| Melbourne Museum of Printing | Our Glossary of Printing and Typography PRINTING PRESSES AND PRINTING PROCESSES |
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| SUGGESTION: HOW TO EXPLORE THIS GLOSSARY | |||||||||||||||||||
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IF YOU KNOW THE NAME OF A TERM, GO TO THE ALPHABETIC PAGE eg to find PICA choose the Alphabetic Page N-Q. You will find several meanings of this word, and that it is mostly used in TYPE MEASUREMENTS. | |||||||||||||||||||
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IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO EXPLORE OTHER TERMS ABOUT TYPE MEASUREMENTS look in the Thematic Glossary about Typecasting and Type Measurements | |||||||||||||||||||
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| ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THESE DEFINITIONS INCLUDE: | |||
| usu = usually | cf = compare with | eg = for example | typic = typically |
| BRAND NAME | Adana | LETTERPRESS PRINTING |
| manuf of tabletop and other small presses, guillotines, thermographs [UK] | ||
| PROPER NOUN | Albion press | LETTERPRESS PRINTING |
| style of hand operated horizontal platen press: sliding bed: hand inked [UK] | ||
| BRAND NAME | AM Corporation . . 2 | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| After Addressographs and Multigraphs, made MultiLith litho press and Compugraphic typesetter | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | anodized plate | LITHOGRAPHY INCL OFFSET |
| offset printing plate, aluminium, with anodised (oxidised) surface for wear resistance | ||
| BRAND NAME | Arab press | LETTERPRESS PRINTING |
| brand of treadle platen press by J. Wade [UK] | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | automatic press | LETTERPRESS PRINTING |
| a printing press with a mechanical feeder. Feeders were originally an attachment. | ||
| VERB | back up | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| print the second side of a sheet | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | bed | LETTERPRESS PRINTING |
| base of press, within which the forme is held: may be horizontal or vertical | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | blanket cylinder | LITHOGRAPHY INCL OFFSET |
| the cylinder which carries the rubber blanket in an offset press | ||
| BRAND NAME | Brandtjen & Kluge | LETTERPRESS PRINTING |
| US manuf of platen press, handfed and auto, gold foil, continuous. extant 1997 | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | chalking | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| powder effect on the paper after the ink has failed to dry satisfactorily | ||
| BRAND NAME | Chandler & Price | LETTERPRESS PRINTING |
| US manuf of platen press and guillotine | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | chase | LETTERPRESS PRINTING |
| metal frame into which type and blocks are locked to make up a page or forme | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | collotype process | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| printing from image laid into a kind of jelly: provides continuous tones | ||
| PROPER NOUN | Columbian press | LETTERPRESS PRINTING |
| style of horizontal platen press (similar principle to Albion) [US] | ||
| PROPER NOUN | Common press | LETTERPRESS PRINTING |
| style of wooden frame horizontal press | ||
| BRAND NAME | Cropper | LETTERPRESS PRINTING |
| UK manuf handfed treadle platen press | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | cylinder press | LETTERPRESS PRINTING |
| a fundamental press type. The cylinder rolls with the paperover the type forme | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | die, copperplate | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| engraved plate or block in copper or steel for intaglio printing. Once common for fine stationery. | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | direct image plate | LITHOGRAPHY INCL OFFSET |
| litho plate, usu paper, imaged directly in typewriter or with handdrawn images | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | flexography process | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| printing from flexible (rubber) plates, often onto non-porous material, eg plastic bags | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | gloss ink | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| ink for use on glossy paper with low absorbtion: dry mainly by evap/oxidation | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | gravure process | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| rotary intaglio process with image engraved onto chrome-plated rollers | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | hairline register | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| very exact registration where second/multi colour is required | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | hickey | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| spot of dirt or dried ink on plate or blanket which shows in printing | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | hydrophilic area | LITHOGRAPHY INCL OFFSET |
| the non-image parts of a lithographic image: is wettable with water so repelling the oil-based ink | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | hydrophobic area | LITHOGRAPHY INCL OFFSET |
| the image parts of a lithographic image: it repels water so allowing the oil-based ink to build up | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | impression cylinder | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| large roller which carries paper into contact with type or blanket | ||
| EQUIVALENT TERM | imprint . . . . . 2 | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| overprint: sometimes by an in-line device in manufacturing, eg date codes | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | intaglio process . 1 | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| printing from a plate which has been engraved, etched, pitted: incl gravure, etching, copperplate | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | intaglio process . 2 | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| the pits or scratches are the image areas: they trap the ink and the flat surface is wiped clean | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | letterpress | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| name of traditional printing process: inked letters pressed into paper | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | letterset | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| letterpress offset:right reading relief plate prints to blanket then to paper | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | lithography | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| printing from stone or plate, imaged with a medium which attracts oil-based ink | ||
| ABBREVIATION | LP | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| letterpress [also long playing, for a 500 year industrial process] | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | magnetic ink | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| ink containing magnetic particles: used with MICR type to be read magnetically | ||
| VERB | make ready | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| get job to print perfectly after mounting plate or type on press | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | mottle | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| uneven effects on image esp large solids, due uneven inking or absorbtion | ||
| EQUIVALENT TERM | offset | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| common term for offset photolithography, today's common printing process - see LITHO theme page | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | offset letterpress | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| also called letterset - printing from a right-reading relief plate (or unusually, type) to blanket | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | offset lithography | LITHOGRAPHY INCL OFFSET |
| offset printing from a lithographic stone or plate - the plate prints first onto the blanket | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | offset printing | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| process where the image moves from type or plate to paper via an intermediate surface (blanket) | ||
| VERB | overprint | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| add new image (usu text) to already printed item: may be variable information or correction | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | paper plate | LITHOGRAPHY INCL OFFSET |
| offset printing plate made from paper: see: Silvermaster, OE-1, direct image | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | perfector | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| two-unit press which prints both sides of the sheet | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | photogravure | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| where the gravure image is etched to cylinder photographically | ||
| VERB | picking | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| ink too tacky, lifting fibres or coating from paper: fibres become hickeys | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | planographic printng | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| producing image from a flat surface, where image area is chemically different. Usu lithographic. | ||
| ABBREVIATION | proofer | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| proofing press | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | proofing press | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| a press designed for proofing: usu simplified, perhaps hand inked or hand fed | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | register | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| correct positioning of image on printed sheet | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | relief printing . .1 | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| printing from a raised surface: includes letterpress, flexography, linocuts, woodcuts | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | relief printing . .2 | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| raised surface is inked, the lower (relieved) areas receive no ink: raised area pressed into paper | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | rotary press | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| prints with rotary motion from curved plate: invariably web fed | ||
| VERB | set off | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| accidental transfer of image on one sheet to the back of the next | ||
| ADJECTIVE | sheet fed | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| press which prints on sheets of paper rather than a roll | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | show through | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| visibility of printing on the other side due to lack of opacity in paper | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | slur . . . . . . . 1 | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| where paper moves in relation to type or blanket while under impression, giving blurred image | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | slur . . . . . . . 2 | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| altered manner of speech when the operators come back after lunch | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | strike-through | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| visibility of print on the other side due to ink soaking through the sheet | ||
| VERB | varnishing | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| use of 'ink without pigment' to coat previously printed work, usu on the press | ||
| ADJECTIVE | web fed | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| press which prints on a roll of paper, usu folding and sheeting off | ||
| ADJECTIVE | web fed flatbed | PRINTING, ANY PROCESS |
| flatbed letterpress which prints from a roll. Some newspaper presses print both sides from 2 formes | ||
Persons wishing to use these are asked to contact the author at Melbourne Museum of Printing.
Comments and suggestions about terms and definitions will be very welcome.
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