The printing press has always been a marvel of human invention, and the printing of newspapers occupies a unique course in the history of printing machines. As demands grew for more pages, more news, and faster delivery, newspapers had to achieve greater speeds and higher efficiency.
Newspapers started on Gutenberg presses – individual type pieces arranged backwards by hand, secured in a flat bed, inked by hand, and a great leverage force applied to create the impression. The machine did one part of the job, and newspapers were often printed once a week as one, large, single-sided page called a broadside. The force required to get a good image was considerable, the wood that made up the printing press would crack or break over time, and the metal type would wear down. From the 1440s, the mechanics of the printing press were practically unchanged for 300 years! The first improvements to the press were to replace some of the wooden parts with iron and improve the lever used to press the paper to type.