Communication · 1814

Steam-powered press

The Times prints on a steam-driven cylinder press at 1,100 sheets an hour.

Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Bauer's steam-powered cylinder press printed The Times of London on 29 November 1814, roughly four times faster than hand presses. Mechanised printing made cheap daily newspapers and mass-market books possible.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

Newcomen steam engine 1712
Movable-type printing press 1440

What it led to 1

Linotype machine 1886

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

New book titles per million people, UK Latest: 2.11k titles per million (2009) Source: Our World in Data

Literacy rate, England/UK since 1475 Latest: 98.5 % (1950) Source: Our World in Data