Explain how Johannes Gutenberg's printing press worked. How did this compare to the printing technology that already existed? (Site 1)

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Explanation:

Johannes Gutenberg was a German blacksmith, who was born in 1400 and died in 1428. He is credited with the manufacture of the first mechanical moving type printing press. The printing press was made of metal slugs with the shape of the different alphabets. This was achieved by pouring molten copper or lead into the slugs to take the shape of the alphabets. The metal alphabets could then be organized by the printer to print several pages of a book using the same letters.

Prior to Gutenberg's innovation, printers used carved wooden blocks to print written materials. This later approach was stressful as the wooden blocks wore out easily and new ones had to be carved out. Succeeding the wooden blocks era was the movable type made of clay which was linked together to form words. The advantage of Gutenberg's innovation over these is that the metal slugs could be mass produced easily, they lasted more, made words in print clearer, and they were economical.