Word: offsets
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...today's web offset presses rely on this technique. In both letterpress and gravure, the impression is taken directly from the printing plate (see diagrams...
...offset, an extra cylinder, composed of soft rubber, picks up the printed image from the plate and transfers it-i.e., offsets it-to the paper...
Take a Picture. With this development, the possibilities of web offset became readily visible to commercial printers. The rubber offset cylinder was able to reproduce, on rough grades of paper such as newsprint, impressions of far greater fidelity than letterpress. And since anything can be photographed, offset printing plates can be prepared without the use of metallic type. "You can make up a page," said one Midwest printer, "simply by cutting anything out of a magazine and taking a picture of it." Web offset also adapts more readily than either letterpress or gravure to many of the new experimental techniques...
...offset has its disadvantages as well...
...offset ink is heavier and more expensive than letterpress ink. and because it does not as readily absorb into the paper, the ink must either be artificially dried or the presses must be slowed to give the ink time to dry. For years, the fastest web offset presses ran at about one-third the speed of the fastest letter-presses. The tackier offset ink. together with the rubber cylinder, collects paper dust, which can botch a printing job. The web offset process is more wasteful of paper than letterpress. And on long offset-press runs, the ink tends to emulsify...