The Modern Printing Press

 By Bruce Shawkey





















The modern printing press has changed little since its creation in the late 19th Century. It made possible the widespread availability of newspapers. It also spawned a whole slewof idioms, the most famous of which is "Stop the presses." an exclamation when significant information is discovered. 

Another is "Extra, extra, read all about it." shouted by newspaper boys to sell newspapers.

Today, printed newspapers are becoming an endangered species, due in large part to the Internet and the almost instantaneous coverage of news.

When the spaceship Challenger blew up in 1986, when the World Trade Center was attacked in 1993, it wasn't moments before the whole world knew about it.


 Meanwhile, the Linotype machine, has changed drastically to "cold type" technology, that doesn't involve casting molten metal. This includes techniques like phototypesetting, where text is created using photographic processes, and using typewriters or computers to generate text directly on 

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