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Offset printing
Printing technique / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat (planographic) image carrier. Ink rollers transfer ink to the image areas of the image carrier, while a water roller applies a water-based film to the non-image areas.
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/CMYK_offset_on_paper2.jpg/640px-CMYK_offset_on_paper2.jpg)
The modern "web" process feeds a large reel of paper through a large press machine in several parts, typically for several meters, which then prints continuously as the paper is fed through.
Development of the offset press came in two versions: in 1875 by Robert Barclay of England for printing on tin and in 1904 by Ira Washington Rubel of the United States for printing on paper.[1] Rubel's contemporary in Continental Europe was Kašpar Hermann, the author of the offset machine prototype (1904), holder of a patent for an offset disc machine (two rubber transfer rollers facing each other) – rolling-press. In 1907, he successfully started printing in Germany on his Triumph sheetfed offset press.[2]