Hand Fed Platen Press

A platen press is a printing press in which paper or other material, supported on flat impression surfaces, is forced against printing surfaces that are supported on stationary flat beds. This includes creasing and scoring presses of the platen type A platen (or ) is a flat platform with a variety of roles in printing or manufacturing. It can be a flat metal (or earlier, wooden) plate pressed against a medium (such as paper) to cause an impression in letterpress printing. Goldsmith and inventor Johannes Gutenberg was a political exile from Mainz, Germany when he began experimenting with printing in Strasbourg, France in 1440. He returned to Mainz several years later and by 1450, had a printing machine perfected and ready to use commercially: The Gutenberg press