Letterpress was the dominant form of printing for hundreds of years, reaching its zenith in the Industrial Revolution. In recent years it has seen a revival and these one hundred year old cast iron marvels are still going strong with only basic maintenance. Lego itself has seen an unconventional role in this movement as a simple way of creating raised printing blocks.
This functional model reproduces the major functions of the printing cycle:
- As the bed holding the printing block rocks backward, the platen holding the paper just printed on quickly returns to the open position so the operator can remove the print and put it on the outfeed table.
- Having picked up fresh ink from the rotating ink disc, the ink rollers reink the print block.
- The platen dwells in the open position giving the operator time to take a sheet from the infeed table and put it in place on the platen.
- The ink rollers move back up out of the way as the print block and platen come back together to make an impression.
I created the fireball graphic being printed using only Lego tile components as a nod to the role that Lego plays in the education field teaching kids and beginners about block printing.
With its compact 16cm by 20cm dimensions, it makes a great desk toy. It is so relaxing and hypnotic watching it go through its motions!
Piece count: 463
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krtwood
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