Scanning Around With Gene: The Printing Press as Art

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As you can imagine, the main Heidelberg factory in Wiesoch is big and impressive, at least back in the era of these brochures, when the output was high and the machines were large. Here are a couple of shots of the factory, both outside and in.

A big deal in printing, apparently, is the configuration of the rollers, which supply ink to the plate. I was taken by the many drawings of these configurations which Heidelberg supplied to its customers.

In the era of these brochures, both letterpress and offset printing technologies were still widely used, and Heidelberg equipment has always been used for things like foil stamping, die cutting and embossing. Note the photo of Heidelberg’s precision bearings, which are the key to long-running presses.

I’ll end with a couple of images from Heidelberg’s famous presence at the large, every-five-years printing show in Germany called Drupa. The company has always had a very large presence at Drupa and many people measure the success of the entire printing industry based on the volume of orders that Heidelberg takes in during the show. In the photo here from the 1972 edition of Drupa, Heidelberg had 60 different machines up and operating for the crowds.

There is no question the printing industry is shrinking and changing fairly dramatically these days. But from 1961 to 1972 when these images appeared, it was one of the biggest and most vital industries in the world. And leading the way in both quality and technology, was Heidelberger Druchmaschinen AG.


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Gene Gable has spent a lifetime in publishing, editing and the graphic arts and is currently a technology consultant and writer. He has spoken at events around the world and has written extensively on graphic design, intellectual-property rights, and publishing production in books and for magazines such as Print, U&lc, ID, Macworld, Graphic Exchange, AGI, and The Seybold Report. Gene's interest in graphic design history and letterpress printing resulted in his popular columns "Heavy Metal Madness" and "Scanning Around with Gene" here on CreativePro.com.
  • Anonymous says:

    In 1947, Pietro Beluschi designed a building for The Oregonian newspaper that featured large, street-level windows that offered pedestrians the chance to watch the huge presses churn out the daily rag. The paper did a permanent “stop the press!” decades ago with those machines. But even modernized, The Oregonian faces the same cyber competition of newspapers world-wide. I too loved the oversized, muscular machines.

  • Anonymous says:

    Before I knew what I really wanted to do, at a local technical school I started training to be a printer. I never graduated the course but during the three semesters I frequently ran the 1-color Heidelberg letterpress. Wow, what a machine it was. Most other machines were loud and had a vibration. The Heidelberg ran literally silent, and smooth with just a faint humming sound. Once it was set up, it required basically no further adjustments other than to keep an eye on the paper tray. Quite an unforgettable experience and one I will not forget.

  • Anonymous says:

    Thanks Gene, what a great article. I grew up around printing as my dad started his first shop in ’72. By the third shop in the late-90’s, Dad was the owner; mom, the accountant; myself, the graphic designer; and my husband, the press operator. Although all the shops have since been sold, my husband still runs a Heidelberg, I still design, and we still love to talk shop. :) Thanks for the memories!

  • Anonymous says:

    yes, whenever I observed modern printing methods and equipment I am as amazed as when I observe the launch of vehicles and probes into outer space. ~ delphyne woods

  • Anonymous says:

    It’s really amazing how far back the printing process goes. Seeing these old printing presses takes me back to when my father used to bring me into his shop. I can still remember the smell of the ink and the paper. It was memorizing watching these beast of machines run.
    https://www.progressivecommunications.com

  • Hi Gene,
    fascinated by a photo you show here of a Rotospeed 6, must be the only one in existence. I saw one in the showroom in 1974 but never heard any more about it. Do you have any further info on this machine?
    Many thanks

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