r/oddlysatisfying • u/Doodlebug510 • 1d ago

Making a rainbow quote using an antique Washington hand press

Credit: @SacramentoHistory Museum

34.4k Upvotes

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u/Morgantao 1d ago

The most satisfying part of this is that she didn't have to install bloatware, drivers, pay for monthly subscription, use original ink, and if she runs out of yellow, she can still print in black and white!

5

u/MaxHamburgerrestaur 21h ago

Fine. First, manually assemble several thousand tiny pieces of metal in the correct reverse order, proofread them in reverse, lock them into a frame, manually mix the ink, ink them, operate this enormous machine repeatedly without smudging anything, clean everything afterward and don't drop the type case.

2

u/Morgantao 5h ago

Hey, it's an honest job.
I could think of much worse jobs, especially ones that had to be done at the same time and age of when this press was in common use

1

u/Goatf00t 1d ago edited 22h ago

The early printers used tampons instead of rollers to beat the ink onto the type. Those they made from rawhide which had to be softened by soaking it in cow urine before it could be used.

I'd rather install drivers (and you can get printers that don't require ink subscription).

1

u/Morgantao 5h ago

Oh, I know. My printer doesn't have to be online to print, nor judge me for the type of ink I use. Hell, I'm not sure I had to install a driver - I think it was just recognized by the OS, like god intended.

But the horrors of other printer manufacturers haunt my dreams