that transfers ink from an inking plate to the image carrier. Ink is placed on the inking plate by an ink fountain roller. The platen style press has been widely used in printing small-town newspapers since the late 1800s. The printing area is usually limited to a maximum of 457mm (18 inches) by 609mm (24 inches).

These presses are also used to print letterhead, invoices, statements, forms, posters, brochures, flyers and many other types of printed products, as well as for imprinting, embossing, and hot-leaf stamping.

Flat-Bed Cylinder Letterpress Printing

Flat-bed cylinder presses use either vertical or horizontal beds. The plate is locked to a bed which passes over an inking roller and then against the stock. The stock passes around an impression cylinder on its way from the feed stack to the delivery stack.

Another way of describing this is that a single revolution of the cylinder moves over the bed while in a vertical position so that both the bed holding the stock and cylinder move up and down in a reciprocating motion.

Ink is supplied to the plate cylinder by an inking roller and an ink fountain. The presses can print either one or two-colour impressions. Flat-bed cylinder presses, which operate in a manner similar to the platen press, will print stock as large as 42 inches by 56 inches.

Flat-bed cylinder presses operate very slowly, having a production rate of not more than 5,000 impressions per hour. As a result, much of the printing formerly done on this type of press is now done using rotary letterpress or lithography. The horizontal bed press, the slower of the two types of flat-bed cylinder press, is no longer manufactured in the United States.

Rotary Letterpress Printing

There are two type of rotary letterpresses, sheet-fed and web-fed. Sheetfed rotary presses are also declining in use. Web-fed rotary presses are the most popular type of letterpress printing.

Like all rotary presses, rotary letterpress requires curved image carrying plates. The most popular types of plates used are stereotype, electrotype, and moulded plastic or rubber. When printing on coated papers, rotary presses use heat-set inks and are equipped with dryers, usually the high-velocity hot air type.

Web-fed rotary letterpress presses are used primarily for printing newspapers. These presses are designed to print both sides of the web simultaneously. Typically, they can print up to four pages across the web; however, some of the new presses can print up to six pages across a 2.28m (90 inch) web. Rotary letterpress is also used for long-run commercial, packaging, book, and magazine printing.

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