Inventors of Communications Technology by Morrison Heather S.;

Author:Morrison, Heather S.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing LLC

Applying the Solution

Like many other inventors, Gutenberg had to raise huge sums of money to finance his project. Constructing his printing equipment, particularly the many thousand letters of type that had to be cast out of metal, was very expensive. He managed to raise the needed funds by going into business with a wealthy moneylender, Johann Fust (ca. 1400–ca. 1466). Gutenberg had promised that they would see great profits from the business, but the three loans he took out from Fust, totaling around two thousand gulden (coins), were substantial—much more than an average worker at that time could earn in his entire life.

Gutenberg’s downfall happened for a reason that is all too familiar in the history of invention. Fust was eager to see the profit from his investment, but Gutenberg was constantly trying to improve his idea and needed ever more money to do so. When Fust finally lost patience in 1455, he sued and forced Gutenberg to surrender his part of the firm. Without Gutenberg, Fust and his associate Peter Shäffer went on to publish a beautiful Psalter (book of psalms) in 1457, with two-color printing and two different sizes of type. Many people believe Gutenberg was responsible for these innovations.

Although Gutenberg was ruined, he managed to set up another printing firm and continued working in the Mainz area for several years. Historians disagree about his later life. Some say that he lived in poverty, but it seems he may have been more fortunate. In January 1465, he found favor with Adolph II, the archbishop of Mainz, who granted him a pension including a yearly allowance of grain, cloth, and 2,180 liters (2,304 quarts) of wine for his own use. He died in February 1468, about age seventy, and was buried at the Franziskus church in Mainz.

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