What printing device did Leonardo da Vinci sketch to keep pressure steady on a page?

Leonardo da Vinci sketched a printing press mechanism intended to keep pressure steady while printing a page.

His design belongs to the period after Johannes Gutenberg’s mid-fifteenth-century development of movable-type printing in Europe. Leonardo studied presses and mechanical systems closely, proposing improvements involving screws, frames, and coordinated motion. A controlled press could help produce more even impressions and make repeated operation easier.

Leonardo did not invent movable-type printing, and no evidence shows that his press replaced Gutenberg-style equipment in a printing shop. His drawings are best understood as engineering studies that applied his interest in force, leverage, and repeatable movement to an existing technology.

The printing press should also be distinguished from a bookbinding press. A printing press transfers ink from type or an image-bearing surface to paper; a bookbinding press compresses folded sheets or covers during binding. Leonardo’s proposal concerns the first function, although both machines use pressure and screw mechanisms.