Early history of the printing press
Print history archive
Heidelberg
K-Offset
Heidelberg enters the offset market
1962
Heidelberg moves into the rapidly growing offset market.
In 1962, HEIDELBERG introduced the KOR, or Kleine Offset Rotation, at drupa. The machine marked the company’s decisive move into offset printing and helped turn a letterpress specialist into a major sheetfed-offset manufacturer. [1]
The KOR showed how a company known for letterpress could adapt existing mechanical strengths to an offset press built for a growing market.
The K-Offset production path
- 01
Stone
The plate carries the image areas that receive ink and the non-image areas that reject it.
- 02
Blanket cylinder
The blanket receives the inked image and creates a flexible intermediary transfer surface.
- 03
Sheet and impression
The press guides the paper through the printing unit to receive the final image from the blanket.
The wider history
From a letterpress icon to a sheetfed-offset powerhouse.
Heidelberg’s 1962 KOR was not an isolated product launch. It was the start of a portfolio transformation: K-Offset and KOR, then Rotaspeed, GTO, and Speedmaster. Together, these machines show how the company entered the offset era and developed the systems that would define much of its modern history.
1921
The Heidelberger Tiegel builds a reputation
The automatic platen press became one of Heidelberg’s most successful letterpress products. It created the mechanical and manufacturing foundation the company later adapted for offset printing. [1]
1962
KOR enters the offset market
At drupa 1962, HEIDELBERG introduces the KOR, its first offset press. Official company history identifies the KOR as the first Heidelberg offset web press, printing a 40 × 57 cm format. [1]
1965
Rotaspeed expands the format
The Rotaspeed arrives as a larger-format sheetfed offset machine. Available in one-, two-, four-, and five-colour configurations, the series extends Heidelberg’s offset range. [1]
1972
GTO becomes a long-running success
The GTO series is launched and becomes one of the company’s most recognizable offset press families, giving its name to an entire format category. [1]
1975
Speedmaster accelerates multicolour work
The Speedmaster sheetfed offset press reaches the market with a four-colour inline design and output of 11,000 sheets per hour, becoming a major Heidelberg product family. [1]
The story behind the press
Heidelberg faced a market question: how could a letterpress leader become relevant in offset?
Why 1962 mattered
For decades, HEIDELBERG had built a powerful reputation around letterpress equipment, especially the automatic Heidelberg Tiegel and the Original Heidelberg Cylinder. By the 1960s, however, competitors in offset printing were challenging the company’s established core business. The company responded in 1962 by adapting the base of the Original Heidelberg Cylinder with an offset inking unit. This created the K-Offset and opened a new chapter in the company’s history. [1]
The KOR, or Kleine Offset Rotation, was introduced at drupa in 1962. It printed a 40 × 57 cm format and gave Heidelberg an entry point into the up-and-coming offset market. Rather than abandoning its existing engineering expertise, the company used that expertise as a foundation: proven mechanical construction, then a new offset printing configuration. The move was an example of industrial adaptation as much as a product launch. [1] [2]
How the offset transition changed the company
Offset printing offered a different production logic from traditional letterpress. Instead of raised printing surfaces pressing ink directly into paper, an offset press moved the image from the plate to a blanket cylinder and then from the blanket to the sheet. This indirect transfer supported clean image reproduction and gave press builders a platform for improved colour control, better sheet handling, and higher productivity.
Heidelberg did not become a major offset manufacturer through one press alone. The KOR was followed by the larger Rotaspeed in 1965, then the GTO series in 1972, and the Speedmaster line in 1975. The sequence shows how a company’s market entry can turn into a whole family of machines, each designed to address new formats, colours, speeds, and levels of production control. [1]
Why sheetfed offset became a strategic direction
Sheetfed offset enabled printers to handle individual sheets with control while using the blanket cylinder to transfer a consistent image. For commercial printing, this meant that quality, registration, and production efficiency could be pursued together. For Heidelberg, the KOR also created a product path that could be expanded into larger formats, multiple colours, faster presses, and eventually into the Speedmaster family that became central to its global position.
The offset route
Three stages behind the K-Offset concept
The 1962 KOR belongs to a production path in which the image is prepared on a plate, transferred to a blanket, and delivered to paper. Each stage has a distinct job: image preparation, controlled transfer, and final impression on the sheet.
Plate
The plate carries the image areas that accept ink and the non-image areas that hold moisture and reject it.
Blanket cylinder
The blanket receives the inked image from the plate and becomes the flexible intermediary surface for the final transfer to paper.
Sheet and impression
The press guides the sheet into contact with the blanket so that the finished image transfers cleanly to the paper.
Industrial adoption and legacy
From a small offset rotation to the Speedmaster era.
Building the Heidelberg offset portfolio
After entering the offset market, Heidelberg expanded quickly. The Rotaspeed brought a larger-format sheetfed machine to market in 1965, with multiple colour configurations. The GTO series followed in 1972 and became a long-running success, while the Speedmaster arrived in 1975 as a four-colour inline sheetfed offset press capable of 11,000 sheets per hour. The Speedmaster signaled the company’s emergence as a major force in multicolour commercial printing. [1]
Later innovations concentrated on process stability and productivity. Heidelberg records the introduction of computer-assisted control and remote ink control in 1977, then a period of deeper digital integration during the 1990s. These developments changed the pressroom from a sequence of manual adjustments into a more coordinated production system, with shorter make-ready times, less waste, and more predictable colour control. [1]
Technical timeline notes
The supplied timeline for this page records a 1998 Heidelberg patent for a gapless printing cylinder, a technology direction associated with reducing discontinuities in cylinder and blanket systems. It also records a 2002 Man Roland magnetic-brake system for folders, intended to support faster quarter-folder printing. These two notes are retained as page-specific technical milestones; the exact patent identifiers and wording were not independently verified in the primary sources used for this feature. [4]
Placed in context, both notes point to the same industrial priority that shaped post-1962 offset engineering: remove interruptions from the printing and finishing path. Whether through smoother cylinder systems, better braking, automated controls, or improved paper handling, modern press development has repeatedly focused on keeping production faster, steadier, and more consistent.
Why the KOR still matters
Heidelberg’s official history describes the 1960s and 1970s move into offset as a profound transformation. The KOR matters because it shows how an established manufacturer can respond to a technical and commercial shift: adapt a proven mechanical platform, enter a growing market, then build a portfolio capable of changing the scale and economics of print production. [1]
Why Heidelberg matters
Heidelberg’s 1962 KOR marked a deliberate move into offset printing at a time when the company’s letterpress heritage was under pressure from a changing market. The KOR, followed by Rotaspeed, GTO, and Speedmaster, built a technological bridge from traditional press construction to modern sheetfed-offset production. It shows that the history of offset is not only a story of a printing process, but also a story of companies learning to reinvent their machinery for a new era. [1] [2]
References
- HEIDELBERG, “From the Tiegel to the Speedmaster” — official history of the KOR, K-Offset, Rotaspeed, GTO, Speedmaster, and later offset innovation.
- National Postal Museum, “Heidelberg” — external institutional history of the 1962 KOR and later Heidelberg press milestones.
- HEIDELBERG, “175 Years” press release — official milestone summary of Heidelberg’s move into offset in 1962.
- Timeline note supplied for this page — 1998 gapless printing-cylinder patent and 2002 Man Roland magnetic-brake folder system. Exact patent identifiers were not independently verified for this feature.