Friedrich Gottlob Koenig (17 April 1774 – 17 January 1833) was a German inventor best known for his high-speed steam-powered

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

, which he built together with watchmaker Andreas Friedrich Bauer. This new style of printing press could print up to 1,100 sheets per hour,Lyons, M. (2011). ''Books : a living history''. Los Angeles : J. Paul Getty Museum, c2011. printing on both sides of the paper at the same time. He moved to London in 1804 and in 1810 was granted a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

on his press, which produced its first trial run in April 1812.Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1998. (pp 130–133) The machine was set up in their workshop, and invitations sent out to potential customers, notably John Walter of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

''. Amidst much secrecy, for fear of upsetting the existing pressmen, trials were carried out with great success. The first issue of ''The Times'' printed with the new presses was published on 29 November 1814. In August 1817 Koenig returned to Germany because of a disagreement with Thomas Bensley, a London book printer partner, who Koenig believed sought sole rights to the new machine. After consideration he chose an abandoned monastery in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

for the premises of the factory. The firm was called Koenig & Bauer.

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Koenig's press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koenig, Friedrich 1774 births 1833 deaths 19th-century German inventors German printers People from Eisleben