Johannes Gutenberg is attributed with inventing the primary printing journalists. Screw presses designed for olives and wine were identified in Europe because Roman times; presses for the required of document books were in addition in use. Gutenberg was the first to alter the perception for printing uses. Gutenberg's use of mechanical presses all along with other innovations made printing a proto-industrial process with a far better productivity compared to manuscripts made by copyists.

Having earlier worked as a professional goldsmith, Gutenberg through adept use of the information of metals he had erudite as a craftsman. He was the first to create type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, which was critical for producing durable type that produced high-quality printed books and proved to be more suitable for printing than the clay, made of wood or figurine types used in East Asia. To create these lead types, Gutenberg used what some careful his most ingenious invention, a special medium enabling the quick and precise moldings of new kind blocks from a standardized pattern.

Gutenberg is also accredited with the foreword of an oil-based ink which was more hard-wearing than the previously used water-based inks. As printing fabric he used both vellum and paper, the final having been introduced in Europe rather former as of China by means of the Arabs.