Elenco Printing Press User Manual

Genius is Timeless

Printing Press

AGES 8+

Instruction manual

Contents

• About Leonardo Da Vinci

• Da Vinci’s Notebooks

• Early Printing in Europe

• Gutenberg Printing Press

• Da Vinci’s Contribution to the Design

• The Importance of the Printing Press

• Components

• How To Assemble

• How to Operate the Printing Press

• Da Vinci Series Kit

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i

(April 15, 1452 - May 2, 1519)

“Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water

loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen;

even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.”

Leonardo

Leonardo da Vinci

an artist, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, sculptor,

architect, botanist, musician and writer. He has often been described as a perfect

example of a Renaissance man, a man whose unquenchable curiosity was equaled

only by his powers of invention and observation. Da Vinci is widely considered

to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely

talented person to have ever lived.

At an early age, Da Vinci’s talent for drawing became evident, and his father

apprenticed his young son to a noted period artist, Andrea del Verrocchio.

Through the coming years, the young Leonardo learned much from his mentor and

at the age of thirty, Da Vinci left Florence and settled in Milan and established

a workshop of his own. During the following years, he earned his living painting

commissioned pieces. He soon came to the conclusion that it was not possible for

him to earn steady income doing this and began his search for employment.

He began by writing a letter to the Duchy of Milan, Duke Ludovico Sforza,

known by the nickname, the Moor. In this correspondence, Da Vinci stated that

he had studied machines of war and had come up with improvements that would

was born April 15, 1452 in Vinci, Italy. Da Vinci was

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strengthen the Moor’s position in battles. The letter hinted at inventions that

included portable lightweight bridges and improved designs for bombards, mortars,

catapults, covered assault vehicles and weapons. The Moor eventually became

Da Vinci’s patron and kept him busy with everything from designing a heating

system to painting portraits, to overseeing production of cannons and even

decorating the vaulted ceilings in his castle.

It was during this time that Da Vinci began writing and drawing in his journals.

These volumes became repositories of the outflow of Leonardo’s gifted mind.

He was a voracious student of the universe and his observations led to magnificent

plans and concepts. Da Vinci’s notebooks consist of more than 20,000 sketches,

copious notes and detailed drawings. Some of his conceptual designs led to the

greatest inventions of his day, while others came to fruition hundreds of years after

his initial concepts were penned, simply because the machinery needed to build

and power them were not yet invented. Leonardo’s notebooks clearly illustrate his

genius of not only improving upon existing inventions, but also

conceiving a myriad of new ideas and designs.

Ultimately, the Moor was captured by the French and

Da Vinci left Milan in search of a new patron. He traveled

through Italy for more than a decade, working for several

Dukes and rulers, including Cesare Borgia, a General

intent on conquering central Italy. Leonardo traveled with

Borgia as a military engineer, designing weapons, fortresses

and artillery, but became disillusioned and quickly left his

service with the General. It seems that despite Da Vinci’s

design for artillery and weaponry, he was actually a

pacifist and detested war and its destruction.

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Da Vinci later took positions with King Louis XII and Pope Leo X and ultimately

with the King of France, Francis I. It was the King who offered Da Vinci the title,

Premier Painter and Engineer and Architect of the King. Francis I valued

Da Vinci’s great mind and his sole function was to engage in conversations about

Renaissance culture and art with the benevolent royal.

ARTISTIC MASTERPIECES OF LEONARDO DA VINCI

It is important to remember that Da Vinci is not only

and great inventor, but is considered to be one of the

most acclaimed artists to ever have lived, creating

such masterpieces as The Last Supper (c.1498) and the

Mona Lisa (c.1503). Leonardo's drawing of the

Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a masterpiece.

Unfortunately, only a small number of Da Vinci’s

paintings have survived. Leonardo experimented with

new techniques, most of which did not yield

long-lasting results. The master painter was also somewhat of a perfectionist

with fastidious attention to detail. It is believed that when painting the Mona

Lisa, the artist spent ten years perfecting the lips of this masterpiece.

Virtruvian Man (circa 1487)

The Mona Lisa (circa 1503) The Last Supper (circa 1498)

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Da Vinci’s Notebooks

Da Vinci’s notebooks are now more than 500 years old.

They are not bound the way a typical book would be

today, but rather comprised of loose sheets of paper

gathered into collections and wrapped with fabric.

Paper was scarce in Da Vinci’s time, so he used

every available space in a page for drawings,

observations, even recipes and shopping lists, making

them somewhat difficult to interpret. Adding to the

difficulty in deciphering his works was the fact that

Da Vinci’s scripted notes were written backwards, or in

a mirror image, and read from right to left. His reason for

this remains a mystery, but it is thought that Leonardo’s

theories sometimes went against church teachings and his secret writing could

have been a way to avoid scrutiny. Da Vinci also might have feared that someone

would steal his designs and publish them under

their own name. Ironically, Da Vinci addressed

an imaginary readership in the margins of his

notebooks urging the reader to make sure his work

was printed into a proper book. It is presumed that

he meant for the notebooks

to be published after

his death.

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Da Vinci’s Notebooks

Several common themes recur in the now fragile

notebooks: Nature, Technology (including gears,

cogwheels, screws and pulleys), aviation and vision,

to name a few. Upon the death of Leonardo Da

Vinci, the notebooks were given to his long-time

friend, Count Francesco Melzi. Melzi did not fully comprehend the value of the

information and published only a portion of the volumes. He placed the notebooks

in his home where they were viewed by guests who sometimes took pages with

them as souvenirs.After Melzi’s death, an additional 13 Da Vinci notebooks

disappeared and soon pages were scattered across Europe. Da Vinci’s notebook

extracts were published in 1883 and about half of

them have not yet resurfaced so far. It is easy to

imagine that had the notebooks been published

earlier, the history of science might have been

completely changed.

In his drawings, Leonardo strived for

saper vedere or “knowing how to see.”

Da Vinci’s illustrations are unparalleled

and some experts believe that no one has

since been better.

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Early Printing in Europe

Prior to the invention of the printing press, text was either handwritten or printed

from woodblocks that were hand-carved with text and then pressed to paper.

The woodblock method could only be used to print one written work and other blocks

had to be carved to create others. Johannes Gutenberg later created a movable printing

press by making individual metal letters and characters so that different printed works

could be created with the same press.

Gutenberg Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the fifteenth century. This important

machine takes its inspiration from the technology of the screw-type wine presses used in

the Rhine Valley. It was there that Johannes Gutenberg created a hand press in which ink

was rolled over the raised surfaces of moveable hand-set block letters held within a wooden

form. These letters were pressed against a sheet of paper to create a printed page. Johannes

Gutenberg is credited with printing the Gutenberg Bible, the world's first book printed

using movable type.

Gutenberg-style printing press from 1568.

Such presses could make 240 prints per hour.

Johannes Gutenberg

(1398 - February 3, 1468)

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