Bus 1: Printing Press (with a picture of Bus 5 kids)

     Today we visited Benjamin Franklin's printing press . . .

      The printing press process was very practical. First you take the stamper, a wooden stick with what looks like a pillow on the end, covered with a wool cloth. Them the stamper gets dipped in ink, which sits on top of the wool. The stamper then stamps over the "form," which is a rectangular area where individual letters are placed so once they are covered with ink the letter shape will come out on the cloth paper. A piece of cloth paper then gets placed on the form stamped with ink and is moved in an area of compression, this makes the letters print onto the paper. The paper is then cranked out of the area of compression and the paper is removed from the printing press and is rises up to hang over a string on the wall by what looks like a wooden stick which places pizza in and out of stone ovens. The printing press worked very well and could print a copy of a paper every 15 seconds with 2 people working the machine. This printing press was very successful for Franklin and he was able to retire from his job at age 42.

--Bus 1

(Some Bus 5 kids, too . . . )