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ENS (ens)

In printing - spaces equal to half the width of ems
Common clues:
Printer's measures; Printing widths; Type widths; Dash lengths; Half-picas
Crossword puzzle frequency: once a month
Frequency in English language: 55481 / 86800
News: Johann Gutenberg, Printer: 3 Ways He Revolutionised Christianity
Video:
Johann Gutenberg


It is a press, certainly, but a press from which shall flow inexhaustible streams...Through it, God will spread His Word. A spring of truth shall flow from it: like a new star it shall scatter the darkness of ignorance, and cause a light heretofore unknown to shine amongst men ~ Johannes Gutenberg


A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring an image. The systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johann Gutenberg in ca. 1439. Although both woodblock printing and movable type printing technologies were already developed in ancient China and later Korea in East Asia a few hundred years prior, they did not use a press like that of Gutenberg. Printing methods based on Gutenberg's printing press spread rapidly throughout first Europe and then the rest of the world. It eventually replaced most versions of block printing, making it the most used format of modern movable type. As a method of creating reproductions for mass consumption, the printing press has been superseded by the advent of offset printing.



Printing press from 1811, photographed in Munich, Germany



This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Printing press".