// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the ink ball say? I'm rolled in debt.
An ink ball, inking ball, or dabber is a tool used in printmaking and letterpress printing to apply ink to the plate or type to be printed. It consists of a piece of specially-treated sheep, calf or dog leather stuffed with wool, with a wooden handle.[1][2]
Ink balls had been used since the dawn of the printing press in the 15th century. In printmaking, they were used individually, to make the ink smooth and apply it.[3] In letterpress printing, they were used in pairs: ink was placed on one of the two balls, which were then held together and worked around until a proper thickness, consistency, and uniformity was reached.[4] The inker then "beat" the type to apply the ink, making sure to get neither too much nor too little ink on the form.[4]
By the mid- to late-19th century, they had been largely superseded by the composition roller (a cylinder made from a mixture of glue with molasses or tar) and the rubber roller or "brayer".[5][6][7] The replacing of the labor-intensive ink balls, which had to be worked by hand, with mechanized rollers was a key factor to the growth of mechanized printing machines in the 19th century.[8]
References
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- ↑ American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking. New York: Howard Lockwood & Co. 1894. pp. 35.
- ↑ Bangert, Julia (2026-09-05). "Gutenberg's Inventions – Part 5: Ink and ink balls". www.drupa.com. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- ↑ Marx, George Walter (1881). The Art of Drawing and Engraving on Wood. London: Houlston. p. 17.
- 1 2 Blades, William (1891). The Pentateuch of Printing, with a Chapter on Judges. Chicago: A.C. Mclurg and Company. pp. 55-56.
- ↑ American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking. New York: Howard Lockwood & Co. 1894. pp. 490.
- ↑ Stewart, Alexander A. (1912). The Printer's Dictionary of Technical Terms. Boston, Mass.: School of Printing, North End Union. pp. 116.
- ↑ Southward, John (1875). Dictionary of Typography and its Accessory Arts. London: Joseph M. Powell. pp. 6.
- ↑ Jacobi, Charles Thomas (1890). Printing: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Typography as Applied More Particularly to the Printing of Books. London: George Bell and Sons. pp. 158-159.