Bid to create Gutenberg in Lego

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The inventor of the printing press Johannes Gutenberg could soon be reaching a whole new audience, if a bid to have Lego create a working model of the great man’s invention gets enough support.

Gutenberg in Lego: Bid underway

The iconic toy manufacturer will manufacture parts for a Gutenberg print workshop, if it gets enough support in its creative community’s Product Idea page. Click here to give your vote.

The proponent of the concept said, “The main goal was to create a playable, functional build of a real invention, referring to the platform's name – Ideas. Also, the original press works with perfectly uniform type molds, such as Lego bricks. Therefore, I started experimenting with the models' structure, to design it durable, and statically stable in reality to make sure that it can handle the pressure.”

The model contains three stages of the process, a letter case table where you can store your type elements, the press where you can print, and a place where you can dry the prints and put them together to make books. You can also rearrange those scenes in the holder, which is also referring to the idea of the movable type.

Once you sort the text, which can be 24 characters long, you can place your letters backwards and upside down onto the press bed part. After you close the upper part of it, and put it into the carriage, you can scroll the crank part, to place the press bed under the platen. Then you can twist the upper angular wheel part to produce pressure, and your print is ready.

Gutenberg himself is in the concept, along with a couple of off-siders. He invented the modern printing process in the mid-15th century, which is widely credited with underpinning the transformation of western society from the feudal system into knowledge based democracies.

The number of votes needed for Lego to consider the idea has almost been reached, there were 500 in the first three days which was the first milestone, now it is almost 1000.

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