Lithography

Lithography (Offset Printing)

This is the major plate printing process. It uses thin metal plates with the image and non-image areas essentially on the same plane. There are two basic differences between lithography and other processes; (1) It is based on the fact that oil and water do not mix, and (2) is uses the offset principle in which ink is offset from the plate to a rubber blanket on an intermediate cylinder, and from the blanket to the paper on an impression cylinder.