FREDERICK KOENIG: INVENTOR OF THE STEAM-PRINTING MACHINE.
"The honest projector is he who, having by fair and plain principles of
sense, honesty, and ingenuity, brought any contrivance to a suitable
perfection, makes out what he pretends to, picks nobody's pocket, puts
his project in execution, and contents himself with the real produce as
the profit of his invention."--De Foe.
I published an article in 'Macmillan's Magazine' for December, 1869,
under the above title. The materials were principally obtained from
William and Frederick Koenig, sons of the inventor.
Since then an elaborate life has been published at Stuttgart, under the
title of "Friederich Koenig und die Erfindung Der Schnellpresse, Ein
Biographisches Denkmal. Von Theodor Goebel." The author, in sending me
a copy of the volume, refers to the article published in 'Macmillan,'
and says, "I hope you will please to accept it as a small
acknowledgment of the thanks, which every German, and especially the
sons of Koenig, in whose name I send the book as well as in mine, owe
to you for having bravely taken up the cause of the much wronged
inventor, their father--an action all the more praiseworthy, as you had
to write against the prejudices and the interests of your own
countrymen."
I believe it is now generally admitted that Koenig was entitled to the
merit of being the first person practically to apply the power of steam
to indefinitely multiplying the productions of the printing-press; and
that no one now attempts to deny him this honour. It is true others,
who followed him, greatly improved upon his first idea; but this was
the case with Watt, Symington, Crompton, Maudslay, and many more. The
true inventor is not merely the man who registers an idea and takes a
patent for it, or who compiles an invention by borrowing the idea of
another, improving upon or adding to his arrangements, but the man who
constructs a machine such as has never before been made, which executes
satisfactorily all the functions it was intended to perform. And this
is what Koenig's invention did, as will be observed from the following
brief summary of his life and labours.
Frederick Koenig was born on the 17th of April, 1774, at Eisleben, in
Saxony, the birthplace also of a still more famous person, Martin
Luther. His father was a respectable peasant proprietor, described by
Herr Goebel as Anspanner. But this word has now gone out of use. In
feudal times it described the farmer who was obliged to keep draught
cattle to perform service due to the landlord. The boy received a
solid education at the Gymnasium, or public school of the town. At a
proper age he was bound apprentice for five years to Breitkopf and
Hartel, of Leipzig, as compositor and printer; but after serving for
four and a quarter years, he was released from his engagement because
of his exceptional skill, which was an unusual occurrence.
During the later years of his apprenticeship, Koenig was permitted to
attend the classes in the University, more especially those of Ernst
Platner, a physician, philosopher, and anthropologist. After that he
proceeded to the printing-office of his uncle, Anton F. Rose, at
Greifswald, an old seaport town on the Baltic, where he remained a few
years. He next went to Halle as a journeyman printer,--German workmen
going about from place to place, during their wanderschaft, for the
purpose of learning their business. After that, he returned to
Breitkopf and Hartel, at Leipzig, where he had first learnt his trade.
During this time, having saved a little money, he enrolled himself for
a year as a regular student at the University of Leipzig.
According to Koenig's own account, he first began to devise ways and
means for improving the art of printing in the year 1802, when he was
twenty-eight years old. Printing large sheets of paper by hand was a
very slow as well as a very laborious process. One of the things that
most occupied the young printer's mind was how to get rid of this
"horse-work," for such it was, in the business of printing. He was
not, however, over-burdened with means, though he devised a machine
with this object. But to make a little money, he made translations for
the publishers. In 1803 Koenig returned to his native town of
Eisleben, where he entered into an arrangement with Frederick Riedel,
who furnished the necessary capital for carrying on the business of a
printer and bookseller. Koenig alleges that his reason for adopting
this step was to raise sufficient money to enable him to carry out his
plans for the improvement of printing.
The business, however, did not succeed, as we find him in the following
year carrying on a printing trade at Mayence. Having sold this
business, he removed to Suhl in Thuringia. Here he was occupied with a
stereotyping process, suggested by what he had read about the art as
perfected in England by Earl Stanhope. He also contrived an improved
press, provided with a moveable carriage, on which the types were
placed, with inking rollers, and a new mechanical method of taking off
the impression by flat pressure.
Koenig brought his new machine under the notice of the leading printers
in Germany, but they would not undertake to use it. The plan seemed to
them too complicated and costly. He tried to enlist men of capital in
his scheme, but they all turned a deaf ear to him. He went from town
to town, but could obtain no encouragement whatever. Besides,
industrial enterprise in Germany was then in a measure paralysed by the
impending war with France, and men of capital were naturally averse to
risk their money on what seemed a merely speculative undertaking.
Finding no sympathisers or helpers at home, Koenig next turned his
attention abroad. England was then, as now, the refuge of inventors
who could not find the means of bringing out their schemes elsewhere;
and to England he wistfully turned his eyes. In the meantime, however,
his inventive ability having become known, an offer was made to him by
the Russian Government to proceed to St. Petersburg and organise the
State printing-office there. The invitation was accepted, and Koenig
proceeded to St. Petersburg in the spring of 1806. But the official
difficulties thrown in his way were very great, and so disgusted him,
that he decided to throw up his appointment, and try his fortune in
England. He accordingly took ship for London, and arrived there in the
following November, poor in means, but rich in his great idea, then his
only property.
As Koenig himself said, when giving an account of his
invention:--"There is on the Continent no sort of encouragement for an
enterprise of this description. The system of patents, as it exists in
England, being either unknown, or not adopted in the Continental
States, there is no inducement for industrial enterprise; and
projectors are commonly obliged to offer their discoveries to some
Government, and to so licit their encouragement. I need hardly add
that scarcely ever is an invention brought to maturity under such
circumstances. The well-known fact, that almost every invention seeks,
as it were, refuge in England, and is there brought to perfection,
though the Government does not afford any other protection to inventors
beyond what is derived from the wisdom of the laws, seems to indicate
that the Continent has yet to learn from her the best manner of
encouraging the mechanical arts. I had my full share in the ordinary
disappointments of Continental projectors; and after having lost in
Germany and Russia upwards of two years in fruitless applications, I at
last resorted to England."[1]
After arriving in London, Koenig maintained himself with difficulty by
working at his trade, for his comparative ignorance of the English
language stood in his way. But to work manually at the printer's
"case," was not Koenig's object in coming to England. His idea of a
printing machine was always uppermost in his mind, and he lost no
opportunity of bringing the subject under the notice of master printers
likely to take it up. He worked for a time in the printing office of
Richard Taylor, Shoe Lane, Fleet Street, and mentioned the matter to
him. Taylor would not undertake the invention himself, but he
furnished Koenig with an introduction to Thomas Bensley, the well-known
printer of Bolt Court, Fleet Street. On the 11th of March, 1807,
Bensley invited Koenig to meet him on the subject of their recent
conversation about "the discovery;" and on the 31st of the same month,
the following agreement was entered into between Koenig and Bensley:--
"Mr. Koenig, having discovered an entire new Method of Printing by
Machinery, agrees to communicate the same to Mr. Bensley under the
following conditions:--that, if Mr. Bensley shall be satisfied the
Invention will answer all the purposes Mr. Koenig has stated in the
Particulars he has delivered to Mr. Bensley, signed with his name, he
shall enter into a legal Engagement to purchase the Secret from Mr.
Koenig, or enter into such other agreement as may be deemed mutually
beneficial to both parties; or, should Mr. Bensley wish to decline
having any concern with the said Invention, then he engages not to make
any use of the Machinery, or to communicate the Secret to any person
whatsoever, until it is proved that the Invention is made use of by any
one without restriction of Patent, or other particular agreement on the
part of Mr. Koenig, under the penalty of Six Thousand Pounds.
"(Signed) T. Bensley,
"Friederich Konig.
"Witness--J. Hunneman."
Koenig now proceeded to put his idea in execution. He prepared his
plans of the new printing machine. It seems, however, that the
progress made by him was very slow. Indeed, three years passed before
a working model could be got ready, to show his idea in actual
practice. In the meantime, Mr. Walter of The Times had been seen by
Bensley, and consulted on the subject of the invention. On the 9th of
August, 1809, more than two years after the date of the above
agreement, Bensley writes to Koenig: "I made a point of calling upon
Mr. Walter yesterday, who, I am sorry to say, declines our proposition
altogether, having (as he says) so many engagements as to prevent him
entering into more."
It may be mentioned that Koenig's original plan was confined to an
improved press, in which the operation of laying the ink on the types
was to be performed by an apparatus connected with the motions of the
coffin, in such a manner as that one hand could be saved. As little
could be gained in expedition by this plan, the idea soon suggested
itself of moving the press by machinery, or to reduce the several
operations to one rotary motion, to which the first mover might be
applied. Whilst Koenig was in the throes of his invention, he was
joined by his friend Andrew F. Bauer, a native of Stuttgart, who
possessed considerable mechanical power, in which the inventor himself
was probably somewhat deficient. At all events, these two together
proceeded to work out the idea, and to construct the first actual
working printing machine.
A patent was taken out, dated the 29th of March, 1810, which describes
the details of the invention. The arrangement was somewhat similar to
that known as the platen machine; the printing being produced by two
flat plates, as in the common hand-press. It also embodied an
ingenious arrangement for inking the type. Instead of the
old-fashioned inking balls, which were beaten on the type by hand
labour, several cylinders covered with felt and leather were used, and
formed part of the machine itself. Two of the cylinders revolved in
opposite directions, so as to spread the ink, which was then
transferred by two other inking cylinders alternately applied to the
"forme" by the action of spiral springs. The movement of all the parts
of the machine were to be derived from a steam-engine, or other first
mover.
"After many obstructions and delays," says Koenig himself, in
describing the history of his invention, "the first printing machine
was completed exactly upon the plan which I have described in the
specification of my first patent. It was set to Work in April, 1811.
The sheet (H) of the new Annual Register for 1810, 'Principal
Occurrences,' 3000 copies, was printed with it; and is, I have no
doubt, the first part of a book ever printed with a machine. The
actual use of it, however, soon suggested new ideas, and led to the
rendering it less complicated and more powerful"[2]
Of course! No great invention was ever completed at one effort. It
would have been strange if Koenig had been satisfied with his first
attempt. It was only a beginning, and he naturally proceeded with the
improvement of his machine. It took Watt more than twenty years to
elaborate his condensing steam-engine; and since his day, owing to the
perfection of self-acting tools, it has been greatly improved. The
power of the Steamboat and the Locomotive also, as well as of all other
inventions, have been developed by the constantly succeeding
improvements of a nation of mechanical engineers.
Koenig's experiment was only a beginning, and he naturally proceeded
with the improvement of his machine. Although the platen machine of
Koenig's has since been taken up a new, and perfected, it was not
considered by him sufficiently simple in its arrangements as to be
adapted for common use; and he had scarcely completed it, when he was
already revolving in his mind a plan of a second machine on a new
principle, with the object of ensuring greater speed, economy, and
simplicity.
By this time, other well-known London printers, Messrs. Taylor and
Woodfall, had joined Koenig and Bensley in their partnership for the
manufacture and sale of printing machines. The idea which now occurred
to Koenig was, to employ a cylinder instead of a flat Platen machine,
for taking the impressions off the type, and to place the sheet round
the cylinder, thereby making it, as it were, part of the periphery. As
early as the year 1790, one William Nicholson had taken out a patent
for a machine for printing "on paper, linen, cotton, woollen, and other
articles," by means of "blocks, forms, types, plates, and originals,"
which were to be "firmly imposed upon a cylindrical surface in the same
manner as common letter is imposed upon a flat stone."[3] From the
mention of "colouring cylinder," and "paper-hangings, floor-cloths,
cottons, linens, woollens, leather, skin, and every other flexible
material," mentioned in the specification, it would appear as if
Nicholson's invention were adapted for calico-printing and
paper-hangings, as well as for the printing of books. But it was never
used for any of these purposes. It contained merely the register of an
idea, and that was all. It was left for Adam Parkinson, of Manchester,
to invent and make practical use of the cylinder printing machine for
calico in the year 1805, and this was still further advanced by the
invention of James Thompson, of Clitheroe, in 1813; while it was left
for Frederick Koenig to invent and carry into practical operation the
cylinder printing press for newspapers.
After some promising experiments, the plans for a new machine on the
cylindrical principle were proceeded with. Koenig admitted throughout
the great benefit he derived from the assistance of his friend Bauer.
"By the judgment and precision," he said, "with which he executed my
plans, he greatly contributed to my success." A patent was taken out
on October 30th, 1811; and the new machine was completed in December,
1812. The first sheets ever printed with an entirely cylindrical
press, were sheets G and X of Clarkson's 'Life of Penn.' The papers of
the Protestant Union were also printed with it in February and March,
1813. Mr. Koenig, in his account of the invention, says that "sheet M
of Acton's 'Hortus Kewensis,' vol. v., will show the progress of
improvement in the use of the invention. Altogether, there are about
160,000 sheets now in the hands of the public, printed with this
machine, which, with the aid of two hands, takes off 800 impressions in
the hour"[4]
Koenig took out a further patent on July 23rd, 1813, and a fourth (the
last) on the 14th of March, 1814. The contrivance of these various
arrangements cost the inventor many anxious days and nights of study
and labour. But he saw before him only the end he wished to compass,
and thought but little of himself and his toils. It may be mentioned
that the principal feature of the invention was the printing cylinder
in the centre of the machine, by which the impression was taken from
the types, instead of by flat plates as in the first arrangement. The
forme was fixed in a cast-iron plate which was carried to and fro on a
table, being received at either end by strong spiral springs. A double
machine, on the same principle,--the forme alternately passing under
and giving an impression at one of two cylinders at either end of the
press,--was also included in the patent of 1811.
How diligently Koenig continued to elaborate the details of his
invention will be obvious from the two last patents which he took out,
in 1813 and 1814. In the first he introduced an important improvement
in the inking arrangement, and a contrivance for holding and carrying
on the sheet, keeping it close to the printing cylinder by means of
endless tapes; while in the second, he added the following new
expedients: a feeder, consisting of an endless web,--an improved
arrangement of the endless tapes by inner as well as outer
friskets,--an improvement of the register (that is, one page falling
exactly on the back of another), by which greater accuracy of
impression was also secured; and finally, an arrangement by which the
sheet was thrown out of the machine, printed by the revolving cylinder
on both sides.
The partners in Koenig's Patents had established a manufactory in
Whitecross Street for the production of the new machines. The workmen
employed were sworn to secrecy. They entered into an agreement by
which they were liable to forfeit 100L. if they communicated to others
the secret of the machines, either by drawings or description, or if
they told by whom or for whom they were constructed. This was to avoid
the hostility of the pressmen, who, having heard of the new invention,
were up in arms against it, as likely to deprive them of their
employment. And yet, as stated by Johnson in his 'Typographia,' the
manual labour of the men who worked at the hand press, was so severe
and exhausting, "that the stoutest constitutions fell a sacrifice to it
in a few years." The number of sheets that could be thrown off was also
extremely limited.
With the improved press, perfected by Earl Stanhope, about 250
impressions could be taken, or 125 sheets printed on both sides in an
hour. Although a greater number was produced in newspaper printing
offices by excessive labour, yet it was necessary to have duplicate
presses, and to set up duplicate forms of type, to carry on such extra
work; and still the production of copies was quite inadequate to
satisfy the rapidly increasing demand for newspapers. The time was
therefore evidently ripe for the adoption of such a machine as that of
Koenig. Attempts had been made by many inventors, but every one of
them had failed. Printers generally regarded the steam-press as
altogether chimerical.
Such was the condition of affairs when Koenig finished his improved
printing machine in the manufactory in Whitecross Street. The partners
in the invention were now in great hopes. When the machine had been got
ready for work, the proprietors of several of the leading London
newspapers were invited to witness its performances. Amongst them were
Mr. Perry of the Morning chronicle, and Mr. Walter of The Times. Mr.
Perry would have nothing to do with the machine; he would not even go
to see it, for he regarded it as a gimcrack.[5] On the contrary, Mr.
Walter, though he had five years before declined to enter into any
arrangement with Bensley, now that he heard the machine was finished,
and at work, decided to go and inspect it. It was thoroughly
characteristic of the business spirit of the man. He had been very
anxious to apply increased mechanical power to the printing of his
newspaper. He had consulted Isambard Brunel--one of the cleverest
inventors of the day--on the subject; but Brunel, after studying the
subject, and labouring over a variety of plans, finally gave it up. He
had next tried Thomas Martyn, an ingenious young compositor, who had a
scheme for a self-acting machine for working the printing press. But,
although Mr. Walter supplied him with the necessary funds, his scheme
never came to anything. Now, therefore, was the chance for Koenig!
After carefully examining the machine at work, Mr. Walter was at once
satisfied as to the great value of the invention. He saw it turning
out the impressions with unusual speed and great regularity. This was
the very machine of which he had been in search. But it turned out the
impressions printed on one side only. Koenig, however, having briefly
explained the more rapid action of a double machine on the same
principle for the printing of newspapers, Mr. Walter, after a few
minutes' consideration, and before leaving the premises, ordered two
double machines for the printing of The Times newspaper. Here, at
last, was the opportunity for a triumphant issue out of Koenig's
difficulties.
The construction of the first newspaper machine was still, however, a
work of great difficulty and labour. It must be remembered that
nothing of the kind had yet been made by any other inventor. The
single-cylinder machine, which Mr. Walter had seen at work, was
intended for bookwork only. Now Koenig had to construct a
double-cylinder machine for printing newspapers, in which many of the
arrangements must necessarily be entirely new. With the assistance of
his leading mechanic, Bauer, aided by the valuable suggestions of Mr.
Walter himself, Koenig at length completed his plans, and proceeded
with the erection of the working machine. The several parts were
prepared at the workshop in Whitecross Street, and taken from thence,
in as secret a way as possible, to the premises in Printing House
Square, adjoining The Times office, where they were fitted together and
erected into a working machine. Nearly two years elapsed before the
press was ready for work. Great as was the secrecy with which the
operations were conducted, the pressmen of The Times office obtained
some inkling of what was going on, and they vowed vengeance to the
foreign inventor who threatened their craft with destruction. There
was, however, always this consolation: every attempt that had
heretofore been made to print newspapers in any other way than by
manual labour had proved an utter failure!
At length the day arrived when the first newspaper steam-press was
ready for use. The pressmen were in a state of great excitement, for
they knew by rumour that the machine of which they had so long been
apprehensive was fast approaching completion. One night they were told
to wait in the press-room, as important news was expected from abroad.
At six o'clock in the morning of the 29th November, 1814, Mr. Walter,
who had been watching the working of the machine all through the night,
suddenly appeared among the pressmen, and announced that "The Times is
already printed by steam!" Knowing that the pressmen had vowed
vengeance against the inventor and his invention, and that they had
threatened "destruction to him and his traps," he informed them that if
they attempted violence, there was a force ready to suppress it; but
that if they were peaceable, their wages should be continued to every
one of them until they could obtain similar employment. This proved
satisfactory so far, and he proceeded to distribute several copies of
the newspaper amongst them--the first newspaper printed by steam! That
paper contained the following memorable announcement:--
"Our Journal of this day presents to the Public the practical result of
the greatest improvement connected with printing since the discovery of
the art itself. The reader of this paragraph now holds in his hand one
of the many thousand impressions of The Times newspaper which were
taken off last night by a mechanical apparatus. A system of machinery
almost organic has been devised and arranged, which, while it relieves
the human frame of its most laborious' efforts in printing, far exceeds
all human powers in rapidity and dispatch. That the magnitude of the
invention may be justly appreciated by its effects, we shall inform the
public, that after the letters are placed by the compositors, and
enclosed in what is called the forme, little more remains for man to do
than to attend upon and to watch this unconscious agent in its
operations. The machine is then merely supplied with paper: itself
places the forme, inks it, adjusts the paper to the forme newly inked,
stamps the sheet, and gives it forth to the hands of the attendant, at
the same time withdrawing the forme for a fresh coat of ink, which
itself again distributes, to meet the ensuing sheet now advancing for
impression; and the whole of these complicated acts is performed with
such a velocity and simultaneousness of movement, that no less than
1100 sheets are impressed in one hour.
"That the completion of an invention of this kind, not the effect of
chance, but the result of mechanical combinations methodically arranged
in the mind of the artist, should be attended with many obstructions
and much delay, may be readily imagined. Our share in this event has,
indeed, only been the application of the discovery, under an agreement
with the patentees, to our own particular business; yet few can
conceive--even with this limited interest--the various disappointments
and deep anxiety to which we have for a long course of time been
subjected.
"Of the person who made this discovery we have but little to add. Sir
Christopher Wren's noblest monument is to be found in the building
which he erected; so is the best tribute of praise which we are capable
of offering to the inventor of the printing machine, comprised in the
preceding description, which we have feebly sketched, of the powers and
utility of his invention. It must suffice to say further, that he is a
Saxon by birth; that his name is Koenig; and that the invention has
been executed under the direction of his friend and countryman, Bauer."
The machine continued to work steadily and satisfactorily,
notwithstanding the doubters, the unbelievers, and the threateners of
vengeance. The leading article of The Times for December 3rd, 1814,
contains the following statement:--
"The machine of which we announced the discovery and our adoption a few
days ago, has been whirling on its course ever since, with improving
order, regularity, and even speed. The length of the debates on
Thursday, the day when Parliament was adjourned, will have been
observed; on such an occasion the operation of composing and printing
the last page must commence among all the journals at the same moment;
and starting from that moment, we, with our infinitely superior
circulation, were enabled to throw off our whole impression many hours
before the other respectable rival prints. The accuracy and clearness
of the impression will likewise excite attention.
"We shall make no reflections upon those by whom this wonderful
discovery has been opposed,--the doubters and unbelievers,--however
uncharitable they may have been to us; were it not that the efforts of
genius are always impeded by drivellers of this description, and that
we owe it to such men as Mr. Koenig and his Friend, and all future
promulgators of beneficial inventions, to warn them that they will have
to contend with everything that selfishness and conceited ignorance can
devise or say; and if we cannot clear their way before them, we would
at least give them notice to prepare a panoply against its dirt and
filth.
"There is another class of men from whom we receive dark and anonymous
threats of vengeance if we persevere in the use of this machine. These
are the Pressmen. They well know, at least should well know, that such
menace is thrown away upon us. There is nothing that we will not do to
assist and serve those whom we have discharged. They themselves can
seethe greater rapidity and precision with which the paper is printed.
What right have they to make us print it slower and worse for their
supposed benefit? A little reflection, indeed, would show them that it
is neither in their power nor in ours to stop a discovery now made, if
it is beneficial to mankind; or to force it down if it is useless. They
had better, therefore, acquiesce in a result which they cannot alter;
more especially as there will still be employment enough for the old
race of pressmen, before the new method obtains general use, and no new
ones need be brought up to the business; but we caution them seriously
against involving themselves and their families in ruin, by becoming
amenable to the laws of their country. It has always been matter of
great satisfaction to us to reflect, that we encountered and crushed
one conspiracy; and we should be sorry to find our work half done.
"It is proper to undeceive the world in one particular; that is, as to
the number of men discharged. We in fact employ only eight fewer
workmen than formerly; whereas more than three times that number have
been employed for a year and a half in building the machine."
On the 8th of December following, Mr. Koenig addressed an advertisement
"To the Public" in the columns of The Times, giving an account of the
origin and progress of his invention. We have already cited several
passages from the statement. After referring to his two last patents,
he says: "The machines now printing The Times and Mail are upon the
same principle; but they have been contrived for the particular purpose
of a newspaper of extensive circulation, where expedition is the great
object.
"The public are undoubtedly aware, that never, perhaps, was a new
invention put to so severe a trial as the present one, by being used on
its first public introduction for the printing of newspapers, and will,
I trust, be indulgent with respect to the many defects in the
performance, though none of them are inherent in the principle of the
machine; and we hope, that in less than two months, the whole will be
corrected by greater adroitness in the management of it, so far at
least as the hurry of newspaper printing will at all admit.
"It will appear from the foregoing narrative, that it was incorrectly
stated in several newspapers, that I had sold my interest to two other
foreigners; my partners in this enterprise being at present two
Englishmen, Mr. Bensley and Mr. Taylor; and it is gratifying to my
feelings to avail myself of this opportunity to thank those gentlemen
publicly for the confidence which they have reposed in me, for the aid
of their practical skill, and for the persevering support which they
have afforded me in long and very expensive experiments; thus risking
their fortunes in the prosecution of my invention.
"The first introduction of the invention was considered by some as a
difficult and even hazardous step. The Proprietor of The Times having
made that his task, the public are aware that it is in good hands."
One would think that Koenig would now feel himself in smooth water, and
receive a share of the good fortune which he had so laboriously
prepared for others. Nothing of the kind! His merits were disputed;
his rights were denied; his patents were infringed; and he never
received any solid advantages for his invention, until he left the
country and took refuge in Germany. It is true, he remained for a few
years longer, in charge of the manufactory in Whitecross Street, but
they were years to him of trouble and sorrow.
In 1816, Koenig designed and superintended the construction of a single
cylinder registering machine for book-printing. This was supplied to
Bensley and Son, and turned out 1000 sheets, printed on both sides, in
the hour. Blumenbach's 'Physiology' was the first entire book printed
by steam, by this new machine. It was afterwards employed, in 1818, in
working off the Literary Gazette. A machine of the same kind was
supplied to Mr. Richard Taylor for the purpose of printing the
'Philosophical Magazine,' and books generally. This was afterwards
altered to a double machine, and employed for printing the Weekly
Dispatch.
But what about Koenig's patents? They proved of little use to him.
They only proclaimed his methods, and enabled other ingenious mechanics
to borrow his adaptations. Now that he had succeeded in making
machines that would work, the way was clear for everybody else to
follow his footsteps. It had taken him more than six years to invent
and construct a successful steam printing press; but any clever
mechanic, by merely studying his specification, and examining his
machine at work, might arrive at the same results in less than a week.
The patents did not protect him. New specifications, embodying some
modification or alteration in detail, were lodged by other inventors
and new patents taken out. New printing machines were constructed in
defiance of his supposed legal rights; and he found himself stripped of
the reward that he had been labouring for during so many long and
toilsome years. He could not go to law, and increase his own vexation
and loss. He might get into Chancery easy enough; but when would he
get out of it, and in what condition?
It must also be added, that Koenig was unfortunate in his partner
Bensley. While the inventor was taking steps to push the sale of his
book-printing machines among the London printers, Bensley, who was
himself a book-printer, was hindering him in every way in his
negotiations. Koenig was of opinion that Bensley wished to retain the
exclusive advantage which the possession of his registering book
machine gave him over the other printers, by enabling him to print more
quickly and correctly than they could, and thus give him an advantage
over them in his printing contracts.
When Koenig, in despair at his position, consulted counsel as to the
infringement of his patent, he was told that he might institute
proceedings with the best prospect of success; but to this end a
perfect agreement by the partners was essential. When, however, Koenig
asked Bensley to concur with him in taking proceedings in defence of
the patent right, the latter positively refused to do so. Indeed,
Koenig was under the impression that his partner had even entered into
an arrangement with the infringers of the patent to share with them the
proceeds of their piracy.
Under these circumstances, it appeared to Koenig that only two
alternatives remained for him to adopt. One was to commence an
expensive, and it might be a protracted, suit in Chancery, in defence
of his patent rights, with possibly his partner, Bensley, against him;
and the other, to abandon his invention in England without further
struggle, and settle abroad. He chose the latter alternative, and left
England finally in August, 1817.
Mr. Richard Taylor, the other partner in the patent, was an honourable
man; but he could not control the proceedings of Bensley. In a memoir
published by him in the 'Philosophical Magazine,' "On the Invention and
First Introduction of Mr. Koenig's Printing Machine," in which he
honestly attributes to him the sole merit of the invention, he says,
"Mr. Koenig left England, suddenly, in disgust at the treacherous
conduct of Bensley, always shabby and overreaching, and whom he found
to be laying a scheme for defrauding his partners in the patents of all
the advantages to arise from them. Bensley, however, while he
destroyed the prospects of his partners, outwitted himself, and
grasping at all, lost all, becoming bankrupt in fortune as well as in
character."[6]
Koenig was badly used throughout. His merits as an inventor were
denied. On the 3rd of January, 1818, after he had left England,
Bensley published a letter in the Literary Gazette, in which he speaks
of the printing machine as his own, without mentioning a word of
Koenig. The 'British Encyclopaedia,' in describing the inventors of
the printing machine, omitted the name of Koenig altogether. The
'Mechanics Magazine,' for September, 1847, attributed the invention to
the Proprietors of The Times, though Mr. Walter himself had said that
his share in the event had been "only the application of the
discovery;" and the late Mr. Bennet Woodcroft, usually a fair man, in
his introductory chapter to 'Patents for Inventions in Printing,'
attributes the merit to William Nicholson's patent (No. 1748), which,
he said, "produced an entire revolution in the mechanism of the art."
In other publications, the claims of Bacon and Donkin were put forward,
while those of the real inventor were ignored. The memoir of Koenig by
Mr. Richard Taylor, in the 'Philosophical Magazine,' was honest and
satisfactory; and should have set the question at rest.
It may further be mentioned that William Nicholson,--who was a patent
agent, and a great taker out of patents, both in his own name and in
the names of others,--was the person employed by Koenig as his agent to
take the requisite steps for registering his invention. When Koenig
consulted him on the subject, Nicholson observed that "seventeen years
before he had taken out a patent for machine printing, but he had
abandoned it, thinking that it wouldn't do; and had never taken it up
again." Indeed, the two machines were on different principles. Nor
did Nicholson himself ever make any claim to priority of invention,
when the success of Koenig's machine was publicly proclaimed by Mr.
Walter of The Times some seven years later.
When Koenig, now settled abroad, heard of the attempts made in England
to deny his merits as an inventor, he merely observed to his friend
Bauer, "It is really too bad that these people, who have already robbed
me of my invention, should now try to rob me of my reputation." Had he
made any reply to the charges against him, it might have been comprised
in a very few words: "When I arrived in England, no steam printing
machine had ever before been seen; when I left it, the only printing
machines in actual work were those which I had constructed." But
Koenig never took the trouble to defend the originality of his
invention in England, now that he had finally abandoned the field to
others.
There can be no question as to the great improvements introduced in the
printing machine by Mr. Applegath and Mr. Cowper; by Messrs. Hoe and
Sons, of New York; and still later by the present Mr. Walter of The
Times, which have brought the art of machine printing to an
extraordinary degree of perfection and speed. But the original merits
of an invention are not to be determined by a comparison of the first
machine of the kind ever made with the last, after some sixty years'
experience and skill have been applied in bringing it to perfection.
Were the first condensing engine made at Soho--now to be seen at the
Museum in South Kensington--in like manner to be compared with the last
improved pumping-engine made yesterday, even the great James Watt might
be made out to have been a very poor contriver. It would be much
fairer to compare Koenig's steam-printing machine with the hand-press
newspaper printing machine which it superseded. Though there were steam
engines before Watt, and steamboats before Fulton, and steam
locomotives before Stephenson, there were no steam printing presses
before Koenig with which to compare them, Koenig's was undoubtedly the
first, and stood unequalled and alone.
The rest of Koenig's life, after he retired to Germany, was spent in
industry, if not in peace and quietness. He could not fail to be cast
down by the utter failure of his English partnership, and the loss of
the fruits of his ingenious labours. But instead of brooding over his
troubles, he determined to break away from them, and begin the world
anew. He was only forty-three when he left England, and he might yet
be able to establish himself prosperously in life. He had his own head
and hands to help him.
Though England was virtually closed against him, the whole continent of
Europe was open to him, and presented a wide field for the sale of his
printing machines.
While residing in England, Koenig had received many communications from
influential printers in Germany. Johann Spencer and George Decker
wrote to him in 1815, asking for particulars about his invention; but
finding his machine too expensive,[7] the latter commissioned Koenig to
send him a Stanhope printing press--the first ever introduced into
Germany--the price of which was 95L. Koenig did this service for his
friend, for although he stood by the superior merits of his own
invention, he was sufficiently liberal to recognise the merits of the
inventions of others. Now that he was about to settle in Germany, he
was able to supply his friends and patrons on the spot.
The question arose, where was he to settle? He made enquiries about
sites along the Rhine, the Neckar, and the Main. At last he was
attracted by a specially interesting spot at Oberzell on the Main, near
Wurzburg. It was an old disused convent of the Praemonstratensian
monks. The place was conveniently situated for business, being nearly
in the centre of Germany. The Bavarian Government, desirous of giving
encouragement to so useful a genius, granted Koenig the use of the
secularised monastery on easy terms; and there accordingly he began his
operations in the course of the following year. Bauer soon joined him,
with an order from Mr. Walter for an improved Times machine; and the
two men entered into a partnership which lasted for life.
The partners had at first great difficulties to encounter in getting
their establishment to work. Oberzell was a rural village, containing
only common labourers, from whom they had to select their workmen.
Every person taken into the concern had to be trained and educated to
mechanical work by the partners themselves. With indescribable
patience they taught these labourers the use of the hammer, the file,
the turning-lathe, and other tools, which the greater number of them
had never before seen, and of whose uses they were entirely ignorant.
The machinery of the workshop was got together with equal difficulty
piece by piece, some of the parts from a great distance,--the
mechanical arts being then at a very low ebb in Germany, which was
still suffering from the effects of the long continental war.
At length the workshop was fitted up, the old barn of the monastery
being converted into an iron foundry.
Orders for printing machines were gradually obtained. The first came
from Brockhaus, of Leipzig. By the end of the fourth year two other
single-cylinder machines were completed and sent to Berlin, for use in
the State printing office. By the end of the eighth year seven
double-cylinder steam presses had been manufactured for the largest
newspaper printers in Germany. The recognised excellence of Koenig and
Bauer's book-printing machines--their perfect register, and the quality
of the work they turned out--secured for them an increasing demand, and
by the year 1829 the firm had manufactured fifty-one machines for the
leading book printers throughout Germany. The Oberzell manufactory was
now in full work, and gave regular employment to about 120 men.
A period of considerable depression followed. As was the case in
England, the introduction of the printing machine in Germany excited
considerable hostility among the pressmen. In some of the principal
towns they entered into combinations to destroy them, and several
printing machines were broken by violence and irretrievably injured.
But progress could not be stopped; the printing machine had been fairly
born, and must eventually do its work for mankind. These combinations,
however, had an effect for a time. They deterred other printers from
giving orders for the machines; and Koenig and Bauer were under the
necessity of suspending their manufacture to a considerable extent. To
keep their men employed, the partners proceeded to fit up a paper
manufactory, Mr. Cotta, of Stuttgart, joining them in the adventure;
and a mill was fitted up, embodying all the latest improvements in
paper-making.
Koenig, however, did not live to enjoy the fruits or all his study,
labour, toil, and anxiety; for, while this enterprise was still in
progress, and before the machine trade had revived, he was taken ill,
and confined to bed. He became sleepless; his nerves were unstrung;
and no wonder. Brain disease carried him off on the 17th of January,
1833; and this good, ingenious, and admirable inventor was removed from
all further care and trouble.
He died at the early age of fifty-eight, respected and beloved by all
who knew him.
His partner Bauer survived to continue the business for twenty years
longer. It was during this later period that the Oberzell manufactory
enjoyed its greatest prosperity. The prejudices of the workmen
gradually subsided when they found that machine printing, instead of
abridging employment, as they feared it would do, enormously increased
it; and orders accordingly flowed in from Berlin, Vienna, and all the
leading towns and cities of Germany, Austria, Denmark, Russia, and
Sweden. The six hundredth machine, turned out in 1847, was capable of
printing 6000 impressions in the hour. In March, 1865, the thousandth
machine was completed at Oberzell, on the occasion of the celebration
of the fifty years' jubilee of the invention of the steam press by
Koenig.
The sons of Koenig carried on the business; and in the biography by
Goebel, it is stated that the manufactory of Oberzell has now turned
out no fewer than 3000 printing machines. The greater number have been
supplied to Germany; but 660 were sent to Russia, 61 to Asia, 12 to
England, and 11 to America. The rest were despatched to Italy,
Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Holland, and other countries.
It remains to be said that Koenig and Bauer, united in life, were not
divided by death. Bauer died on February 27, 1860, and the remains of
the partners now lie side by side in the little cemetery at Oberzell,
close to the scene of their labours and the valuable establishment
which they founded.
Footnotes for Chapter VI.
[1] Koenig's letter in The Times, 8th December, 1814
[2] Koenig's letter in The Times, 8th December, 1814.
[3] Date of Patent, 29th April, 1790, No. 1748,
[4] Koenig's letter in The Times, 8th December, 1814.
[5] Mr. Richard Taylor, one of the partners in the patent, says, "Mr.
Perry declined, alleging that he did not consider a newspaper worth so
many years' purchase as would equal the cost of the machine."
[6] Mr. Richard Taylor, F.S.A., memoir in 'Philosophical Magazine' for
October 1847, p. 300.
[7] The price of a single cylinder non-registering machine was
advertised at 900L.; of a double ditto, 1400L.; and of a cylinder
registering machine, 2000L.; added to which was 250L., 350L., and 500L.
per annum for each of these machines so long as the patent lasted, or
an agreed sum to be paid down at once.